Old finish off · all six faces sealed · the wood still visible
Cabinet Refinishing in Murfreesboro, TN
Cabinet refinishing in Murfreesboro, TN takes the old finish off and puts a new one on, so the door keeps its grain instead of disappearing under color. It is the route when you like the wood and dislike what years of cooking have done to it.
- We take a door off and check the wood before we price anything
- Every face sealed, edges included, not just the front
- If your doors are vinyl, we quote new fronts instead
Tell us roughly how many doors and drawers there are and what wood they are. Someone attends, checks the material, and you get the number in writing.
Real wood refinishes — shiny vinyl doors get new fronts instead
Some kitchen doors are not wood at all. Thermofoil is a thin vinyl film pressed onto an MDF door, and once it is hung it looks close enough to painted wood that most owners assume it can be stripped and recoated.
It cannot. Nothing sticks to smooth vinyl. A finish applied over thermofoil peels within months, and there is no primer that changes that.
If it turns out to be what your kitchen has, we quote you new doors and drawer fronts instead, and we say so before you have paid for anything.
We check the material at the visit, before anything is quoted.
The three stages of a kitchen cabinet refinishing job
Degreased, stripped back to bare wood, then sealed on all six faces. The first stage is the whole difference between refinishing and painting.
Stripping and sanding back
Refinishing means removing the existing coating rather than coating over it, which is what keeps the grain readable at the end. Doors come off, are labeled to their openings, and are degreased before anything is sanded, so kitchen grease is not driven into the surface. The quote states whether they go fully bare or are scuff-sanded and recoated, because the two are different amounts of work.
Sealing all six faces
A cabinet door has six surfaces and only one of them is looked at, which is why the other five get skipped. Wood is hygroscopic — it takes moisture on and releases it, expanding and contracting as it does — so a door sealed on the front but bare on the top and bottom edges absorbs unevenly and cups toward the drier side. Every door we refinish is sealed on every face, edges included, because it costs almost nothing while the door is off and cannot be added later.
The new finish
A refinished door can take a clear coat, a stain and clear coat, or a glaze, and the hardness ladder is the same one that applies to paint: conversion varnish cures hardest, pre-catalyzed lacquer sits below it, and standard lacquer is markedly less resistant to heat, solvents, acids and alkalis than either. The quote names the finish and the date it is hard.
If you want the wood gone rather than restored, that is cabinet painting. If the profile is what dates the kitchen, the answer is cabinet refacing or cabinet door replacement. Doors that will not hang straight need cabinet repair first. Every route priced against every other is on cabinet refacing cost in Murfreesboro, and the rest is on the cabinet services hub.
The spec goes on the quote before you decide anything.
Refinishing changes the color of the wood, not the shape of the doors
If the door profile is what dates the kitchen, refinishing it perfectly will not fix it, look into cabinet refacing instead.
Your kitchen keeps working while the doors are away
The catch is the second date. The doors come back before the finish is hard, and both days go on the quote.
- Day onedoors and drawer fronts come off, labeled to their openings
- While they are gonethe boxes and shelves stay in place and in use
- 3–5 daysafter the frames are finished in place, before normal service
Cure time: Benjamin Moore ADVANCE waterborne alkyd, technical data sheet (PDF) — quoted as the class of finish, not as a product we supply.
Murfreesboro's oak kitchens are the ones refinishing was made for
Two reasons the wood is worth keeping rather than covering.
Color over an open grain lines it rather than fills it
Oak is open-grained, so the grain stays visible through paint anyway — it reads as a texture under the color instead of as wood.
If it is going to show either way, restoring it usually looks better than half-hiding it.
A door that absorbs moisture unevenly cups toward the drier face
Wood moves with the moisture in the air around it, and a door that can only exchange moisture through its bare edges does it unevenly.
The result is a door that no longer sits flat, and adjusting the hinge does not fix it. It is why every face gets sealed.
The visit tells you which of these applies to your kitchen.
Refinishing cabinets in Murfreesboro, TN costs $1,500 to $3,500
These are the 2026 Murfreesboro ranges, not your price. The fixed number goes on the written quote once the doors have been counted and the material confirmed.
| Work | What the number assumes | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| Keeping your existing doors | ||
| Refinishing a standard kitchen | existing doors stripped back and recoated, grain visible | $1,500–$3,500 |
| Painting instead, small kitchen | 10–15 fronts, color over the existing doors | $1,500–$3,200 |
| Painting instead, standard kitchen | 20–30 fronts, color over the existing doors | $3,500–$6,000 |
| When the doors themselves have to go | ||
| Refacing | all fronts replaced, box faces veneered to match | $4,500–$13,000 |
| Full replacement | old cabinets removed, new ones built and fitted | $15,000–$30,000+ |
What moves a number inside its range: the door and drawer count, how much of the old finish has to come off, the door profile — a raised panel has far more surface than a slab — and the finish chosen. A kitchen whose doors turn out to be vinyl is not priced in this table at all; it is quoted as refacing.
Free. No obligation. Most quotes back the same day.
Working with us, in four steps
Four steps. You can stop after the second one and it has cost you nothing.
We take a door off and look at its edge
Someone comes out, counts the fronts and takes one door off its hinges, because the edge and the back are what tell you whether refinishing is possible at all.
You get the price in writing
One fixed price, with the door count, how far back the old finish comes and the finish going on it. A standard kitchen can land either side of $3,000, so ask us and every other quote for the Tennessee Home Improvement license Rutherford County requires above that.
Stripped back, sealed all round, recoated
The doors leave labeled, are degreased and taken back to bare wood, then sealed on every face and recoated away from your house while the frames are finished in place.
Doors back on, and the cure date in writing
Doors rehung and aligned, hardware refitted, site cleaned — with the day the finish is hard written down, not the day it looks done.
Frames finished in place · gentle use until then · normal service 3–5 days
Step one costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Refinishing questions people ask before they book
Can you refinish or paint thermofoil cabinets?
How do I know if my cabinet doors are thermofoil or real wood?
What is the difference between refinishing and painting cabinets?
Does refinishing fill my house with dust and fumes?
Can you change the color of the wood, or only restore the color it has?
Is resurfacing kitchen cabinets a good idea?
Tell us what your kitchen has. We'll price it in writing.
Say roughly how many doors and drawers there are and what you want them to look like. Someone comes out, counts them properly, and you get one fixed number in writing — priced both ways where refacing and painting are both real options. Nothing is owed if you don't go ahead.
In-home estimate is free · no obligation · most quotes back the same day.
- Free in-home estimate across Murfreesboro
- Priced from a real door and drawer count
- The finish system named on the quote
- Your kitchen stays usable while it happens