Cost to Paint Kitchen Cabinets Calculator
A typical kitchen hides 30–40 doors and drawer fronts. Count yours, enter your painter’s per-unit price, add labor and a buffer, and get a planning cost to paint kitchen cabinets built for a real spray-and-enamel job.
A kitchen of 36 doors and drawer fronts at $80.00 each plus labor is about $3,828.00. A typical kitchen has 30–40 doors + drawer fronts; a proper cabinet job is degrease → sand → prime → two spray coats of a hard enamel — enter your painter’s per-unit price.
Calculator inputs
“How much to paint my kitchen cabinets?” is really “how many pieces do I have, and what is your per-piece price?” Kitchens are piece-dense — a modest galley still runs 30–40 doors and drawer fronts once you count the uppers, the lowers, the pantry and the little corner cabinet — so the count almost always surprises people upward.
A proper cabinet job is a sequence, not a coat: degrease → sand → prime → two spray coats of a hard enamel, ideally sprayed off the cabinet in a controlled space. That labor per piece is what your per-unit price buys. Enter your real count and price here; if you want a general cabinet estimate (bath vanities, a laundry run), use the cabinet painting cost tool, and weigh paint against a refresh with the refinishing cost tool.
Formula
The same per-unit sum as any cabinet job, with kitchen counts:
total = ((doors + drawers) × $/unit + labor) × (1 + contingency%)
- doors + drawers — every kitchen door and drawer front, counted.
- $/unit — your painter’s per-piece spray price.
- labor — boxes/frames and heavy degreasing if quoted separately.
- contingency — a labeled 5–10% planning buffer.
Worked example
A kitchen with 24 doors + 12 drawer fronts = 36 pieces at $80 each, $600 of box/frame labor, 10% contingency:
((36 × $80) + $600) × 1.10 = ($2,880 + $600) × 1.10 = $3,480 × 1.10 = $3,828
About $3,828. If your count is really 40 pieces rather than 36, that alone is another $320 before contingency — which is exactly why you count before you price.
Measure first, avoid re-orders
The count is everything — do it twice. People routinely miss a drawer bank or a pull-out. Open every cabinet, tally on paper, then tally again. A numbered map of what came from where turns reassembly from a puzzle into a checklist.
- Grease is the enemy. Cabinets around the stove and sink need real degreasing before any sanding; skip it and the enamel peels. Budget the prep as labor, not an afterthought.
- Spray, then cure. A hard enamel needs proper recoat and cure time before doors go back on — plan for the kitchen to be partly out of service for several days.
- Hardware and hinges add up. New hinges, pulls or soft-close upgrades are their own line — keep them out of the per-unit paint price.
- Keep the buffer. One stubborn door or a color that needs a third pass is what the 10% covers.
Reference table
Labeled cabinet planning bands — a sanity check only. You enter your real per-unit price; cost swings with door style, spray vs brush, the number of coats, degreasing and how much boxes/frames work is included.
| Basis | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Paint, per door or drawer front | $50.00–$100.00 |
| Paint, per sq ft of cabinet face | $30.00–$60.00 |
| Reface, per linear foot of run | $150.00–$350.00 |