Your Kitchen, Without the Remodel

Kitchen cabinet painting in Fairfax, done in the right order

Kitchen cabinet painting in Fairfax, VA follows a sequence. Remove and label. Degrease. Sand. Repair. Prime. Spray. Rehang. Skip the prep and the paint fails. We do not skip the prep.

Grease is the enemy. Kitchens coat cabinets in a thin film of cooking oil. Paint will not bond to it. We cut it with a degreaser before any sanding happens. That is the step most cheap jobs skip. And why they peel.

Our process, start to finish

1. Free visit. We look at your cabinets in person. We count doors and drawers. We check the old finish. You get a written price.
2. Remove and label. Every door and drawer comes off the hinges. Each piece gets a label so it goes back in its exact spot.
3. Mask the kitchen. Counters, floors, appliances, and walls get covered. The frames stay. Everything around them gets protected.
4. Degrease. Every surface gets cut with a degreaser. Kitchen grease is invisible and it ruins paint bonds. This step is not optional.
5. Sand and repair. We scuff every surface for grip. Dents get filled. Old hardware holes get filled. Caulk goes where trim meets cabinet.
6. Prime. Bonding primer on everything. It grips the old finish and gives the topcoat something to hold.
7. Spray two topcoats. Doors and drawers get sprayed smooth in our setup. Frames get finished in place. Two coats of cabinet enamel, with dry time between.
8. Rehang and adjust. Doors go back on straight. Hinges get tuned. New hardware goes on last. Then we walk through with you.

Prep is most of the job

People picture the spraying. The spraying is the easy part. Prep is where paint jobs live or die. Degreasing takes hours on a real kitchen. Sanding takes longer. Filling and caulking longer still. By the time the sprayer comes out, most of the labor is done.

This is also where cheap bids cheat. No degrease. A quick scuff. One coat of wall paint. The kitchen looks fine at handoff. Six months later the paint peels around the handles. Then the homeowner pays for the job twice. We would rather lose a bid than skip prep.

Ask any painter what they do before the first coat. If the answer is short, walk away. Our answer is long. That is the point.

Where Fairfax kitchens start

Honey oak from the 80s and 90s

The most common Fairfax kitchen we see. Solid oak boxes. Dated golden finish. It paints beautifully. See painting oak cabinets.

Dark cherry that shrinks the room

Dark stain makes small kitchens feel smaller. A light color opens the same room up. See cabinet color changes.

Builder white that yellowed

Older white paint yellows with age and grease. We strip it back to a clean base and respray a fresh white. See white cabinet painting.

The finish that sells it

Spraying is what makes painted cabinets look like new cabinets. Brushes leave marks. Rollers leave stipple. A fine-finish sprayer lays enamel flat. See our spray process.

Run your hand across a sprayed door. It feels like glass. That is the test. No texture. No drag. Just smooth.

How long it takes

Four to seven days for most Fairfax kitchens. Day one is removal and masking. Days two and three are prep. Days four and five are spraying. Day six is rehang. Day seven is hardware and walkthrough. See the full timeline.

You live in the house the whole time. The sink works. The stove works. The counters stay clear. Only the doors are gone, and they are at our spray setup.

After we leave: cure and care

Paint dries fast and cures slow. The finish feels dry in hours. It reaches full hardness over weeks. We give you a simple care sheet at the walkthrough. The short version: treat it gently for the first month. See curing time.

Day to day, mild soap and a soft cloth is all it needs. No abrasives. No harsh sprays. Fix drips fast. See keeping cabinets clean.

What it costs

Price follows the door and drawer count. It follows the condition of the old finish. It follows the color — dark-to-light takes more work.

A note on prices: costs go up and down. No two kitchens are the same. Treat numbers here as starting points, not quotes. Your written estimate is the real number for your project.

See our cabinet painting cost guide.

Ready when the kitchen is

Call (301) 679-9193 for a free visit. We count your doors. You get a written price.