Cabinet Refinishing in Summerville, SC
A new-looking kitchen for a fraction of replacement cost — sprayed to a hard, factory-smooth finish that survives daily family use.
Your cabinets are probably fine. The finish isn't.
Most kitchens people want to rip out have solid boxes and solid doors. What's dated is the color and the sheen — honey oak, dark cherry, a builder-grade beige that stopped looking current a decade ago.
Replacing the whole kitchen means demolition, weeks without a working room, and a bill that starts in five figures. Refinishing keeps everything that works and changes the thing you don't like, for a fraction of the cost.
It's the highest-impact-per-dollar job in a house. Nothing else changes how a home feels as much for as little.
Refinish or replace?
We'll tell you straight which one your kitchen needs — including when it's not us.
| Refinishing (us) | Full replacement | |
|---|---|---|
| Relative cost | A fraction of replacement | Highest |
| Typical time | About five days | Weeks |
| Kitchen usable throughout | No | No |
| Changes color & sheen | Yes | Yes |
| Demolition & disposal | None | Whole kitchen out |
| Changes layout | No | Yes |
| Best when… | Boxes and doors are sound, you dislike the color | Layout is wrong or boxes are failing |
When we'll tell you not to refinish: if your boxes are swollen from a long-term leak, if the doors are delaminating particle board, or if what you want is a different layout. Painting those is money badly spent, and we'd rather say so at the consultation than take the job.
A five-day process, day by day
Cabinets are the one surface in a house where technique is instantly visible. Here's exactly what each day is for.
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Day 1
Label, disassemble & prep
Every door and drawer front is labeled before it comes off, so it goes back exactly where it started. Countertops and appliances masked, kitchen walled off in plastic.
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Day 2
Clean & degrease
Kitchen surfaces carry years of cooking grease and nothing bonds to it. Every surface is cleaned and degreased before a single coat goes on.
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Day 3
Two coats of primer
A urethane bonding primer, or a B-I-N shellac primer depending on the substrate. This is the step that separates a finish lasting a decade from one chipping within a year.
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Day 4
Two coats of topcoat
Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel or Gallery Series, or a specialty European coating like Renner or Evo. Thin, even coats — no brush marks, no roller stipple.
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Day 5
Reassemble & final cleanup
Doors, drawer fronts and hardware go back where they were labeled to go. Containment comes down, the kitchen gets a final clean, and it's yours again.
Sprayed in a dedicated shop
On most jobs your doors and drawer fronts go to a spray shop with its own booth space, run by the finisher we work with. Controlled conditions, no dust, and a finish that's genuinely hard to match in a kitchen.
It also means the spraying, the fumes and the overspray happen somewhere that isn't your house.
Or sprayed on site, fully contained
Some jobs are better done in place. When they are, the kitchen is enclosed and masked off from the rest of the house, with an exhaust fan venting out of a window.
We'll tell you at the consultation which approach your kitchen is getting, and why.
Be ready to lose your kitchen for the week. Whichever way the doors are sprayed, the sink, counters and appliances sit inside the containment from day one — so you're without a working kitchen for the full five days, not part of them. Plan for eating out or a temporary setup elsewhere in the house. You'll have the exact dates in writing before we start.
One thing worth knowing about cure time
Cabinet finishes are dry to the touch in hours but keep hardening for a couple of weeks. We'll tell you how to treat them during that window — mostly being gentle with the doors and not putting shelf liner straight down. Rushing this is the most common reason a refinish gets damaged, and it's entirely avoidable.
Included in every cabinet job
- Full containment. Countertops, appliances, floors and adjoining rooms sealed off from dust and overspray.
- Boxes, doors and drawer fronts all finished to match — not just the doors.
- Every door and drawer labeled before it comes off, so it goes back exactly where it started.
- Minor repairs to dings, chips and loose joints before finishing.
- Durable cabinet-grade coatings built for scrubbing, not wall paint on a door.
- A firm five-day schedule in writing, so you know the exact day you get your kitchen back.
Cabinet refinishing questions
How long will I be without a kitchen?
Five days, and we'd rather be straight with you: it's the whole five days, not part of them. The kitchen is masked off and contained from day one, and the sink, counters and appliances are all inside that containment. Plan for eating out or a temporary setup in another room. You'll have the exact dates in writing with your quote.
Will it chip around the handles and the sink?
Not if the prep was done properly. Chipping at high-contact points is almost always a bonding failure — someone skipped the degrease or the bonding primer. That's why those get a full day each, and why the topcoat is a cabinet-grade enamel rather than wall paint on a door.
Can you paint oak without the grain showing through?
Yes, but make it a deliberate choice. Oak has a deep open grain — some people love that texture under a painted finish, others want it perfectly smooth. Filling the grain for a glass-smooth result takes extra steps and costs more. We'll show you both and price them separately.
Can you do laminate or thermofoil cabinets?
Laminate, often yes, with the right bonding primer. Thermofoil is trickier — if it's peeling away from the substrate, coating it won't fix that and we'll say so. We'll assess yours at the consultation before promising anything.
What colors actually work in a Lowcountry kitchen?
Warm whites, soft greiges, deep greens and navy all wear well here and photograph beautifully if you might sell. Two-tone — lighter uppers, darker base cabinets — is popular and hides everyday wear on the cabinets that get kicked. The color consultation is free, so use it.
Find out what your kitchen would cost
Free consultation, honest advice on whether refinishing is even the right call, and a written final price before we leave. Good for 60 days.