The main job
Cabinet Refinishing in Southwest Florida
Refinishing keeps the cabinets you already own and changes the part you actually look at. Here is exactly what that involves, what it costs you in disruption, and the jobs it is the wrong answer for.
What it is
The carcasses behind your cabinet doors — the boxes screwed to the wall — are almost always structurally sound. What dates a kitchen is the doors, the drawer fronts, the face frames and the finish on them. Refinishing takes those off, prepares them properly, sprays them, and puts them back.
Everything is sprayed rather than brushed. A brushed door carries brush marks in raking light forever; a sprayed door is flat, even and closer to what a door looks like when it leaves a factory. That is the whole difference between a refinished kitchen and a painted one, and it is most of why it takes the time it does.
The boxes are cut in on site to match. Doors and drawer fronts come off to be sprayed, which is why the kitchen stays usable through most of the job.
How the job runs
- 01
Doors, drawer fronts and hardware come off
Everything is labelled as it comes down so it goes back exactly where it came from. Hinges and handles are bagged by cabinet.
- 02
Degrease, then sand
Kitchen cabinets carry years of cooking grease, and nothing bonds to grease. They are cleaned first, then scuff-sanded to give the primer something to key into. This step is invisible in the finished job and is the one that decides whether it lasts.
- 03
Fill, prime and de-nib
Dings and old hardware holes are filled where you want them gone. Primer goes on, gets sanded back smooth, and any grain that raises is knocked down before colour.
- 04
Spray colour
Multiple thin coats rather than one heavy one. Sprayed in a controlled space, not in your kitchen, which is what keeps dust and insects out of a wet finish.
- 05
Cure, then rehang
Paint is touch-dry in hours and fully hard in considerably longer. Doors go back on once they can take handling, and he will tell you how long to be gentle with them.
What it won’t do
- It does not change your layout. If the problem is that the cabinets are in the wrong place, or there are not enough of them, refinishing solves nothing — that is a job for new cabinets, which he also fits.
- It does not fix water-blown particleboard. A sink base that has swollen and delaminated needs replacing, not coating. He will tell you that on the estimate rather than paint over it.
- It does not turn a flat slab door into a shaker door. The profile you have is the profile you keep. Colour, sheen and condition all change; shape does not.
Recent work
Photographs of True Tone Cabinets jobs in Southwest Florida.
Questions people ask
- How long does cabinet refinishing take?
- Days rather than the weeks or months a full replacement runs to. The exact number depends on door count and how much filling the doors need, and he will give you a real figure at the estimate rather than a brochure figure.
- Can I use my kitchen while it is happening?
- Mostly yes. The doors and drawer fronts leave; the boxes, the counters and the appliances stay where they are. You lose the doors for the duration, not the room.
- Will refinished cabinets chip?
- Any finish will chip if you hit it hard enough, including a factory one. What decides how well a refinished door holds up is the preparation underneath it — degreasing and sanding — far more than the paint on top. That is why the prep is the slowest part of the job.
- Does Southwest Florida humidity affect the finish?
- It affects how long it takes, not how well it works. High humidity slows the cure, so doors need longer before they can be handled and longer again before they are fully hard. It is a scheduling fact, and it is a good reason to be wary of anyone promising a same-week turnaround in August.
Find out what yours would cost
It never puts a price on your work. Every kitchen is priced on door count and condition, so it books the free estimate instead of guessing at a number. Estimates are free, and nobody needs to come to the house before you decide.
Call or text — either works. Free estimates across Southwest Florida.