Service · Montréal, Laval and the West Island

Cabinet stripping and refinishing in Montréal, sprayed not brushed

Solid wood and MDF fronts stripped, filled, primed and sprayed in our booth on Boulevard Thimens, then rehung and adjusted. The kitchen stays usable.

Is it right for you

Close view of a slim brass bar pull mounted on a matte charcoal drawer front, by Limakdeco — Sprayed in a booth rather than brushed in a kitchen. A flat front shows every brush mark, which is why the doors leave the house.

Graphite matte flat panel kitchen doors with slim brass bar pulls and a dark quartz backsplash, Montreal — Matte graphite across a whole run. Getting an even sheen over twenty doors is a spray booth problem, not a technique problem.

The service

The same doors, a different kitchen

Some kitchens should not be replaced or refaced. If the doors are solid maple, oak or cherry with a profile worth keeping, stripping and refinishing them is cheaper than either, and it keeps the part of the room that has character. The layout stays, the boxes stay, the doors stay, and what changes is the colour and the finish.

It happens mostly in our shop, not in your house. Every door and drawer front is unscrewed, tagged so it goes back to the opening it came from, and taken to Boulevard Thimens. There the old lacquer is stripped or sanded back, dents are filled, the grain is sealed where the wood is open, and the fronts are primed and sprayed in a booth. Two coats, cured flat, handled once. Meanwhile the exposed frames, the end panels and the interior edges are prepared and sprayed on site with the room masked off, because those cannot leave.

Spraying in a booth is the whole point. A brush leaves a texture that reads as painted furniture on a flat door, and a roller leaves an orange peel that catches the light along a run of fifteen fronts. Sprayed fronts read as a factory finish because that is what they are, and they are far more resistant to the wiping that a kitchen door lives through. Where the doors are thermofoil that has begun to peel, or plain melamine, none of this applies and the answer is refacing instead. We will tell you which one you have at the visit.

When refinishing is the right call

The doors are solid wood, or MDF with a profile you like.
The layout works and the boxes are sound and dry.
You want a colour change more than a shape change.
The house has period trim that new cabinetry would have to imitate anyway.
You are keeping the countertop, or replacing it inside the same footprint.

What it will not fix

A finish does not change a shape. If the doors are the wrong proportion, if there is no drawer where you need one, or if the run stops two feet short of the ceiling, refinishing leaves all of that exactly where it was. Peeling thermofoil cannot be painted into a good outcome either, because the substrate underneath is shaped MDF and the failure will continue at the edges. In both cases we say so before anything is unscrewed.

What refinishing includesLimakdéco · sprayed in our booth

Scope: Doors, drawer fronts, end panels, exposed frames, toe kicks
Suitable for: Solid wood and MDF fronts, painted or lacquered
Not suitable for: Peeling thermofoil and plain melamine, which want refacing
Preparation: Stripped or sanded back, dents filled, grain sealed
Where: Fronts sprayed in the shop, frames sprayed on site with masking
Coats: Primer plus two finish coats, cured flat before handling
Finishes: Matte, satin or gloss, in any colour you bring us
Colour match: Matched to a sample, a chip or an existing piece of trim
Hardware: New pulls, new soft close hinges, drilled from a template
Interiors: Cleaned and re-edged, with new shelf pins if needed
Kitchen use: Usable throughout, without doors for a few days
Shop time: One to two weeks depending on the number of fronts
On site: Two visits: removal, then refit and adjustment
Adjustment: Every hinge reset so the gaps read as one line
Warranty: One year on the finish we apply
Area: Montréal, Laval, the West Island and the South Shore

Finishes and options

Solid wood doorsMDF doorsShaker framesRaised panel doorsMatte finishSatin finishGloss finishTwo tone kitchensColour matchingGrain fillingNew soft close hingesNew pulls and knobsSprayed end panelsSprayed toe kicksInterior cleaningBathroom vanity doorsInterior door and trim spraying

Not sure whether your doors are worth keeping?
Send a photograph of one door, a close view of an edge, and the room. The edge tells us whether it is solid wood, MDF or thermofoil, which is the whole decision.

Dentil crown moulding detail on cream shaker cabinets with brass knobs in a custom Terrebonne kitchen — A profile worth keeping. Where the millwork has detail like this, a sprayed finish is usually a better answer than replacement.

Brushed brass appliance pulls on cream panelled pantry doors in a custom Terrebonne kitchen — New hardware on refinished fronts changes a kitchen almost as much as the colour does, and it is the cheapest half of the job.

Where we work

Cabinet refinishing near you

Doors are collected, sprayed in Saint-Laurent and brought back. That works comfortably anywhere on the island and beyond. These are the twelve areas we are asked for most often.

Pointe-ClairePost-war bungalows and split-levels around the Village and Valois, about twenty minutes from the shop.Service area HampsteadLarger 1950s houses off Queen Mary and Fleet, where new fronts have to answer existing millwork.Service area BeaconsfieldLakeside houses on Beaconsfield Boulevard and the streets above Highway 20.Service area VillerayDuplex and triplex kitchens off Jarry and Villeray, narrow rooms that get measured twice.Service area PierrefondsWest Island bungalows and semis. We finished a handleless kitchen here in 2026.Service area Ville-MarieDowntown condos and Old Montréal lofts, with freight lifts and booked delivery windows.Service area Côte-Saint-LucHouses off Cavendish and Mackle, and the towers where the elevator has to be reserved.Service area Plateau-Mont-RoyalThird floor walk-ups off Mont-Royal, carried up by hand and fitted to the millimetre.Service area WestmountGreystones and stone semis above Sherbrooke, usually painted shaker or inset fronts.Service area KirklandNineteen eighties and nineties houses, with the floor area for a real island.Service area Saint-LaurentOur own borough. The workshop is on Thimens, so a site visit is usually the same week.Service area Dollard-des-OrmeauxSplit-levels off Sources and Lake, refacing and full replacements in equal measure.Service area

