Sprayed, on anything you look at every day. We price spraying at $40 to $100 a linear foot against $30 to $70 brushed and rolled. The extra buys you a surface with no brush marks in it. That is most of the difference between a door that looks new and one that looks painted.
When you ask Custom Cabinets Lynn why one painted kitchen looks new and another looks painted, the answer is rarely the color. It is how the paint went on. A brush leaves ridges in your paint, and those ridges only flatten while it is still wet. On a fast-setting enamel, some are still standing when it hardens.
We spray to get around that. The paint arrives as a fine mist and lands as one even film, and on a door lying flat gravity helps it level out instead of fighting it. So we take your doors off, spray them flat, and rehang them once they have hardened.
Only your doors actually leave the kitchen. We spray the frames and box edges where they stand. In a home built before 1978, that room falls under 454 CMR 22.00 once we disturb more than 6 square feet of paint. Masking against overspray is not the same work as sealing a room against lead dust. So check your sprayed quote for the containment line at $350 to $1,200, and treat one without it as a different job rather than a cheaper price.
Your paint matters here too. Benjamin Moore ADVANCE flows out like an oil-based paint without yellowing over a white door, and you can recoat it at 16 hours. If you need the kitchen back sooner, Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel recoats at 4 hours. Both reach full hardness at 30 days, however they went on.
The hardest finish is not sprayed in your house at all. Your doors leave and come back sprayed with M.L. Campbell Krystal conversion varnish, which adds $1,200 to $3,600. It hardens by chemical reaction rather than by drying. So it takes the wet sponge and the cleaner you actually use, where a finish sprayed in your kitchen does not.
Every figure here is on our cabinet cost guide, and the best paint for kitchen cabinets covers which product suits which kitchen.
Related questions
Can the boxes be sprayed with the kitchen still in use?
Yes, and that is normally how it runs. We mask and spray your face frames and box edges in place. Your doors and fronts are off being sprayed flat at the same time, which is why painting costs you days rather than the weeks new cabinetry takes.
Is brushing ever the better answer?
On a small touch-up or one replaced door, yes. Masking your whole kitchen for a single door costs more than the difference. Across a full run at $2,000 to $6,500, the sprayed finish is what you are paying for.
Does a sprayed finish chip more easily?
No, your finish is the same paint either way, and what decides chipping is the cure rather than the spray gun. Cabinet enamel needs 3 to 5 days before your shelves go back, and 30 days to harden fully. Loading it early is what marks a new finish.