Refinishing Cabinets Since 1995
Cabinet Refinishing in Plainville, CT
Gagnon Painting & Decorating has been refinishing cabinets since 1995. Plainville's housing is concentrated in the post-war decades, and mid-century kitchens are among the best refinishing candidates there are — solid stock, simple door profiles, and layouts that usually still work.
Refinishing can save thousands against the cost of new cabinets, and our finish is warrantied against flaking and peeling.
Why do mid-century kitchens refinish so well?
Because of how they were built. Plainville's housing peaks squarely in that period — 1,941 units from the 1940s and 50s, 1,321 from the 1960s and 1,623 from the 1970s, out of 8,588 in total. Kitchens from those decades were generally built in solid stock, often site-built or semi-custom, and before the industry moved to thin veneers over particle board.
That matters in a specific way. A solid door can be properly prepared — degreased, sanded, primed — without the risk of cutting through a veneer layer, which is the thing that limits how far you can go on later cabinetry. Flat and simple raised-panel doors, which is what most of these kitchens have, are also the easiest profiles on which to get a genuinely smooth sprayed finish.
The honest arguments against refinishing remain what they always are: bases that have been wet, hinges failing across the whole run, or a layout that genuinely does not work. We will tell you if that is what we find rather than sell a finish onto a cabinet that needed replacing.
Cabinet work that disturbs painted surfaces in a home built before 1978 falls under the EPA's lead-safe rules, and 66.3% of Plainville homes date from 1979 or earlier. We are an EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm.
Plainville cabinet refinishing questions
How can I tell if my cabinets are solid wood or veneer?
The end grain at the door edge is the usual giveaway, and so is the age of the house — kitchens from Plainville's post-war peak are far more likely to be solid stock than kitchens from the 1990s onward. We will check at the estimate, because it genuinely changes what is possible: a solid door can be prepared aggressively enough to fix a poor previous finish, a thin veneer cannot.
What does refinishing cost against a new kitchen?
It saves thousands in most cases, because a replacement pays for the cabinetry plus the demolition and reinstallation around it, and refinishing avoids all three. We leave a written summary quote on the first visit so you are comparing against a real number rather than a range.
Do you spray or brush?
It depends on the doors and the setting, and we will tell you which we are proposing and why. Spraying gives the smoothest result on flat and simple panelled doors, which is most of what Plainville's mid-century kitchens have, but it requires more masking and containment. The finish is warrantied against flaking and peeling either way.
Thinking about your Plainville kitchen?
Call for a free estimate and a written summary quote on your first visit.