Kitchens from the workshop

All projects →

Classic cream shaker kitchen with a maple island and Taj Mahal quartzite in Terrebonne

Terrebonne · 2025

A Classic English Kitchen

Modern white shaker kitchen with a Renoir quartz backsplash in Bois-Franc, Saint-Laurent

Bois-Franc · 2024

White Shaker and Renoir Quartz

Two tone kitchen with a sage green island, gold sink and Vicostone Beryl quartz in Pointe-Claire

Pointe-Claire · 2026

Green and Gold Kitchen

Questions about refinishing

What people ask before stripping a kitchen

How much does it cost to refinish kitchen cabinets in Montréal?

It is priced by the number of fronts and how much preparation they need. A kitchen of twenty doors in sound solid wood is straightforward. The same count in doors with a failed finish, deep dents and open grain takes far longer in preparation, and preparation is most of the labour. It normally comes in below refacing, and well below a new kitchen. We look at the doors first and quote in writing.

How long does it take, and can I use the kitchen?

One to two weeks in the shop, and yes, you keep using the kitchen. The boxes, the counter, the sink and the appliances never move. You live without doors for those days, which most people find easier than they expected. There are two site visits: one to remove and tag the fronts, one to refit and adjust them.

Can you paint melamine or thermofoil doors?

Melamine can be prepared and sprayed, but the result is only as good as the adhesion, and on a door that is handled twenty times a day we would rather not promise it. Peeling thermofoil is a definite no: the vinyl is lifting off shaped MDF and paint does not stop that. In both cases new fronts cost less than doing the job twice.

Will the finish chip or peel later?

A sprayed catalysed finish on properly prepared wood is far tougher than anything brushed on in a kitchen, and it wipes rather than absorbs. It is not indestructible: a corner hit by a vacuum will mark, as it would on a new door. The failure people remember comes from skipped preparation, which is why the stripping and sanding stage takes longer than the spraying does.

Is spraying really better than brushing?

On a flat door, visibly. A brush leaves texture and a roller leaves a fine orange peel, and both of them catch the light across a run of fifteen fronts even when the colour is perfect. In a booth the coat lies flat and cures flat. That is also why the doors leave the house instead of being finished on a trestle in the kitchen.

Do you spray anything inside the house?

Only what cannot leave: the exposed frames, the end panels and the toe kicks, with the room masked and ventilated. Everything with a face on it goes to the shop. If you would rather nothing at all is sprayed on site, we can replace the exposed panels instead and bring them back finished.

Can you change the hardware and add soft close at the same time?

Yes, and it is the natural moment to do it. The doors are already off, so new soft close hinges go on before they are rehung, and new pulls are drilled from a template so they land on one line across the whole run rather than being marked by hand.

Which areas do you cover?

The workshop and the booth are at 4130 Boulevard Thimens in Saint-Laurent. We collect and return doors across Montréal, Laval, the West Island, the South Shore and the North Shore. The service areas page lists every one.

Limakdéco strips, sands and sprays cabinet doors in Pointe-Claire, Hampstead, Beaconsfield, Villeray, Pierrefonds, Ville-Marie, Côte-Saint-Luc, the Plateau, Westmount, Kirkland, Saint-Laurent and Dollard-des-Ormeaux, and builds custom cabinets, vanities and stone countertops across Montréal and Laval. See every area we serve →

The rest of the workshop

Other things we make and fit

Refinishing is the smallest of the three ways to change a kitchen. Refacing is the middle one, and a new build is the third. We are happy to quote whichever one is honestly right.

Custom kitchen cabinetsDrawn, built and installed from nothing, in our own workshop.Service Kitchen cabinet refacingNew doors and fronts on boxes that are already sound.Service Kitchen installationDelivery, levelling, scribing and finishing, usually one to three days.Service Kitchen countertopsQuartz, quartzite, Dekton and porcelain, templated and installed.Service Kitchen design and 3D plansMeasured drawings, elevations and 3D views before anything is cut.Service Commercial millworkReception desks, counters and fitted storage for commercial rooms.Service Bathroom vanitiesFloating and floor standing vanities, mirrors and storage towers.Service Everything we makeThe full list of services, all out of the same workshop in Saint-Laurent.All services

Refinish, reface or replace

Refacing kitchen cabinets in Montréal, and when it beats replacingGuide Custom kitchen cabinets in Montréal, built to measureGuide Quartz, quartzite or Dekton: three countertop materials comparedMaterials Five planning steps before you order a kitchenPlanning What happens on installation day, in six stepsProcess

Limakdéco showroom at 4130 Boulevard Thimens, Saint-Laurent, Montréal

4130 Boul. Thimens, Saint-Laurent

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Visit us

See a sprayed door next to a brushed one

Showroom: 4130 Boulevard Thimens, Saint-Laurent, QC H4R 2B9Free parking at the door
Hours: Mon to Fri · 10am to 6pmSaturday 11am to 4pm
Phone: (514) 887-3324
Email: info@limakdeco.com

Free visit→Drawings and a written price→Built and installed by us

Sample doors in matte, satin and gloss are on the floor on Boulevard Thimens, and the difference between a sprayed front and a brushed one is easier to see than to describe.

Start your project

Same doors, new room

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