Painting · Southeast Wisconsin
Kitchen cabinet painting & refinishing across SE Wisconsin.
Kitchen cabinet painting across Waukesha County and Greater Milwaukee — Brookfield, Pewaukee, Elm Grove, Wauwatosa, Mequon and beyond.
- Bonded & insured
- Free, no-pressure estimates
- Written warranty up to 10 years
Refinish or replace
Refinish or Replace: Start With the Cabinet Boxes
Painting, not replacing: we strip the brush-and-roll look entirely: a dust-controlled spray application of durable, fully cured factory-grade finish on the cabinets you already have, without tearing anything out, and it's the perfect indoor project to knock out during a southeast Wisconsin winter.
Refinishing makes sense when your cabinet boxes are solid and dry and the layout works for you. We change the color and finish of the cabinets you already have, and the countertops, plumbing and wiring stay where they are. It is the wrong choice when the boxes are water-damaged or swollen, when you want a different layout or door style, or when a full remodel is already planned. Our guide on how to decide between refinishing and replacing covers those cases, what refinishing can't fix, and how to compare written quotes for both.
Dust-Controlled Spray, Not Brush-and-Roll
The single biggest difference between a refinished kitchen that looks factory-new and one that looks like a weekend DIY job is how the finish goes on. We spray — never brush, never roll. Doors, drawer fronts, and shelving are removed, labeled, and sprayed in a controlled, contained setup so the coating lays down glass-smooth with no brush drag and no roller texture. Cabinet boxes and face frames that stay mounted to the wall are meticulously masked, and the surrounding kitchen — counters, floors, appliances, adjacent rooms — is sealed off with plastic containment and managed airflow to control overspray and dust. The result is a uniform, professional finish on every surface, and a worksite we leave clean at the end of each day.
What’s included
- Dust-controlled spray finish — doors and drawer fronts sprayed in a controlled setup, boxes masked and sprayed in place, no brush marks, no roller stipple, no orange peel
- Durable factory-grade cured finish engineered for daily kitchen abuse — grease, knuckle dings, water at the sink, and the open-close cycle of real Wisconsin family life
- Keep your solid boxes and layout: change the color and finish without demolition, a dumpster or taking out the countertops
- Built for a Wisconsin winter — heated indoor work means cabinets are the ideal cold-season project; we control dust and contain the work area so your home stays livable
How it works
Real Prep Is Why the Finish Lasts
Cabinet refinishing is the most demanding job in residential painting, and almost every finish that peels within a year failed at the prep stage, not the paint can. Wisconsin kitchen cabinets carry years of cooking grease, hand oils, and steam residue, so we start by thoroughly degreasing every surface — skip this and nothing bonds. From there we sand to a proper mechanical bond profile, fill dings, dents, and grain where needed, and apply a high-adhesion bonding primer before any color goes on. Each step exists for a reason; cutting any one of them is exactly why a cabinet finish chips at the handles and peels along the door edges. We don't cut them.
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Free, no-pressure estimate
An honest look at your home.
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Clear written quote
A straightforward, honest scope.
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Thorough prep
Wash, scrape, sand, repair, caulk, and prime.
The finish
A Durable, Fully Cured Factory-Grade Finish
Kitchens are brutal on a finish: doors open and close thousands of times a year, knuckles and rings tap the rails, water splashes at the sink, and grease aerosolizes onto the uppers every time you cook. We use premium cabinet-specific coatings built for exactly that abuse, applied in controlled coats and given real cure time — not just dry-to-touch, but hardened to a tough, washable surface that stands up to daily use. There's a meaningful difference between paint that's dry and a finish that's fully cured; we build the cure time into the schedule so when your cabinets go back together, the finish is ready for real Wisconsin family life, not babying.
Color, Sheen, and the Look Wisconsin Kitchens Are Asking For
A color change is the whole point for most homeowners, and it's where refinishing earns its keep. Crisp warm and cool whites, soft greiges, and deep moody navies and forest greens are dominating kitchens — and a two-tone look, with lighter uppers over a darker island or base, is a popular way to add depth without a full remodel. On sheen, a satin or semi-gloss is the sweet spot for cabinetry: hard enough to wipe down and scrub, with a clean reflection that reads as quality. We walk through color and finish with you during the in-home consultation so the result fits your countertops, flooring, and the light your kitchen actually gets. For how light and undertones change a color, see reading paint undertones.
Our promise
Every completed project is backed by a written workmanship warranty. We’re bonded & insured, and if anything ever needs attention under your warranty, we come back and make it right.
Wisconsin · Google reviews
Tyler Cooper
Great team they have, and great quality of work. Family owned company that gets the job done correctly. :)
Patryk Pogorzelski
Amazing work very professional would definitely hire them again!
Phoenix, AZ · same owner
sophie ellsworth
They did an awesome job on the cabinets. We went with gallery series paint from Sherwin and they look like brand new cabinets!
Timing and scope
Why Winter Is the Smartest Time to Refinish in Southeast Wisconsin
When the snow flies and exterior painting shuts down across Waukesha County, the inside of your home is heated, comfortable, and the ideal environment for cabinet work. A controlled indoor temperature actually helps coatings flow out and cure consistently — no battling humidity swings or freeze-thaw like an exterior project. Refinishing your kitchen in January or February also means you walk into spring and the holidays already done, instead of competing for a contractor's calendar during the busy warm-weather rush. We contain dust and seal the work zone so your home stays livable through a Wisconsin winter, and you get a finished, refreshed kitchen exactly when you're spending the most time indoors.
