Is it really cheaper than a new kitchen?

Substantially. A respray typically lands between a fifth and a tenth of the cost of a like-for-like replacement, and the carcasses you already have are usually better than what most retailers fit today. We'll give you a firm written number after survey so you can compare directly.

Does it last as long as a factory-painted kitchen?

It lasts longer. Most factory-painted kitchen doors are single-coat lacquer over MDF. We're applying three coats of 2K commercial lacquer with full prep. Ten-year guarantee says the rest.

Can you respray oak or veneer doors?

Solid oak, yes. Real-wood veneer, yes. Plastic-foiled doors with peeling foil, no, the foil needs to come off first which means new doors are cheaper. We'll tell you straight on the survey.

What finishes do you offer?

Matt (5% sheen), eggshell (15%, our default), satin (30%), gloss (70%). Eggshell is the most durable for daily use and the most popular.

Will the kitchen smell during the job?

On the day the carcasses are sprayed, yes, mildly. We use low-VOC 2K product and ventilate aggressively. The smell is gone within 48 hours.

Can we use the kitchen while you work?

Doors come off in the morning of day one and go to the studio. You use the kitchen as normal that week. Carcasses are sprayed on a single day, usually a Friday, and you stay out of the kitchen for 24 hours. Doors back on the following week.

Do you respray worktops?

Some. Laminate worktops yes (with a specific product system). Solid wood yes. Granite, quartz, marble, no, those need professional resurfacing not respray.

Can you convert my kitchen to handleless?

Yes. We fill the handle holes, sand, prime, spray, and fit J-pull profiles or finger-pull edge profiles. Adds about £400 to a medium-kitchen respray.

Kitchens · Real costs

Kitchen respraying vs new kitchen: the real cost comparison

A new kitchen runs £8,000 to £25,000. A respray comes in at roughly a fifth to a tenth of that, depending on size and complexity. That gap funds a lot of holidays. Here's where the cost actually sits, what you keep, and what you don't.

08 Mar 2026 · 8 min read

The maths

For an average UK medium kitchen, twenty doors, four drawers, an island, an end panel or two, here's the comparison:

Replace, mid-market (Howdens, Wren, Magnet): £8,500 to £14,000 fitted
Replace, design-led (deVOL, Pluck, John Lewis of Hungerford): £18,000 to £45,000 fitted
Respray, professional finish: roughly 10 to 20% of the replacement figure, depending on size, colour and finish complexity

That's roughly a fifth of a mid-market replacement, or a tenth of a design-led one. The savings are real and they're not at the cost of finish quality, modern 2K commercial lacquer outperforms the single-coat factory finishes on most off-the-shelf kitchens.

What you keep

The carcasses, the worktop, the appliances, the layout, the plumbing, the electrics, the splashback. All the expensive, disruptive bits. A respray is a finish swap. Everything else stays.

What you don't get

Be honest with yourself:

If your layout is wrong, respraying won't fix it
If your worktop is failing, you'll still need to replace it
If your doors are warped or your hinges are blown, those need addressing first
If you want soft-close everything and you don't have it, replacement is your route

The respray is the right answer when the kitchen is structurally sound and you're tired of the colour or the finish. Which, in our experience, is 80% of the kitchens we get asked to quote.

Time and disruption

A new kitchen install is two to three weeks. The kitchen is unusable for most of that. A respray is two to four days, with maybe one of those where you can't use the kitchen, and even then, you can microwave and use a kettle.

The finish question

"Does it last like a real kitchen?" Yes, and longer. Factory-painted doors from mainstream retailers are single-coat polyurethane over MDF. We're applying three coats of Becker Acroma 2K commercial lacquer with full prep, in a controlled environment. The film build is roughly double. Domestic-use warranty for our work is ten years. Factory warranties on the doors themselves are typically two to five.

When to replace anyway

Three scenarios where you should bite the bullet and replace:

The layout doesn't work and never has
The cabinets are particle-board flat-pack from a 90s budget brand and the carcasses themselves are failing
You want a completely different style, handleless to shaker, slab to in-frame

Everything else, ask for a respray quote first. Worst case, you've spent forty-eight hours getting a number to compare against.