Kitchen Remodelling Derby: Spray Painting vs Other Options
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If your Derby kitchen looks tired but the units themselves are still sound, spray painting is usually the fastest route back to a kitchen you enjoy being in - but it's only one of five realistic ways to get there, and picking the wrong one for your cabinets can mean paying for the job twice. This guide sets out what each option actually involves, what it tends to cost, and where it falls short, so you can weigh it against your own kitchen rather than a generic recommendation. For more detail on how the spraying itself is carried out, see our kitchen spray painting page.
Derby Kitchen Fitter carries out the spray finishing and resurfacing side of this comparison ourselves, alongside full bespoke replacement kitchens, so the advice below reflects what we see happen to cabinets on site rather than a marketing rundown of every option on the market.
Where the Spray Gun Stops and Full Joinery Takes Over
- Full cabinet clean-down and degreasing before any primer goes on
- Dust-free, factory-grade spraying carried out on-site rather than a brush-and-roller job
- Colour matching to specific paint ranges such as Farrow & Ball or Little Greene
- Primer and protective topcoat sealing system to extend the life of the finish
- Vinyl wrap and uPVC door refinishing where a laminate or foil-wrapped door needs resurfacing rather than a respray
- Bespoke replacement cabinetry built by joiners with City & Guilds training and a bench-joinery background, from Shaker to handleless designs
- Worktop templating and fitting in granite, quartz, Dekton, Corian and Minerva where a replacement includes new surfaces
- Legal removal and disposal of old units and materials as a registered waste carrier
Not Included / Costed Separately
- Brush-and-roller traditional painting as a standalone service - our spray set-up is built for a dust-free sprayed finish, not brush work, so this stays a DIY option in this guide rather than something we quote for
- Cabinet refacing (new doors or veneer over the existing box) isn't one of our specialisms - we'll say so honestly if it would suit your kitchen better than a respray or full replacement
- Structural repairs to damaged, swollen or water-affected carcasses are assessed and quoted separately, since spraying and resurfacing only work on cabinets that are sound to start with
- Gas hob or range disconnection and reconnection during a replacement is carried out by our Gas Safe registered engineers and quoted as part of the fit, not included in a spray-painting price
From First Look at Your Cabinets to a Finished Kitchen
- Free design visit -- We look at your actual cabinets in person - checking carcass condition, door material and layout - rather than quoting from a phone description, and talk through which of the five options in this guide genuinely applies to your kitchen.
- Written, itemised quote -- Once it's clear whether you're looking at a respray, resurfacing or a full replacement, you get a written price with no hidden extras, plus CAD options if a full replacement is on the table.
- The work itself -- A respray or resurfacing is typically carried out on-site over 3-7 days with a dust-free spray set-up; a full replacement is project-managed with every trade - joinery, plumbing, electrics and gas - scheduled and supervised.
- Sign-off and guarantee paperwork -- A final walk-through confirms the finish or fit meets the brief, old units and materials are removed legally as a registered waste carrier, and your 5-year labour and installation guarantee, plus 2-year guarantee on products, is put in writing.
Getting an Accurate Price for Your Own Kitchen
The cost ranges set out above for each option are a fair general guide, but the figure on your own quote depends on the run of units, the condition of your existing carcasses, and how many coats a difficult colour change needs to cover properly. Because of that we don't quote a fixed price over the phone - the same free design visit that shows you CAD options for a replacement also lets us look at your existing cabinets in person and confirm which of these five options is genuinely realistic before anything goes in writing.
Spray Painting vs Refacing vs Replacement at a Glance
| Option | Typical Cost | Typical Timeframe | Best For | Main Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spray Painting | £600-£1,200 | 3-5 days | Sturdy cabinets needing a colour or style change | Only works if the carcasses are structurally sound |
| Cabinet Refacing | £2,000-£4,000 | 4-7 days | A style update without changing the layout | Layout and functionality can't be improved |
| Full Replacement | £5,000-£20,000+ | Several weeks to months | Old, damaged or badly laid-out kitchens | Highest cost and the most disruption |
| Resurfacing | £1,000-£3,000 | About a week | Updating worktops, cabinets and splashbacks in one job | Won't fix damaged underlying surfaces |
| Traditional Painting | £200-£600 (materials) | 5-7 days | Minor touch-ups or a DIY budget | Brush marks and uneven coverage are hard to avoid |
Why Derby Homeowners Check With Us Before Choosing a Method
The judgement call in this guide isn't always obvious until someone's standing in front of your cabinets. We've turned a planned respray into a resurfacing job on site because the doors turned out to be foil-wrapped over chipboard, and a sprayed finish wouldn't have held along edges that were already lifting - a five-minute check that changes the whole recommendation. We've also talked customers out of refacing when the real complaint was a cramped layout rather than tired doors, because new fronts on the same boxes were never going to move a sink away from a blind corner. That's the difference between reading a price list and 20 years of actually opening cabinet doors on Derbyshire kitchens. When the answer does turn out to be a full replacement, the same crew carries it through - joiners trained to City & Guilds standard, plumbing connections handled by tradespeople qualified to NVQ Level 2, and any gas hob or range work signed off by Gas Safe registered engineers - all backed by a 5-year labour and installation guarantee and a 2-year guarantee on products, with old units and materials taken away legally as a registered waste carrier rather than left for you to sort out.
