factory painted or painted on site

16 years ago

If you have painted cabinets, were they done at the factory or on site? Is there advantages/disadvantages? My builder is quite leery of cabinets painted on site, but friends have done it wit a lot of success. What are your thoughts?

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Comments (8)

kelleg69
Original Author
16 years ago
I am trying to bump this up to see if any of you can tell me how your painted cabinets got painted--at the factory or at your house. Thanks!
borngrace
16 years ago
We had mock up done of one of the cabinets doors. To me the factory finish looked plastic so we got the maple cabinets clear coated on the inside and unfinished on the outside (except for the glass front which were raw wood inside and out because we were painting the insides of those also. I wanted the look of hand painted cabinets -- total pain btw but to me a much nicer look.
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ahneb
16 years ago
Hi Kelleg --

I answered you under the knobs too many thread. The factory finish on my cabinets is nice but definitely more plastic-y than doing it onsite. Check out Pirula's kitchen -- she painted her cabinets herself! They were gorgeous but as I recall she said the paint was spendy and it was a pain in the butt.

ahne b
peggross1
16 years ago
The factory finish is free of brush strokes. It's a sprayed-on type of finish. We had a similar paint job done on the trim in our current house and I really dislike the way it looks. That said, I love how it looks on my new house's kitchen and bathroom cabinets. I probably would have liked site-painted better, but who knows, really.

The way it was explained to me is, if it is factory finished, you get a more perfectly uniform and more durable paint job. But, if there is damage down the road, you can't touch it up and have it look well.

If it is site-painted, your finish won't be as strong, but touch-ups down the road can blend very nicely.

We are having our mudroom area bench w/drawers and surrounding beadboard painted on site b/c I predict a need for touch ups due to abuse from my kids and their friends.
kelleg69
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you all. Strange because my builder really likes that factory finish. I think it is interesting that some of you prefer the look of stuff done on site!!! He makes it sound like I would be settling to have it painted on site, but maybe it gives a different look that I would prefer. I will need to see some cabinets done both ways in person. Thanks for the insight.

Sorry Ahne B that I missed your response. I will go check it out!
natal
16 years ago
Ours are custom ...done locally in a shop. He sprayed, but has already done touchups with a brush. I had hand-painted cabinets in the old kitchen. Painting is an art, so keep that in mind when you're interviewing cabinet finishers.
User
16 years ago
The advantages of a factory paint job is the uniformity of the coverage, as well as the UV cured catalytic varnish topcoat which makes a modern factory finish cabinet virtually impervious to damage. Some of the more spendy lines even have "hand painted" doors if the "plastic" look of sprayed cabinets is wrong for you. THen they are covered by the clearcoat for durability. Best of both worlds, but expensive.

The downside (or upside, depending on your viewpoint) of site painted cabinetry is brushstrokes and lack of durability. Site painted cabinetry also has a problem with trash getting into the finish that you don't get even from a custom cabinet maker who at least paints off site in his clean room. There is NO way I'd want a site finished cabinetry for my home. I'd at least want the better quality job done off site in a controlled environment, even if the cabinet maker didn't have the technological capability to use the catalytic varnish topcoat, at least the finish wouldn't have dust and hairs in it.
lisa_sandiego
16 years ago
Ours were painted on site. By spray. They converted our garage into a factory.