Kitchen Cabinet Update: To Stain or Paint?

In the most severe circumstances, you might replace your old cabinets, but this is a costly endeavor. Instead, you might consider hiring interior painting services to refinish your kitchen cabinets. 

Here is a helpful guide to help you decide whether to paint or stain your cabinets.

Should You Paint or Stain Your Kitchen Cabinets?

Why Stain Your Kitchen Cabinets?

Stained kitchen cabinets offer a timeless, classic look that works well in just about any type of kitchen. Staining your cabinets is a great way to emphasize the natural wood grain of these features while protecting them from moisture, heat, and impact. Also, if you’re thinking about the ROI of your kitchen update, note that stained kitchen cabinets tend to appeal to a wider range of prospective home buyers, increasing the value of your home overall. Plus, having your cabinets stained is often somewhat cheaper than having them painted, and less maintenance is typically required as well.

As for the downsides of staining, your aesthetic options are limited, since stains come in fewer colors than paints. Plus, stains don’t do much to conceal surface imperfections, so if the wood has multiple dings, cracks, scratches, etc., they will be mostly visible. That said, skilled local interior painters can repair most of these imperfections prior to applying the stain.

Why Paint Your Kitchen Cabinets?

While stained cabinets are classic, painted cabinets are more modern-looking. A proper paint job can transform even the most outdated cabinets. When it comes to cabinet painting, you’re also faced with virtually unlimited color options, which is key for those who wish to establish a specific kitchen color scheme. Quality paint can hide minor surface imperfections that might otherwise come through if you were to stain your cabinets instead.

Before hiring residential interior painters to paint your cabinets, note that cabinet painting is typically more expensive than staining. On top of that, painted cabinets tend to require more maintenance than stained cabinets.

To Stain or to Paint? The Bottom Line

By now it’s probably clear that there is no objective winner regarding painting vs. staining your kitchen cabinets. The decision you make ultimately depends on your preferences, budget, and goals. If you want to show off your beautiful wooden cabinets and/or retain a classic kitchen aesthetic, hire residential painting contractors to stain your cabinets; If you want to introduce specific colors to your kitchen and/or modernize its look, seek an interior painting service to paint your cabinets. If you’re still on the fence, reach out to Endure Painting. Our painting and staining professionals can help you make the right call for your kitchen cabinets and get to work when the time comes.

For more information regarding our skills and services, call us at (510) 458-2120 or send us an email at hello@endurepainting.com.