Areas We Cover Around Derby
Derby Kitchen Fitter is based at 573 Stenson Rd in Sunny Hill, Derby, and carries out spray painting, resurfacing and full kitchen replacement across Derby and Derbyshire, plus Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. A lot of what we come across on site in areas like Alvaston, Chaddesden and Oakwood is that first wave of 1980s and 90s fitted kitchens, with foil-wrapped chipboard doors - once that foil starts lifting at the edges, a sprayed finish won't bond properly and vinyl wrap resurfacing is usually the better route, whereas the older solid timber units still found in some of the Victorian terraces around Pear Tree and Normanton generally take a respray well. The same team also travels out for design visits and installations in Chesterfield, Long Eaton, Belper, Ilkeston, Heanor, Alfreton, Swadlincote, Ripley, Matlock, Dronfield, Duffield, Wirksworth, Bakewell and Buxton, so wherever your kitchen is across that area, the free design visit and the eventual fit are carried out by the same crew rather than a subcontractor picked up locally.
Common Questions About Comparing These Options
How do I know if my cabinets are good candidates for spray painting rather than replacement?
Spray painting and resurfacing both depend on the cabinet carcasses being structurally sound. If doors are swollen from water damage, hinges have pulled loose from chipboard, or the layout itself doesn't work for how you use the kitchen, no amount of paint fixes that and refacing or replacement becomes the better option. We can normally tell during the free design visit rather than you having to guess from a price list.
Can you spray paint laminate or vinyl-wrapped doors, or only solid wood and MDF?
Alongside cabinet respraying we also carry out vinyl wrap and uPVC refinishing, so laminate and foil-wrapped doors that would otherwise need full replacement can often be resurfaced instead of ruled out.
Will spray painting my kitchen mean living without it for weeks?
No. Spraying is typically a 3-5 day job carried out on-site with a dust-free set-up, so there's far less disruption than a full replacement, which can run to several weeks once demolition, new units and finishing touches like worktops are all accounted for.
What colours can you match for a respray?
We colour-match to specific paint ranges such as Farrow & Ball and Little Greene, so if you've picked a shade from a sample pot rather than a generic paint chart, we can normally match it rather than asking you to compromise on colour.
Does cabinet refacing let me change my kitchen's layout?
No. Refacing only replaces the doors, drawer fronts and exposed cabinet surfaces, so the underlying boxes - and the layout that depends on them - stay exactly as they are. If the layout itself is the problem rather than just the finish, a full replacement is the option that actually solves it.
What happens to my old units and worktops if I go for a full replacement?
As a registered waste carrier we remove and dispose of old units and materials legally as part of the job, so you're not left arranging separate skip hire or a waste collection yourself.
Is a DIY brush-painted finish as durable as a professionally sprayed one?
Generally not. Brush and roller application takes longer to dry, is more prone to visible brush marks, and tends to need more frequent touch-ups than a sprayed finish sealed with a protective topcoat. It's a reasonable choice for a minor touch-up on a tight budget, but it's not something we offer as a professional respray service ourselves.
Is a DIY brush-painted finish as durable as a professionally sprayed one?
Generally not. Brush and roller application takes longer to dry, is more prone to visible brush marks, and tends to need more frequent touch-ups than a sprayed finish sealed with a protective topcoat. It's a reasonable choice for a minor touch-up on a tight budget, but it's not something we offer as a professional respray service ourselves.
Not Sure Which Option Fits Your Kitchen?
A few minutes looking at your actual cabinets tells us far more than a price list ever can. Book the free design visit and we'll tell you honestly whether spray painting, resurfacing or a full replacement is the right call for your kitchen and your budget, backed by our 5-year installation guarantee.
Kitchen Fitters Derby, Fitted Kitchens, Derby
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