Kitchen Respray Costs UK 2026 — Price to Spray Paint Kitchen Cabinets

How Much Does a Kitchen Respray Cost?

Most reputable sprayers price either per door (including drawer fronts and end panels) or by the day. As a rule of thumb, the per-door rate runs from £45 to £90 depending on prep, finish and access. That translates into the following typical ranges for a complete respray of doors, drawer fronts and visible cabinet frames:

• Small galley or single-wall kitchen (8–12 doors): from £800
• Average kitchen (15–25 doors): £1,200–£2,500
• Large or high-end kitchen (25+ doors, island, dresser units): £3,000+

The headline reason customers go down this route is value. A new fitted kitchen of equivalent size typically costs £6,000–£15,000+ once you factor in units, worktops, fitting and making good. A respray achieves a comparable visual transformation for roughly 50–70% less — and with far less disruption, because the kitchen stays in place and usable for most of the job.

What a Kitchen Respray Actually Includes

The price of a respray is almost entirely about preparation — the spraying itself is the quick bit. A proper professional process looks like this:

• Degrease: Kitchen surfaces carry years of airborne cooking grease. Every door and frame is cleaned with a degreaser and tack-wiped. Skip this and the paint will not bond.
• Sand / key: The existing surface is abraded so the primer can grip. Vinyl-wrapped and gloss surfaces especially need a thorough key.
• Fill: Dents, chips, old handle holes (if handles are changing) and damaged edges are filled and sanded flush.
• Prime: A specialist adhesion primer is applied — this is the step that makes or breaks durability on slippery factory finishes.
• Spray topcoat: Usually a 2K (two-pack) polyurethane or lacquer, applied in two or more coats for a hard, self-levelling, factory-like finish.

The 2K finish is the key differentiator. Two-pack polyurethane cures through a chemical reaction with a hardener rather than just drying, which gives it the scratch resistance and wipe-clean durability a kitchen demands. A respray done in standard water-based trade emulsion or eggshell will look fine for a few weeks and then chip around the handles — so always confirm what paint system a sprayer is quoting.

In-Situ vs Spray-Shop

There are two ways to spray a kitchen, and the choice affects both price and finish.

In-situ means the kitchen is sprayed in the home. Doors and drawers may be taken off and sprayed flat on trestles in a masked-off room or garage, while the cabinet frames are masked and sprayed in place. It's less disruptive, the kitchen comes back together quickly, and it suits most domestic jobs. The trade-off is dust control and overspray management — a good in-situ sprayer spends serious time masking floors, walls, worktops and appliances.

Spray-shop (off-site) means the doors and drawer fronts are removed, taken back to a dedicated spray booth, sprayed and baked, then refitted. The booth gives a cleaner, more controlled, dust-free finish — closer to a true factory result — but the cabinet frames still have to be done in-situ, and the kitchen is without doors for the turnaround period (often a week or more). Expect to pay a premium for the booth finish.

Finishes and Colour

Most sprayers offer the kitchen in any RAL or branded colour, colour-matched at the point of mixing. The most popular 2026 choices remain muted greens, deep navies, warm off-whites and classic greys, often with the wall and base units in contrasting colours.

• Matt: On-trend and forgiving of minor surface imperfections, but can be marginally harder to wipe clean.
• Satin / eggshell: The most popular kitchen finish — durable, easy to clean and flatters most colours.
• Gloss: Striking and very wipeable, but it shows every dust nib and surface flaw, so it demands the best prep and ideally a booth.

Choosing two colours (for example a different shade on the island or base units) adds masking and changeover time and will push the quote up. A single colour throughout is always the cheapest option.

What Drives the Price Up or Down

Two kitchens of the same footprint can be quoted hundreds of pounds apart. The main cost drivers are:

• Number of doors and drawers: This is the single biggest factor, because pricing is largely per door. Count every door, drawer front, end panel, plinth and cornice.
• Kitchen size and layout: Islands, dressers, tall larder units and full-height cabinets all add surface area and masking time.
• Condition and material: See below — this is where the biggest surprises hide.
• In-situ vs workshop: A booth finish costs more than an in-situ spray.
• Number of colours: Each extra colour means more masking, more changeover and more paint.
• Access: Awkward layouts, fragile flooring, limited space to set up trestles, and the need to keep the kitchen functional during the job all add time.

