Hiring A Pro vs DIY Kitchen Cabinets: The ONLY Time To Hire A Pro

There are lots and lots of super crafty homeowners out there. Some people have great natural ability and like to work with their hands. Others are thrifty and don’t like to pay someone for work they can do themselves. Others still enjoy the challenge of taking on a new task just so they can say “I DID IT!” With all of this in mind, when – if ever – does it make sense to hire a pro to paint kitchen cabinets?

Just Add Paint Cabinet Painters Refinishers — **Kitchen project in Mechanicsburg by Just Add Paint. Yes this comes with a warranty.**

Let’s face it, all of the above are pretty good reasons to go it alone! Not to mention that Google, Facebook, and YouTube have already done the research for us, and in some cases even provide online lessons and tutorials. With all information in the universe at our fingertips, is there EVER a time that shelling out the money for painting kitchen cabinets makes sense? I can think of only one occasion where hiring a pro is the only way to go…

Let me preface this by saying that, as a professional cabinet painter I may be a little biased toward hiring a pro. But it is not for the reasons one would think. I am, actually, all for saving money any time and place you can. I enjoy working with my hands, and also appreciate the satisfaction of building ANYTHING. But cabinet painting is specialized, and the amount of calls our company gets to fix botched painted cabinets jobs is STAGGERING. And there is nothing that pains me more than seeing homeowners attempting to improve and update their homes, only to cause more harm than good. So, I feel strongly that the only time to hire a professional cabinet painter is when you are trying to add value to your home.

Sherwin Willimas Needle Point Navy — **Painted Kitchen Cabinet replacement door sample by Just Add Paint in Mechanicsburg**

Of course, one would never intentionally do anything that would damage the value of their home. But it happens very regularly with cabinets. People don’t realize that even highly skilled house painters often lack the knowledge to be able to paint cabinets in a way that will both look good and also hold up over time. It takes the right products, the right skill set, and most important – years of PRACTICE.

I have the same conversation with our realtor friends over and over. “They thought they were doing something good but ended up making things worse”. Sometimes this is from homeowners attempting their own cabinet painting, other times it is due to hiring someone who wasn’t a professional refinisher. And I am not saying this to discourage anyone from attempting their own painting. But I do think it is important to raise the awareness that it is a very difficult process, and getting it right is something that rarely – if ever – happens on a first attempt from a homeowner (or even on a 3rd attempt from a house painter).

This stuff isn’t easy, and the risk of doing more harm than good is a very realistic possibility. 20-25% of the calls we get for cabinet painting are about jobs that went wrong, and that is a significant amount. All of those photos on Pinterest that inspire homeowners to attempt this work do not show 2-year follow ups. And they also do not show close ups of what a prospective buyer sees when walking through a home that is on the market. So it is worth considering hiring a pro if your intent is to RAISE THE VALUE OF YOUR HOME. Particularly if you plan to sell your home anytime in the next several years. Professional cabinet refinishing has the price tag is does for good reason, and that is because it ADDS VALUE.

Carlisle Kitchen By Just Add Paint — Painted kitchen cabinets should add value to your home

Here is a list of the most common cabinet painting problems we get calls to fix on a daily basis. Again, this list is meant to scare anyone, but more as an educational tool to raise awareness of issues do more harm than good:

Loose and/or chipping paint resulting from inadequate surface prep. Sometimes cleaning is done with a degreaser, sometimes denatured alcohol, sometimes Naphtha. Sandpaper grits of 60-400 can be required. It is tough to know which will work best without painting dozens of sets of cabinets and without attending classes with experts on the subject.
Loose and/or chipping paint resulting from using the wrong primer. There are endless types of primers out there, it is hard to know what works best without years of trial and error.

Failing cabinet paint — **Paint failure due to improper surface prep/incorrect primer**

Loose and/or chipping paint resulting from using the wrong paint. If you are not sure of the difference between house paint, urethane, oil-based paint, pigmented polyurethane, conversion varnish, and lacquer, you may not want to attempt to paint cabinets.
Grease absorption around door handles resulting from using the wrong paint. This is probably the most common issue on the list, and results from using house paint that does not meet KCMA/Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturer Association criteria.

Paint failure around cabinet handle — **Paint failure around handle due to hand grease absorption**

Unprofessional looking texture from brushes/roller. I would argue that this takes years of practice to get correct, and also requires a lot or trial and error with different applicators to find the right one.
Wow that color is…. SOMETHING. Looking to sell your house in the next several years? Paint your cabinets White or something VERY neutral. Style specific painted cabinets can be an expensive problem when selling your home.

I will end this cabinet painting blog with a few resources that have been helpful to many over the years…

If you are planning to hire a cabinet refinisher, start here: https://www.justaddpaint.net/hire-contractor-paint-kitchen-cabinets

This is a massive compilation of information form the largest group designed for DIY cabinet painting. There is also lots of input from pros that will increase your chances for success: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PaintingKitchenCabinetsforProfit

Interested in what some blogging pros are doing on a daily basis? Go to your favorite social platform and check out: Denny Jahnz from Cabinet Renu https://www.facebook.com/denny.jahnz. Eric Reason from Test Don’t Guess https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkVLWAR0_FmBWKSD7DzPUdQ. Nick Slavik from Ask a Painter https://www.facebook.com/askapainter. And Yanni Fikiris from Custom Renovations and Sprayman Group https://www.facebook.com/cabinetrefinishers. These are all folks who have inspired the author to keep learning over the years.