What We Refinish — Kitchens, Vanities, and Built-Ins
Cabinet refinishing isn't limited to the kitchen. We refinish bathroom vanities, laundry and mudroom cabinets, built-in shelving and bookcases, entertainment centers, and the cabinet boxes, face frames, drawers, and doors that make up all of them. If you're refreshing a Pewaukee or Elm Grove home to sell, updating a dated oak vanity in Whitefish Bay, or tying a whole-home color scheme together, the same dust-controlled spray process and durable cured finish apply. We assess each piece honestly — solid, well-built cabinetry refinishes beautifully; if something is too far gone to take a finish well, we'll tell you straight rather than paint over a problem. Published per-door and per-drawer rates for cabinet painting are in our guide to painting costs, and its calculator turns them into a ballpark for your kitchen.
Where we work
In-House Painting You Can Stand Behind
Modern Painters LLC's painting work is performed in-house — not handed off to a rotating cast of subcontractors. We serve Waukesha County and Greater Milwaukee, from Delafield and Oconomowoc to Shorewood, Bay View, and Greenfield, and we treat every kitchen like it's in our own home: covered, contained, and cleaned up daily. We're Bonded & Insured, and we put the estimate in writing before any work begins. Every cabinet project starts with a free, no-pressure in-home consultation so you know exactly what you're getting and what it costs.
- Waukesha
- Brookfield
- Menomonee Falls
- Pewaukee
- Elm Grove
- New Berlin
- Muskego
- Hartland
- Delafield
- Oconomowoc
- Milwaukee
- Wauwatosa
- West Allis
- Whitefish Bay
- Shorewood
- Mequon
- Bay View
- Greenfield
- Franklin
Common questions
How much does kitchen cabinet refinishing cost compared to replacement?
It depends on your kitchen, and we won't put a percentage on it without seeing it. Refinishing keeps your boxes, countertops, plumbing and wiring in place, so it leaves out the demolition, disposal and countertop work that replacement usually involves. A refinishing price mainly depends on the number of doors and drawer fronts, the condition of the cabinets, and whether you're changing colors. The fair comparison is a written quote for each option covering the same kitchen. We provide a free, written in-home estimate for your Waukesha County or Greater Milwaukee kitchen.
Will refinished cabinets chip or peel over time?
Not when they're prepped and finished correctly. The peeling and chipping you've seen on cheap cabinet jobs comes from skipped prep — no degreasing, no proper sanding, no bonding primer. We degrease every surface, sand to a real bond profile, prime with a high-adhesion bonding primer, then spray premium cabinet-specific coatings and give them genuine cure time. Done right, the finish stands up to daily kitchen use for years.
Why spray instead of brushing or rolling the cabinets?
Spraying is the only way to get a smooth, factory-grade finish with no brush marks, no roller stipple, and no orange peel. Doors and drawer fronts are sprayed in a controlled, contained setup, and boxes are masked and sprayed in place. Brushing and rolling leave texture that reads as a DIY job up close — spraying is what makes a refinished kitchen look new.
How do you control dust and overspray inside my home?
We seal off the work zone with plastic containment, mask everything that stays in place, and manage airflow so dust and overspray stay contained to the cabinets and don't drift into the rest of your home. Counters, floors, appliances, and adjacent rooms are protected, and we leave the worksite clean at the end of each day. Containing the mess is a core part of doing cabinet work inside a lived-in Wisconsin home.
Is winter really a good time to refinish cabinets in Wisconsin?
It's one of the best times. Cabinet refinishing is an indoor project, so a heated, climate-controlled home is the ideal environment for coatings to flow out and cure consistently — no humidity swings or freeze-thaw to fight like an exterior job. Booking in the off-season also means more calendar flexibility and a finished kitchen before the warm-weather rush. It's a smart way to make productive use of a southeast Wisconsin winter.
Can I still use my kitchen during the project?
For most of it, yes. Doors and drawer fronts are taken off-site or to a contained area for spraying, and the boxes that stay in place are masked and sprayed with a short restriction window. We'll walk you through the timeline up front so you know which days will have the most disruption and can plan around them.
What types of cabinets can you refinish besides the kitchen?
We refinish bathroom vanities, laundry and mudroom cabinets, built-in shelving and bookcases, entertainment centers, and the doors, drawers, boxes, and face frames of all of them. Solid, well-built cabinetry in wood, plywood, or quality MDF refinishes beautifully. During the consultation we assess the actual condition of your cabinets and tell you honestly whether refinishing is the right call.
Which areas do you serve for cabinet refinishing?
We serve Waukesha County — Waukesha, Brookfield, Menomonee Falls, Pewaukee, Elm Grove, New Berlin, Muskego, Hartland, Delafield, and Oconomowoc — and Greater Milwaukee, including Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, West Allis, Whitefish Bay, Shorewood, Mequon, Bay View, Greenfield, and Franklin. Our painting is performed in-house by our own crew.
Ready for a fresh, lasting finish?
Free, no-pressure estimate across Waukesha County & Greater Milwaukee. Bonded & insured, backed in writing.
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