When we design a kitchen or bathroom, clients will often ask for painted cabinets.  And they often ask for painted cabinets because they think they are less expensive than stained cabinets.  It’s the opposite – painted cabinets cost more than stained. Painted cabinets can benefit from using paint grade lumber instead of stain grade materials.  But in the course of a complete project, the savings on lumber is minimal.  And in a local shop where every cabinet in the subdivision is going to be painted the same white color – painting can be slightly cheaper.

When it comes to factory produced and finished cabinetry, painting is more difficult.  Stains tend to flow more readily from spray equipment and mistakes can be wiped off so to speak.  Paint mistakes require much more rework.  The materials are more expensive and cleaning between colors takes more effort to make sure the proceeding color doesn’t carry over into the new color.  A touch of walnut stain in the provincial will probably go unnoticed.  A little red in the white will show.  In either case, the finished doors need a top coat of sealer so there’s no savings there.