Almost every kitchen conversation we have at 3S Painting LLC starts the same way. A homeowner in Columbus or somewhere in Central Ohio is standing in a kitchen with a solid layout, decent boxes, and cabinets that just look tired. Dated color. Yellowed finish. Maybe a few doors that have taken a beating near the stove.
The question is always some version of: do I refinish these, or do I rip them out and start over?
It’s a fair question, and the honest answer depends on your cabinets — not on what any contractor wants to sell you. Here’s a straight comparison of cost, time, disruption, and durability so you can decide before you ever pick up the phone.
The Short Version
Refinish when your cabinet boxes are structurally sound, the layout works for how you cook, and your complaint is about how they look.
Replace when boxes are water-damaged or delaminating, the layout genuinely doesn’t function, or you’re moving plumbing, appliances, and walls anyway.
The majority of kitchens we look at fall into the first category. Cabinet boxes — especially solid wood or quality plywood construction — routinely outlast their finish by decades. Throwing out sound cabinetry because the color is dated is an expensive way to solve a surface problem.
Cost: What You’re Actually Paying For
Exact numbers depend on kitchen size, door count, material, and finish, so we quote after seeing your kitchen rather than off a chart. But the relationship between the two options holds pretty consistently:
Cabinet refinishing typically lands somewhere in the range of one-quarter to one-third of the cost of comparable new cabinetry. You’re paying for labor, materials, and craftsmanship — not for new boxes, delivery, demolition, disposal, or the trades that follow a demo.
Full replacement carries costs beyond the cabinets themselves. Once boxes come out, you’re usually looking at new countertops (old ones rarely survive removal), backsplash work, possible electrical and plumbing adjustments, flooring patched where the old footprint sat, and disposal of everything you tore out.
That’s the part homeowners miss. Replacement isn’t a cabinet project. It’s a kitchen renovation, and the cabinets are one line item in it.
Time and Disruption: The Real Difference
This is where the two options separate most dramatically.
Cabinet refinishing with 3S Painting LLC:
Typically 4 to 7 working days for an average kitchen
Doors and drawer fronts are removed, labeled, and finished off-site or in a controlled area
Boxes and face frames are finished in place with the area masked and contained
Your kitchen stays functional through most of the process — you keep your countertops, your sink, and your appliances
No demolition, no dumpster in the driveway, no waiting on cabinet delivery dates
Full replacement:
Commonly 3 to 8 weeks from demo to finished, and often longer
Cabinet lead times alone can run several weeks before work begins
Kitchen is unusable for a meaningful stretch of that
Multiple trades scheduled in sequence, and a delay in one pushes everything behind it
Dust and debris well beyond what a refinishing job generates
If you’re trying to get a kitchen presentable before an event, a listing, or the holidays, that timeline difference usually decides it on its own.
Durability: Why Prep Is the Whole Story
Here’s the objection we hear most: doesn’t painted cabinetry chip and peel?
Poorly prepped cabinetry does. Properly prepped cabinetry does not. The difference is entirely in the process, and it’s why 3S Painting LLC treats prep as the job rather than as a step before the job.
What our cabinet refinishing process actually involves:
Thorough degreasing. Kitchen cabinets carry years of cooking residue, especially around the range and above the sink. Any finish applied over that grease will fail, no matter how good the product is. We clean every surface down before we touch it with sandpaper.
Full sanding and profiling. We scuff and sand every door, drawer front, face frame, and box surface to give the primer a mechanical bond instead of relying on chemistry alone.
Repairs and filling. Dings, gouges, and old hardware holes get filled and sanded flush.
Bonding primer. A dedicated adhesion primer suited to the substrate — different for oak, maple, thermofoil, or previously finished surfaces.
Spray-applied finish coats. This is what separates professional cabinet work from a weekend project. Sprayed cabinet-grade coatings from Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore lay down without brush marks or roller texture, producing the smooth factory-look finish people expect from new cabinetry.
Proper cure time. Cabinet coatings need time to harden into a durable film. We don’t rehang doors early to finish a day sooner.
Done this way, a refinished kitchen holds up to daily use for many years. Done without the degreasing and sanding, it starts peeling around the handles within a season. That’s the entire difference, and it’s not visible on day one — which is exactly why the contractor you choose matters.
Finish Options You Actually Have
Refinishing doesn’t limit you the way people assume:
Full color change, including light-over-dark and dark-over-light
Sheen selection — satin and semi-gloss are the practical choices for kitchens, balancing cleanability against how much they show surface imperfection
Two-tone kitchens, with a different color on the island or lower cabinets
New hardware installed as part of the job, including filling and re-drilling for different pull spacing
Coordinated trim and interior work, since we’re already in the space
If you’re not sure what direction to go, our color consulting is part of the conversation. You can also browse finished kitchens in our transformation gallery.
When We’ll Tell You to Replace Instead
We’d rather lose a job than take one that doesn’t serve you. We’ll recommend replacement over refinishing when:
Cabinet boxes show water damage, swelling, or delamination
Particleboard construction is sagging or crumbling
The layout genuinely doesn’t work and you’re prepared to renovate
Doors are damaged beyond reasonable repair across most of the kitchen
That’s an honest assessment, delivered before you’ve spent anything.
Why Columbus Homeowners Call 3S Painting LLC
We’re locally owned and operated, Jim is involved in the work directly, and our approach doesn’t change with the season:
Written workmanship warranty on the work we perform
Honest, fair pricing year-round — no inflated numbers, no manufactured urgency
Prep-first process that determines whether a finish lasts one year or fifteen
Central Ohio roots, with a reputation built one kitchen at a time
James Schrienk, a resident of Columbus, OH, is the proud owner of 3S Painting. With a wealth of experience in managing businesses of various scales, his expertise lies in project and people management. Jim thrives in team environments, always focusing on labor efficiency and delivering high-quality client results. His leadership style and practical communication skills have made him an exceptional manager and a driving force behind the success of 3S Painting. When he’s not leading his team to excellence, Jim enjoys continuously exploring innovative strategies to improve customer satisfaction.
