How Much Does It Cost to Paint a Kitchen in the UK? (2026 Prices)
Updated June 2026 · Schneider Improvement Ltd., Glasgow
Short answer: in 2026, painting a UK kitchen's walls, ceiling and trim costs £380-£960. The big variable is the cupboards — hand-painting cabinets adds £700-£1,500, spraying them £800-£1,600+. A whole-kitchen job lands around £1,100-£2,500. Most of the price is labour (roughly 80%), not paint.
Want a number for your kitchen? Use the free calculator — enter the wall area, add woodwork and your local rate, get a quote in under a minute.
Kitchen painting cost by job (2026 UK averages)
| Job | Cost range | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Walls only (small ≈8 m² kitchen) | £200-£440 | 1 day |
| Walls + ceiling + trim (full repaint) | £380-£960 | 2-3 days |
| Cabinets — DIY hand-painted (materials) | £150-£400 | 1-2 weekends |
| Cabinets — professional hand-painted | £700-£1,500 | 3-5 days |
| Cabinets — professional sprayed | £800-£1,600+ | 2-3 days |
| Whole kitchen (walls + ceiling + trim + cabinets) | £1,100-£2,500 | 4-7 days |
Two coats, sound surfaces, one painter. Premium spray work with colour-matching and a warranty can reach £3,800-£7,000. Add 20-30% for London and the South East.
Our cost assumptions — so you can trust these numbers and adjust them:
- Baseline kitchen: 8 m² (the standard UK costing size). Bigger kitchen-diners cost proportionally more.
- Two coats on sound, clean surfaces — no major plaster repairs or damp.
- Professional labour at a UK day rate of £150-£250 outside London, rising to £450-£650 in London and the South East.
- Split: materials are roughly 20% of a price-inclusive quote, labour roughly 80%.
- VAT: ranges reflect a typical non-VAT-registered sole trader. See the VAT section below.
The big question: do you paint the cabinets?
This is the decision that swings your kitchen budget more than anything else. Walls and ceiling are quick. The cabinets are slow, fiddly, and that's where the money goes — and what people actually notice.
Painters price cabinets per door, because that's the unit of work: every door and drawer front has to be removed, degreased, sanded, primed and given two or three top coats. Here's a realistic 2026 breakdown:
| Unit | Hand-painted (professional) |
|---|---|
| Standard cabinet door | £60-£100 |
| Drawer front | £30-£60 |
| Larder / tall unit door | £90-£130 |
| Island or end panel | £40-£80 |
A typical UK kitchen has 12-18 doors and drawers. At £60-£100 a door that's £700-£1,500 hand-painted — which is why you'll see "full kitchen cabinets from £200" advertised and wonder how. That lower figure is either a DIY materials cost or a small galley with six doors. For a real, professionally hand-painted kitchen, count the doors and multiply.
Quick sanity check: count your doors and drawer fronts, multiply by £60-£100 a piece — that's your hand-painted cabinet cost. Anyone quoting far less has probably left out the degreasing and primer, the prep that makes the finish last.
Is it worth painting cupboards instead of replacing them?
Almost always, if the carcasses are solid. A new fitted kitchen in the UK averages around £10,500. Repainting or respraying the units you already have for £700-£1,600 saves roughly 85-90% and takes days, not weeks. Replacement only wins if the boxes are water-damaged, the hinges are shot, or you're changing the layout anyway.
How long does a painted kitchen last?
A good hand-painted finish lasts 5-10 years; a professional sprayed finish up to 15 with care. The doors by the hob, sink and bin take the most punishment and may want a touch-up at 3-4 years. Longevity comes from prep, not paint price — see degreasing below.
Hand-painted vs sprayed cabinets — which is worth it?
| Hand-painted (brush/roller) | Sprayed | |
|---|---|---|
| Finish | Good, slight brush texture | Factory-smooth, no marks |
| Cost (typical kitchen) | £700-£1,500 | £800-£1,600+ |
| Time | 3-5 days | 2-3 days |
| Disruption | Lower — done in place | Higher — heavy masking or doors taken off-site |
| Touch-ups later | Easy | Harder (needs spray kit) |
| Best for | Budget refresh, a few doors | Whole-kitchen makeover |
For most homeowners doing a one-off refresh, a skilled hand-painter gives most of the look for less money and less hassle. Spraying is worth the extra few hundred pounds on a full set of doors, where a flawless, uniform finish is the whole point.
Walls, ceiling and trim — what you're paying for
Kitchen walls cost £8-£25 per m² (labour and materials, two coats). A standard 8 m² kitchen needs around 7-8 litres of paint for walls and ceiling. But two things make a kitchen different from any other room:
- Grease. Cooking throws up a fine film of grease that paint won't stick to. A proper painter degreases everything with sugar soap first — skip it and the new paint peels within months. This prep is non-negotiable and it's part of the price.
- Washable paint. Kitchens want a wipeable, moisture-resistant finish, not standard matt. Something like Dulux Easycare Kitchen is about £25 for 2.5 L (≈£10/litre, ~13 m² per litre). It costs a little more than bog-standard emulsion but survives splashes and scrubbing.
Not sure which sheen to use? See our guide to matt vs eggshell vs silk — for kitchens, a washable matt or eggshell beats silk every time.
Are these prices inc VAT?
It's the question most cost guides skip, and it can change a quote by a fifth. A painter or decorator only has to charge 20% VAT once their turnover passes £90,000 a year. Most sole traders and small decorating outfits are below that threshold, so their quotes have no VAT to add. The figures in this guide reflect that — they're what a typical non-VAT-registered painter charges.
