Painting your kitchen cabinets in Victoria typically costs between $2,000 for a smaller set of doors and $8,500 or more for a large kitchen going from dark stain to a sprayed designer finish. Compare that to the $15,000 to $30,000+ a full cabinet replacement runs, and refinishing is the biggest kitchen transformation you can buy per dollar.
As with everything we publish, these are market ranges, not our price list. Every kitchen gets a fixed written quote after we've seen it. Here's what the ranges look like and what actually moves the number.
Typical cabinet painting costs in Victoria
| Kitchen size | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Smaller kitchen (10 to 15 doors and drawers) | $2,000 to $3,000 |
| Standard kitchen (20 to 30 doors and drawers) | $4,500 to $6,000 |
| Large kitchen (30+), or stained going to painted | $6,000 to $8,500+ |
Ranges include doors, drawer fronts, and the cabinet boxes. A doors-only refresh on boxes that stay as-is lands below these numbers.
What moves the price
1. How many doors and drawers you have
The door count is the engine of any cabinet quote. Every door gets cleaned, sanded, primed, and coated on both faces, and drawer fronts take about two thirds of the time a door does. Count yours before you call around; it makes every quote you collect easier to compare.
2. What's on them now
Cabinets that are already painted repaint fastest. Stained and lacquered cabinets need degreasing, a thorough scuff sand, and a stain-blocking primer before colour goes anywhere near them, which adds roughly 30 percent to the labour. Kitchen grease is the silent killer here: skip the degrease and nothing sticks, no matter how good the paint is.
3. Sprayed or brushed
A sprayed finish is what makes painted cabinets look factory-made instead of painted. It costs a little more because of the masking and setup involved, and for most kitchens it is worth every dollar. A brushed finish can suit traditional shaker styles where a little texture reads as character.
4. The product
Cabinet-grade enamels cost more per gallon than wall paint because they cure harder and resist the abuse a kitchen dishes out. This is the one place where cheap paint fails fastest: watch the area around the handles on a bargain cabinet job and you'll see chips within the year.
5. Repairs and small upgrades
Filling old hardware holes for new pulls, repairing the water-swollen cabinet under the sink, and similar fixes get rolled into the job. Minor stuff individually, but it adds up on older kitchens.
