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Kitchen Painting Tips - Walls or Cabinets First?

Kitchen Painting Tips - Walls or Cabinets First?

When you make the investment to paint your kitchen, it's important to make sure you're doing things in the right order. If you aren't methodical, you could end up with a mess that's hard to fix, or a color you end up unhappy with. So, when you are painting kitchen cabinets and walls, which comes first?

Cabinets Come First

It is best to paint the kitchen cabinets before you paint the walls. In fact, we suggest painting the cabinets before you even finalize your choice for the wall color. Here's why:

The kitchen cabinets make up a very large portion of the visual space in the kitchen. The effect of changing the color of so large an area can be surprising, especially since every kitchen is unique in its layout and lighting. It's best to wait until you can see the finished look of the cabinets before you buy the paint for the kitchen walls. You might want to get some color samples to paint on the walls after the cabinets are painted, so you can see how it will really look.

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If the color of the cabinets is not going to change, and you are simply refreshing them with the same color, these considerations are not as important.

What About the Kitchen Ceiling? When Do I Paint It?

When the ceiling is included in the kitchen repainting project, it should be the first thing to get the new coat. This reduces the chances you will get drips or splatters on newly-painted surfaces. Of course, any good house painter will use tape and plastic to protect all the surfaces when painting the ceiling, but this order of operations helps you be extra safe.

If I'm Getting New Cabinets Installed, Should I Paint Before or After?

You definitely don't want bare drywall behind your cabinets, as this absorbs moisture and odors, and isn't as durable. That's why any new or repaired drywall should be primed before new cabinets are installed. For the same reasons mentioned above, we suggest waiting for the cabinet installation to be completed before painting the kitchen walls.

Kitchen Painting Services in the San Francisco Bay Area

If you are considering a new paint job in your Bay-Area kitchen, we would love to hear from you. At M.B. Jessee, we have long experience with painting cabinets, a process that demands proper materials and careful steps. We can also provide you with professional color advice as you select the hues that will define your home.

As a residential painting company, M.B. Jessee serves the San Francisco Bay Area, including Oakland, Hillsborough, Pacific Heights, Piedmont, and the surrounding region. Call us to begin discussing your kitchen painting project; you'll be glad you did!

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Customer Reviews

“In all the years I've worked with MB Jessee, I'm always so impressed by your crews. They are so respectful of everything--you never even know they're there! Except that the paint looks amazing when they're gone. We've had one showing of our home and already have an offer. I'm sure it is because the paint looks so beautiful.”

— Erin T.
Pleasant Hill

“It was a great experience working with MB Jessee. The crew was careful and thorough as they painted the house, sealed stucco cracks, repaired dry-rotted wood, stained the deck, etc. Robert, Gersson, Jose, and all of the people involved in the process from the estimate to the job completion were friendly and professional.”

— Mike C.
Livermore, CA

“MB Jessee just finished our exterior and we couldn't be happier with our experience. The foreman (Pedro) and lead painter (Ricardo) were incredible to work with: they communicated scheduling clearly, Ricardo was a joy to be around every day, the showed up early every day, were incredibly tidy and did great paint work. The final walk through experience was incredible. Pedro pointed out items I missed demonstrating a clear desire to complete another quality project. I highly recommend them. As others have noted they definitely aren't the cheapest but you quickly realize that you're getting what you pay for. The 3 year guarantee is also a nice touch since there are likely touch up items that will show up after the job is done.”

— Joshua Jansen

“The finish on my kitchen cabinets had failed, becoming tacky and grimy around the handles. M B Jessee gave me a reasonable quote, far below some others, and did an outstanding job, striping the original varnish and refinishing with a new lacquer finish. The cabinets look like new. Work was done 1 day faster than estimated. The crew was extremely hard-working, considerate, and neat. Highly recommend M B Jessee.”

— Thama B.
San Francisco, CA

“Just wanted to let you know that the crew was great to have around the house for the past two weeks. All three of them were professional, courteous, and attentive to my thoughts/concerns and were extremely knowledgeable. They paid great attention to the detail and it shows.”

— Mark & Roberta Gross

“Hello Matt,Just another notice of thanks to your wonderful crew, Rigoberto, Javier and John. They did fantastic work, with Rigo providing meticulous and conscientious attention to the details and excellent woodwork finishing, as evidenced by the beautiful fireplace. Javier did a fantastic job in the bathroom especially, it looks "brand new," and John always does quality work, both with the interior and exterior. I can tell they care about what they do. Rigo's "punch out" was very thorough, too. I will call again when I need some more work and will definitely recommend your company and fine crew. I also felt as a homeowner, I could leave my house in their good hands during the day and that took a lot of worry from me, they were honest, prompt and reliable. They were also very kind, respectful and clean in their work, very professional. Thank you.”

— Beth Marx & Melissa Kirsch
Oakland

“The entire MB Jessee team is courteous, efficient and professional. From scheduling and estimating to the crew managers and crew, they all did an excellent job on a small (but complicated) two room project in my house. I'm already thinking about getting them scheduled for the next project in the spring.”

— Cari Cheney

“Richard and crew have been great, for sure. As much as I look forward to having the job done and my house back in order, I really enjoyed having them around. You should feel really good about how they represent your company.”

— Jessica Dodson

“In September, MBJessee finished painting two sides of our 3-story condominium building (six owners). We were impressed by the professionalism of the company and every one of its workers, Matt Jessee couldn't have been more helpful in planning the project. His painters were well-trained, easy to communicate with and eager to please. In addition to painting the stucco, they made extensive repairs on windows and frames, which will save us considerable money in the future. They finished earlier than anticipated, with as many as five men working on the job, and the scaffolding came down the next day. All of us were delighted with the results. Now my husband and I are looking forward to having MB Jessee paint our own apartment later this month. Matt and Gustavo (who will be our crew leader again) have explained how they will work to make the painting proceed smoothly while we're living here, and they have been endlessly patient with our protracted decision-making process. If you look at their website, you'll learn that MB Jessee is an exemplary company that takes good care of its workers as well as its customers, and contributes public service projects to the community. All in all, we can't recommend MB Jessee highly enough.”

— Jayne W.
San Francisco, CA

“I cannot imagine finer painters--and I have worked with many. They work exceptionally hard. It is a joy to see their workmanship!”

— Alicia R.
Oakland

“High quality work from a pleasant and qualified staff. Thank you!”

— Paul Markovich

“The people at M.B. Jessee are great – from the painters to the office staff to Matt. Talk about leadership from the top.”

— Kevin Ames, Mark Becker Homes