Time Required to Paint Cabinets
How Much Time Does Cabinet Painting require?
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“When you consider other large home projects, the time required to paint kitchen cabinets is relatively little.”

But really, how much time DOES it take?
The truth is, the time required to paint the kitchen cabinets in a medium-sized kitchen is relatively small compared to other like-sized home improvement projects. Not only is it one of the most affordable upgrades you can do to your home, but it is also the most time-efficient. It takes an average of 3 days to complete the painting of a medium-sized kitchen. You heard right, 3 days. Day 1 includes removal of cabinet doors where they are taken to our shop, prepped, and painted. Day 2 involves preparing the kitchen for painting. This involves taping and masking off everything that is not to be painted and building a protective plastic bubble around the kitchen. The kitchen is typically painted on that same day. Day 3 involves the removal of masking and all materials, replacing the doors, and attending to the final details.Â
Day 1. Cabinet Painting Time = 90 minutes
Day 1 includes removal of cabinet doors where they are taken to our shop, prepped, and painted. This process occurs in the morning and typically takes about 90 minutes. This hour and a half is the only time that we will spend in your home on Day 1. We will take the doors carefully to our shop where we wash, sand, prime and paint them. Â
Day 2. Cabinet Painting Time = 1 full day
Day 2 involves preparing the kitchen for painting and then painting the boxes, and drawers. This process involves protecting surfaces that aren’t to be painted by taping and masking off floor, appliances, countertops, walls, drawer and cabinet door openings, etc. We then build a protective plastic bubble around the kitchen to completely contain the sanding and painting process. The kitchen is typically painted on that same day (or the next day for larger kitchens).Â
Day 3. Cabinet Painting Time = 1 full day.
Day 3 involves the removal of masking and all materials, replacing the doors, and attending to the final details. Removal of masking means we remove all the paper and tape from the floor, countertops, appliances, walls, drawer and cabinet door openings, etc. We then attend to any touch-ups if necessary. We replace the doors and hardware in the exact position they were removed from. Again, we attend to any details to create a near-perfect result. Finally, we remove the bubble.Â
A few more things to consider about time required to paint kitchen cabinets.
As with any project, there will always be some unknowns that your painting contractor must deal with and those things can take some extra time. Your painting contractor should let you know when and if these things arise and keep you updated as to your finish time. Also, if you have a larger kitchen it will naturally take more time. Stand-alone islands, butler pantries, glass in cabinet doors can all affect the final time required to complete your cabinet painting project.Â