Repaint vs respray kitchen units

[LaPalmaLlama]

We are moving in a few months and I want to repaint the kitchen units as the kitchen is good quality but I'm just not keen on the colour. I'm researching painting vs spraying and then also considering doing it myself if I paint them.

Has anyone done this and can tell me how easy it is? Don't want it to look amateurish/ brush marks everywhere! Also, any advice on whether spraying or painting looks better?

Any advice on paint brands if DIY?

TIA

I'm interested in hearing about respraying experiences for our new house. In our old house I hand painted the cabinets and it looked OK but not great. I wouldn't do it again.

I don't know the difference in cost, but we had our brown wood cabinets painted French Grey by a decorator. It looks good, but then the brown wood looked bleurgh. :D All I know is I don't have the patience to do it, and that you need to use a really good undercoat/base coat to key the top coat. I would think that a spray paint would look smoother though?

The u/c was by Zinsser.

Thanks. I’m erring towards getting someone to spray them. In my head I’m calmly painting in a sunny clear kitchen when I know the reality is going to be boxes everywhere I can’t unpack because I haven’t finished painting the kitchen and toast crumbs stuck to wet paint 🤣

Please don't paint them yourself unless you really have a knack for painting and know what you're doing.

I repainted our kitchen during lockdown. I did all the research, used all the recommended products, did everything the internet said...and four years on its not held up at all. The main cabinet panels themselves are all still looking great, but the edges and hinges on all of them are showing the wear.

It also took such a bloody long time that I'd never recommend anyone do it themselves. It took about five coats on each individual door for the colour to look good rather than patchy.

We had our cabinets professionally re sprayed and cost us around £900 last year for a decent sized kitchen. They paint them in the same paint used by Howdens etc so it's hard wearing. We changed the worktops too and updated the splash a k and it looks like a brand new kitchen. I wouldn't want to think how poor a job I would have done myself in co parison tbh.

@Plumtop11 - where are you based? Would you recommend the company you used?

Im also debating this very issue…

Wow that’s a good price. I was quoted £600 to spray a dresser! I was also quoted £800 for it to be hand painted. It’s still sitting there waiting for me to spring into action 😂

Ha ha- I think I'm persuaded. It would likely take me weeks to DIY and likely look terrible as I'd get bored and get really slapdash.

I'm going to get a quote for a spray. The company I saw basically takes it all off site to the extent possible and sprays in a factory so hopefully will look good.

I had a quote for a respray closer to £3k - I decided I didn't mind the colour of the units as much as I thought I did!😂

I was also thinking about painting my kitchen cabinets - sounds like I should leave it to the professionals! @Plumtop11 could you give details on the company you used, please? Or does anyone else have any recommendations?

@Ohyeahwaitaminute @useruserna yes I would recommend, we used them to re spray our windows too.

We are based in North East Lincolnshire, the company is called Lincs UPVC Spray Painting. They do travel up to an hour ish

Thanks @Powderblue1 … sadly I’m more than an hours drive from there.

I’ve been quoted similar but I’m still a bit tempted because the kitchen is such good quality it would probably be like 30k to replace. Just seems madness to strip it all out and tbh I can do without the disruption as well.

Have you considered getting them vinyl wrapped?

Spray. Definitely spray. I spray everything. Emulsion for walls and ceilings, gloss on woodwork. I haven't done kitchen units, but have done other furniture. The finish is fantastic.

There is a fair amount of masking necessary, but overall it is worth it. I have an airless spray gun and an air sprayer. Tend to use the airless for large volume and the air for small volume.

My smallish kitchen was sprayed for £1600 incl VAT and it took a day. They used some kind of "finish", it's not really paint, and it's lasted very well. PM if you want details.