The Cabinet Painting Process

Our Process

A quick orientation before the detail. Your kitchen is finished in three places, in this order:

1. At your home, your cabinet boxes, inside a sealed, dust-controlled space.
2. At our shop, your doors and drawer fronts, in a controlled finishing environment.
3. Back at your home, reinstall, alignment, hardware, and final detailing.

Phase A. At your home, protecting the space

First, we protect your floors. We lay red rosin paper across every floor and tape carefully around the shoe molding and trim. We clean each surface before tape touches it. On freshly refinished floors we switch to a low-adhesion tape, so when we pull everything up there is no lifting and no surprise.

Then we protect your countertops and everything that stays. Countertops get covered. We mask the walls, ceiling, appliances, and lighting. We also seal the inside of every cabinet box and drawer, so you can leave your dishes, glasses, and everything else right where they are. For glass-front cabinets, we ask that you clear the contents so we can finish the interiors to match the outside.

We build a sealed room around your kitchen. Once everything is masked, we put up a full plastic wall and seal off the doorways, turning your kitchen into an airtight space. Then we run a ventilation line out a window and switch on our negative air pressure machine.

Here is what that does for you. Air flows from inside your home, into our sealed space, and out the window. It never flows back. You can sit on your couch while the crew works and not smell the finish, not breathe the dust, not find debris in the rest of your home. This is the single most important thing we do to protect your house, and most painters do not do it at all.

We review your hardware plan with you first. Before any drilling, we walk through handle and knob replacement with you, so the new placement is decided together.

Then we remove and patch. We drill out the old handles, patch the holes that need patching, and set your doors and drawer fronts aside. From here, the boxes stay with us in your kitchen. The doors and drawer fronts are headed for our shop.

We clean and de-gloss every surface. We treat the boxes with our cleaning solution to degrease, de-gloss, and prepare the existing finish so the new coatings bond and last.

Then we sand. Thoroughly. This is one of the real keys to a finish that holds up, and it is the step most companies cut short. We power sand the flat surfaces and hand sand every detail and profile, working through 80 to 120 grit. We use Festool sanders with HEPA extraction so the site stays as dustless as possible and your cabinetry is never damaged in the process.

We clean the space again, then prime. Before any coating goes on, we clear every trace of dust so nothing lands in the finish. We double-check the masking and the negative air pressure, then prime the full set of boxes in multiple thin coats.

We re-sand, fill, and caulk. Once primed, we re-sand the boxes, then inspect for any nail holes, seams, or caulk lines that need attention. We fill, caulk, and spot sand until the surface is right.

Then we apply the color. We spray our ILVA 2K polyurethane in thin, even coats, building until the color is fully solid with no primer or old finish showing through. We inspect against our standard between coats.

We break down the space and leave it spotless. When the boxes are finished, we take down the plastic wall, pull all the masking from windows and doors, bag every bit of debris, and clean. Our crews are known for leaving a home cleaner than they found it.

Phase B. At our shop, doors and drawer fronts

Your doors and drawer fronts go through the same process as your boxes, but in a far more controlled environment. At the shop we have perfect lighting and perfect temperature, so the most visible, most handled part of your kitchen gets finished exactly right. This is where the quality you see every day is decided.

Phase C. Back at your home, reinstall and final detail

We bring your doors home, protected. Everything is meticulously prepped for transport, wrapped in blankets and secured, then brought back to your kitchen.

We rehang and align everything. We set your doors and drawer fronts back on your hinges, or install new hinges and drawer slides if that is part of your project. Then we adjust every door and drawer until each one sits square and straight. We add felt bumpers to the backs so they close quietly.

We complete the final caulk and detailing. We caulk the seams where the cabinets meet the wall, the countertop, and the ceiling. We save this caulking for now on purpose, because caulking over tape and pulling it later ruins the line. We do a final walk for touch-ups and minor adjustments.

We set your handles. Then it is yours. We install your handles and knobs, walk the finished kitchen with you, and that is the cabinet painting process.