How Long Does It Take to Paint Kitchen Cabinets Professionally?

For The Painting Company, an average kitchen project takes us five working days from Monday to Friday. The time it takes to professionally paint kitchen cabinets varies based on the size of your kitchen and if any repairs are needed. For larger kitchen projects, it has taken us a few additional days.

If possible, we like to pick up your cabinet doors and drawer fronts on the Friday before our project week starts. This allows us to get a head start on finishing your doors and drawer fronts in our shop.

We’ll outline the expected time it will take to paint kitchen cabinets in your home during the estimate process.

Can You Use Your Kitchen While Cabinets Are Being Painted?

Yes! Your sink, microwave, and stove will be accessible on Monday during masking and cleaning. Then, they’ll be covered while we sand and prime your cabinets Tuesday through Thursday. We suggest sticking to easy meals during those days. If possible, we will assist with relocating your refrigerator outside of the work area so you can access it for most, if not all, of your project.

The Cabinet Painting Process, Day by Day

Here’s a breakdown of our work each day of an average five-day project:

• Friday before: If possible, we will pick up your cabinet doors and drawer fronts and bring them to our shop.
• Monday: We mask off your floors, walls, open cabinets, backsplash, and countertops. Cabinets are cleaned with a solvent degreaser in preparation for painting.
• Tuesday: We install dust protection using a HEPA air scrubber and ZipWall dust barriers. Cabinets are sanded, appliances are covered, and we apply the first adhesion primer coat.
• Wednesday: A sanding primer coat is applied and sanded before we apply a second sanding primer coat.
• Thursday: Additional sanding and priming as needed. Two finish coats are applied.
• Friday: Additional touch-ups as needed. Masking is removed, and doors and drawers are reinstalled.

Our adhesion primer dries in about 30 minutes. We can normally apply both sanding primer coats in one day and let them dry, and the same goes for the two finish coats. We use fans to help drying. Drying time depends on coat thickness, number of coats, temperature, and humidity, so these are typical times rather than guarantees.

Why Are Cabinet Doors Painted in a Shop?

When possible, we pick up your doors and drawer fronts the Friday before so we can paint them in our shop using our spray booth. Only the cabinet frames and boxes are painted in your home. Your doors and drawer fronts are returned and reinstalled at the end of your project week. Learn more about what determines a smooth factory-finish look on painted cabinets.

How Is Your Home Kept Clean and Protected?

In addition to masking floors, countertops, walls, backsplashes, and appliances, we use a HEPA air scrubber and ZipWall dust protection starting Tuesday. The HEPA air scrubber vents outside, creating a negative air pressure inside your kitchen. That helps limit paint fumes and sanding dust from traveling outside of the kitchen.

While we do our best to limit dust and paint odors, it’s still likely you’ll experience some odor in and around your kitchen. At the end of each day, we tidy and organize our workspace.

Who Will Be in Your Home, and When?

Typically, a team of two painters from The Painting Company will arrive around 8:00 AM and will work until around 4:00 PM. We do our best to work around your schedule.

In almost all cases, the same painters work in your home from start to finish, and our owner visits throughout the project. The crew communicates directly with you while on site. When you’re away, our office keeps you updated by phone or text.

How to Prepare Your Kitchen Before the Crew Arrives

Before the crew arrives, please:

• Clear countertops of decorations, utensils, and small appliances.
• Remove items stored on top of cabinets.
• Remove any pictures/artwork hanging immediately above cabinets.
• Empty drawers with permanently attached or glued-on fronts, since the whole drawer goes to our shop. If fronts are removable, we usually take them to our shop and store the drawer boxes outside of the work area with contents still inside.

Unless we’re painting cabinet interiors, leave your cabinet contents where they are. We push the contents back and mask the openings.

When Can You Use Your Cabinets Normally Again?

You can use them right away, with a little care. Your newly painted cabinets will normally be dry to the touch within an hour. However, the coating system we use takes about 7 to 10 days to fully cure (temperature and humidity can impact curing time). Curing is when the molecules in the paint cross-link to form a hardened coating.

Until the paint has cured, we recommend you:

• Gently open and close cabinet doors.
• Avoid rubbing, scrubbing, or cleaning the surfaces, since the finish hasn’t reached full hardness yet.

What About Lead Paint in Older Homes?

In our experience, lead-based paint on cabinets is unusual, but we test just in case. During the estimating process, we’ll walk you through what limitations there may be. If you still want to move forward, we employ alternate cabinet prep methods to reduce your lead paint exposure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to empty my kitchen cabinets before painting?

Not necessarily. Unless we’re painting cabinet interiors, we push your contents to the back of your cabinets and mask the openings.

What if my drawer fronts can’t be removed?

Empty drawers with glued-on or permanently attached drawer fronts, since the whole drawer goes to our shop. For drawers with removable fronts, usually only the fronts go to our shop. The drawer boxes stay in your home with contents still inside, stored outside of the work area during the project.

Will the paint smell spread through the house?

Paint and primer odors are normal. We use a HEPA air scrubber that vents outside and creates a negative air pressure inside your kitchen, limiting paint fumes from traveling. It’s likely, however, that you’ll experience some odor in and around your kitchen.

Planning Your Cabinet Project

Ready to learn more about professionally painted cabinets for your Omaha or Bellevue home? Schedule your free estimate, check out our gallery of recently completed projects, read reviews by satisfied customers, or learn more about our cabinet painting services! We look forward to answering any questions you might have about what cabinet painting could look like for your kitchen!