A larger, VAT-registered firm adds 20% on top of labour and materials. So a £1,200 cabinet job is £1,200 from a sole trader, or £1,440 from a VAT-registered company. It's not that one is overcharging — it's the VAT. Always ask "is that inclusive of VAT?" before you compare two quotes, or you're comparing apples with oranges.
Kitchen painting cost by UK region
Same kitchen, same painter — you'll pay noticeably more in Surrey than in Lanarkshire. The gap is mostly labour. Rough effect on a like-for-like quote against the UK average:
| Region | Effect on your quote |
|---|---|
| London & South East | +20% to +30% |
| South West / East England | +5% to +15% |
| Midlands | UK baseline |
| North of England | −5% to −15% |
| Scotland | −5% to −15% (cities nearer baseline) |
| Wales / Northern Ireland | −15% to −25% |
Premium spray specialists in London and the South East can run higher again.
DIY vs hiring a painter
The kitchen is the room where DIY is most tempting (cabinets look like a weekend job) and most often goes wrong (grease, drips, brush marks on doors you stare at every day). Honest comparison:
| DIY | Professional | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost (walls + cabinets) | £200-£550 materials | £1,100-£2,500 all-in |
| Time | 2-3 weekends | 4-7 days |
| Finish quality | 6/10 (cabinets are hard) | 9/10 |
| Main risk | Peeling (poor degreasing), brush marks | Cost |
A sensible middle path: DIY the walls and ceiling (forgiving, low-skill), and pay a professional for the cabinets (high-skill, high-visibility). That often gets you the best finish for the lowest sensible spend.
How to get a fair kitchen quote
- Get 3 quotes. Kitchens are where painter pricing varies most — cabinets especially.
- Count your doors and drawers before they visit. It's the single best way to sanity-check a cabinet price.
- Ask hand-paint or spray, and why. A good painter will explain the trade-off, not just quote a number.
- Ask if it's inclusive of VAT — see above. This alone can explain a 20% gap between two quotes.
- Confirm degreasing and primer are included. If a cabinet quote looks cheap, this is usually what's been left out.
- Sense-check with our free calculator for the walls and ceiling portion before you agree anything.
Try it for your kitchen: use the free kitchen painting cost calculator — add wall dimensions, pick your unit (m or ft) and currency, see your number. Free, no signup, works on your phone.
Common kitchen painting questions
How much does it cost to paint a kitchen in the UK in 2026?
Painting the walls, ceiling and trim of a standard UK kitchen costs £380-£960 in 2026. A whole-kitchen job that also includes the cabinets typically runs £1,100-£2,500 depending on whether the units are hand-painted or sprayed. Most sole-trader painters are not VAT-registered, so their quotes are usually VAT-free.
How much does it cost to paint kitchen cabinets or cupboards in the UK?
Doing it yourself costs £150-£400 in materials. A professional hand-paints cabinets at around £60-£100 per door, so a typical 12-18 door kitchen is £700-£1,500. A full spray respray costs £800-£1,600 for a standard kitchen, rising to £1,800-£3,800 with a specialist and up to £7,000 for a premium factory-style finish with a warranty.
Is it worth painting kitchen cupboards instead of replacing them?
Usually yes, if the carcasses and hinges are sound. A new fitted kitchen averages around £10,500 in the UK, so repainting or respraying the existing units for £700-£1,600 can save roughly 85-90% and is far less disruptive. Replacement makes more sense only if the units are water-damaged, falling apart, or the layout itself needs changing.
How long do painted kitchen cabinets last?
A good-quality hand-painted finish lasts 5-10 years; a professional sprayed finish can last up to 15 years with care. High-use doors near the hob, sink and bin tend to wear first and may need a touch-up or refresh at 3-4 years. Thorough degreasing and the right primer are what make the finish last.
Should you spray or brush kitchen cabinets?
Spraying gives a factory-smooth, brush-mark-free finish and is faster on large jobs, but costs more and means heavy masking or removing the doors off-site. Brushing and rolling is cheaper, DIY-friendly and easy to touch up, but can leave fine brush marks and takes longer. Spray suits a whole-kitchen makeover; brush suits a budget refresh of a few doors.
Do kitchen painting prices include VAT?
Often not. A painter or decorator only has to charge 20% VAT once their turnover passes £90,000 a year. Most sole traders and small decorating outfits are below that threshold, so their quotes have no VAT to add. Larger firms that are VAT-registered will add 20% on top of labour and materials, so always ask whether a quote is inclusive of VAT before you compare.
Also worth knowing
- Can you paint kitchen tiles? Wall tiles take specialist tile paint or a tile primer plus eggshell; results last a few years. Floor tiles and worktops are not recommended — they wear through too fast to be worth it.
- Can you paint laminate or MDF doors? Yes. They need a degrease, a light sand to a key, and a good adhesion primer. The primer is what makes paint stick to slippery laminate — skip it and it'll chip.
- How long before I can use the kitchen again? Paint is touch-dry in hours, but cabinet paint keeps hardening (curing) for 2-3 weeks. Use the doors gently and avoid heavy cleaning during that window.
- Best paint finish for cabinets? A satinwood or eggshell-style cabinet paint: tough, wipeable and forgiving of fingerprints. Full gloss shows every imperfection; flat matt marks too easily near a hob.
Prices in this guide reflect 2026 UK quoting practice based on our work in Glasgow and feedback from painters across England, Scotland and Wales, cross-checked against current trade cost guides. Your local market may be 10-30% above or below these ranges — always get a written quote before agreeing a job.
Related: Cost to paint a living room UK · Cost to paint a bedroom UK · Paint a 3 bedroom house UK