Which Kitchens Respray Well — and Which Don't

The material your cabinet doors are made from has a big impact on both the finish and the price:

• Solid timber and timber-faced doors: Respray beautifully. Sand, prime and spray — these give the best, longest-lasting results.
• Painted MDF (Shaker-style): Excellent candidates. The dense, smooth surface keys and primes well and takes a flawless topcoat.
• Melamine / laminate-faced: Respray well with the right adhesion primer. The key is thorough keying and a proper primer — skip it and the paint peels.
• Vinyl-wrapped doors: The trickiest. If the vinyl is sound it can be keyed, primed and sprayed. But if the wrap is lifting or peeling — common on units near ovens and dishwashers where heat and steam have got behind the film — it must be removed or the doors replaced first, which adds cost. A reputable sprayer will flag peeling vinyl at the survey rather than spraying over it.

Worktops, Handles and Appliances

A respray covers the cabinetry, not the worktops. But customers often want to refresh the whole look at once, so be clear about what is and isn't included:

• Worktops: Replacing worktops is a separate job and a separate cost. Laminate is the cheapest swap; quartz and stone are significantly more. Some sprayers partner with worktop fitters; others leave it to the customer.
• Handles: Changing handles is a cheap, high-impact upgrade. If handle positions move, old holes are filled and re-drilled — factor that prep in.
• Appliances and sinks: Swapping a tired hob, oven, tap or sink at the same time lifts the whole result, but those are trade swaps outside the spraying scope.

How Long Does a Kitchen Respray Take?

A typical domestic respray takes 2–4 days on site. A small kitchen with a single colour can be done in two days; an average Shaker kitchen with an island usually runs three to four. The bulk of day one is degreasing, sanding, filling and masking — the spraying and curing happen across the back end of the job. Spray-shop jobs feel longer to the customer because the doors are away at the booth, but the on-site disruption is shorter.

How Long Does It Last?

A correctly prepped 2K respray, looked after sensibly, will last 8–12 years or more before it needs attention — comparable to the painted finish on a mid-range new kitchen. Durability comes almost entirely from the prep: degreasing and the adhesion primer are what stop the topcoat chipping around handles and high-wear areas. This is exactly why a cheap quote that skips prep is a false economy — it's the part of the job the customer can't see, but it's the part that determines whether the finish survives.

Worked Examples

Small galley kitchen

A first-floor flat with a compact galley kitchen: 10 doors and 4 drawer fronts, painted MDF Shaker units in good condition, single off-white colour, satin finish, sprayed in-situ. With straightforward prep and one colour, this is a two-day job and comes in around £850–£1,100 — including new brushed-brass handles supplied by the customer.

Average Shaker kitchen with island

A family home with an L-shaped kitchen plus a freestanding island: 22 doors and 8 drawer fronts, solid timber-faced doors, two colours (deep navy on the island and base units, soft white on the wall units), satin finish, sprayed in-situ over three to four days. The extra colour, the island and the door count put this around £2,100–£2,600. A spray-shop booth finish on the doors would add a further premium.

Questions to Ask a Kitchen Sprayer

Whether you're a homeowner choosing a contractor or a sprayer building a watertight quote, these are the points that matter:

• What paint system do you use? Look for 2K (two-pack) polyurethane or lacquer, not standard trade eggshell.
• What does your prep involve? Degrease, key, fill, prime — all four should be explicit, not assumed.
• In-situ or spray-shop? Understand the trade-off between disruption and booth finish.
• What are the doors made of, and will they take the paint? Vinyl-wrap condition especially should be checked at survey.
• How many colours, and is that priced in?
• What guarantee is offered, and what does it exclude?
• Are handles, worktops or appliances included or extra?

A Note for Sprayers on Winning the Work

Kitchen resprays are won on trust and proof. Before-and-after photos of every job are your strongest marketing asset — a dated navy or sage kitchen transformed in three days is exactly the content that converts on Facebook, Instagram and local community groups. Document each job from the same angles, set expectations clearly in writing, and quote the prep in detail so customers can see why your number sits above the cheapest one.

One thing that quietly separates the sprayers who grow from the ones who stay flat: knowing which marketing actually brings in paid jobs. If you can see that, say, half your booked resprays came from one local Facebook group and the rest from referrals, you know where to put your time and money. Keeping a simple record of where each paid job came from — something Trade2Base is built to help with — turns guesswork into a plan.

Quick Reference: Kitchen Respray Prices UK 2026