Refinish vs reface vs paint vs replace: an Edmonton side-by-side
Cabinet Refinishing Edmonton quotes three ways to renew a kitchen with no tear-out. What separates them is how much of the original cabinetry survives. A paint job keeps every piece and changes the colour. A refinish keeps every piece and rebuilds the coating. A reface keeps the boxes only. A replacement keeps nothing at all.
| What changes | Paint | Refinish | Reface | Replace |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole kitchen, Edmonton | $3,000 to $8,000 | $4,000 to $10,000 | $6,000 to $15,000 | $15,000 to $40,000+ |
| Length of job | 5 to 10 business days | 7 to 10 business days | 3 to 5 days | About 4 to 8 weeks |
| Money kept vs new | Roughly 50 to 70 percent | Roughly 60 to 70 percent | Roughly 40 to 50 percent | Nothing kept |
| Your doors | Reused, recoloured | Reused, stripped and sprayed | Swapped for new | Swapped for new |
| Your boxes | Reused, painted | Reused, refinished | Reused, veneered | Removed |
| New door profile possible | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Cabinets can move | No | No | No | Yes |
Those figures are the published whole-kitchen ranges for Edmonton. Each door-count bracket is broken out in the 2026 cabinet price guide.
Inside a cabinet refinishing job
A refinish rebuilds a tired coating on cabinetry that is still solid underneath. The doors and drawers leave the kitchen to be sprayed, while the boxes get coated in place under masking that protects counters, floors, and appliances. The coating goes on in five stages:
- Strip away the old coating so the new one grips bare wood.
- Fill the grain so an open-grain species like oak looks smooth once coloured.
- Prime to seal the surface and give the colour a uniform base.
- Spray the colour in catalyzed lacquer, conversion varnish, or Benjamin Moore Advance.
- Seal with a clear coat across doors, drawer fronts, and boxes.
This route fits oak and other solid wood kitchens where the coating is chipped, faded, or darker than you want. Turning a dark stain into bright white or grey is priced from $5,000. The full scope is on the Edmonton kitchen cabinet refinishing page.
Inside a cabinet refacing job
A reface changes every visible surface while the boxes stay screwed to the wall. The crew fits fresh doors and drawer fronts, veneers the box faces, installs soft-close hinges, and adds new pulls. The work usually wraps in 3 to 5 days.
The door profiles on offer are shaker, flat panel, raised panel, and modern slab. Materials are solid wood, thermofoil, or MDF with a lacquer finish. Adding crown moulding along the uppers costs $800 to $2,000, and moving to solid wood adds 15 to 25 percent. Profiles and extras are covered on the Edmonton refacing service page.
Paint or refinish: reading the condition of your finish
A paint job and a refinish both reuse the doors, so the deciding factor is how healthy the current coating is.
An intact coating points to paint
A paint job cleans the surface with TSP, primes it, and sprays Benjamin Moore Advance or Sherwin-Williams ProClassic through HVLP equipment. Pricing is $3,000 to $8,000, and it suits cabinets that look dated without being damaged. Laminate and melamine accept paint once a bonding primer is down. The details are on the Edmonton cupboard painting page.
A failing coating points to a refinish
Worn edges, bare spots under the handles, or a dark stain that has to go all call for a refinish. Stripping takes the failing layer off rather than burying it, and grain filling hides the oak texture. Those added stages explain the longer schedule and the higher price compared with paint.
Rule of thumb: Paint when the doors suit you and the coating is intact. Refinish when the doors suit you and the coating is worn. Reface when the doors are the part you dislike. Replace when the boxes or the layout have failed.
Does resurfacing beat refinishing on value?
Resurfacing, the other common name for refacing, delivers value when the boxes are solid and the doors are what you want to lose. The price is above a refinish, yet it is the one option below replacement that alters the door profile, and it is done in 3 to 5 days.
Refacing is also how worn thermofoil gets fixed. Thermofoil tends to peel, bubble, or yellow beside stoves and dishwashers after years of heat, and paint will not stay on a film that is lifting. Measured against new cabinets at $15,000 to $35,000 or more, with about 4 to 8 weeks of tear-out and building, a reface costs roughly 40 to 50 percent less.
Resurfacing is poor value when the current doors already suit you, because a refinish delivers a fresh coating for less. It is also poor value on boxes with water damage, since new fronts need a sound frame to hang from. That call is explained in the refinish or buy new guide.
Best fix for each cabinet problem
| What you see today | Recommended route | Edmonton price |
|---|---|---|
| Coating intact, colour feels dated | Paint | $3,000 to $8,000 |
| Wood coating worn or chipped | Refinish | $4,000 to $10,000 |
| Dark stain, want bright white or grey | Stain-to-paint conversion | $5,000+ |
| Door profile you dislike | Reface | $6,000 to $15,000 |
| Thermofoil peeling or bubbling | Reface | $6,000 to $15,000 |
| Boxes damaged or layout changing | Replace | $15,000 to $40,000+ |
Refinishing or refacing near me: Edmonton and nearby towns
Cabinet Refinishing Edmonton prices paint, refinish, and reface work in Edmonton, St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Spruce Grove, Leduc, Beaumont, and Fort Saskatchewan. It begins with a free consultation, and texting door photos to 587-855-4920 gets you a range sooner. Every job is backed by a 5-year written workmanship warranty. The town list lives on the Edmonton region coverage page.