Cabinet painting and staining in Oklahoma City and Tulsa
A new kitchen for a fraction of a remodel, if the finish is built to last. Danco cleans, deglosses, primes, and sprays every door, because skipping the degloss is why painted cabinets chip in a year.
10% off qualifying jobs of $2,500 and up
- Licensed and insured
- Workmanship guarantee
- Owner-run
- Free estimates
- No job too big or small
Paint, stain, or replace
Painting gives you any color and hides the wood grain partially or fully. It is the right call for the honey oak and builder-grade kitchens from the 1980s through the 2000s that fill Edmond, Broken Arrow, and south Tulsa. Staining keeps the wood look and works when the doors are solid wood in good shape and you want them darker or richer, not a different color. Replacing makes sense when boxes are falling apart, the layout is wrong, or doors are thermofoil that is peeling, which does not take a finish well.
Danco will tell you which of the three fits your doors after seeing them. Sometimes the honest answer is that a particular door material should not be painted, and you want to hear that before paying for it.
The finish system, step by step
Painted cabinets fail for one reason: the finish never bonded to the door. Kitchen cabinets are covered in years of cooking grease and most came with a factory clear coat that paint will not stick to. Here is the Danco sequence.
- Doors and drawer fronts come off, get numbered, and hinges and hardware are bagged by location.
- Degrease. Every surface is cleaned with a degreaser, not just wiped. Grease under paint is a guaranteed peel.
- Degloss and sand. The factory finish is scuffed so the primer has something to grab. This is the step that gets skipped on cheap jobs and the reason they chip within a year or two.
- Fill and repair. Dings, old hardware holes if you are changing pulls, and open oak grain if you want a smooth look.
- Bonding primer. A primer made for slick surfaces, sprayed on, then sanded smooth.
- Sprayed enamel, two coats. A hard cabinet-grade enamel, sprayed for a smooth factory finish with no brush marks. Boxes are sprayed in place with the kitchen masked off; doors are sprayed flat on racks.
- Cure, then rehang. Doors go back on with hinges adjusted. The finish keeps hardening for a couple of weeks, so be gentle with it early.
Timeline and living without a kitchen
Most kitchens take about a week from doors-off to doors-on, depending on the number of doors and how much prep the wood needs. The kitchen stays usable the whole time: the boxes are masked and sprayed in a day or two, and you can cook with doors off. Plan on a few days of eating around the project and keep the dishwasher and sink clear of masking. Danco gives you the schedule before anything comes off the hinges.
About those oak cabinets
A lot of kitchens in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metros were built in the oak years, and oak has an open grain that shows through paint as a faint texture. Some people like that; it reads as real wood. If you want a smooth, modern surface, the grain gets filled before primer, which adds a step and some cost. Danco will show you a sample of each on one of your own doors so you choose with your eyes, not from a description. Pair cabinets with interior painting on the walls and the kitchen is finished in one project.
Cabinet painters for OKC, Tulsa, and the towns between
Cabinet painting in Oklahoma City and Edmond; cabinet refinishing in Tulsa, Broken Arrow, and Owasso; and kitchens from Bristow to Stillwater. Full list of service areas.
Licensed and insured. Workmanship guarantee on the finish. Read the reviews, then request a free estimate.
What cabinet work looks like
Kitchens with a sprayed finish, doors off and doors back on. The before matters as much as the after.
Some of these photos are illustrative; the rest are Danco jobs. More are added as they are shot.
Cabinet painting questions
With a proper system (degrease, degloss, bonding primer, sprayed cabinet enamel) they hold up for many years of daily use. The painted cabinets that chip in a year or two almost always skipped the degreasing or deglossing step. Danco does not skip either.
Spray. Doors and drawer fronts are sprayed flat on racks; boxes are sprayed in place with the kitchen masked. Spraying gives the smooth factory look brushing cannot.
Yes. Doors are off for about a week, but the sink, stove, and fridge stay usable except during the day or two the boxes are being sprayed.
Yes, by filling the grain before primer. It adds a step and some cost. Danco will show you a filled and an unfilled sample on your own door so you can decide.
Painting is a fraction of the cost of new cabinets and keeps your layout. Replacing makes sense when the boxes are failing or the doors are peeling thermofoil that will not take a finish. Danco will tell you which one it is.
Other work we do
Thinking about painting the cabinets?
Send Danco a photo of the kitchen and describe the look you want. Danco will come see the doors in person, talk paint versus stain, and put the price in writing.
10% off qualifying jobs of $2,500 and up