Cabinet Paint Calculator
Work out how much paint and primer you need for kitchen cabinets from doors, drawer fronts, face frames and end panels, in quarts and gallons.
Estimate how much paint and primer you need to repaint kitchen or bathroom cabinets. Instead of guessing from the room size, the calculator adds up the surfaces you will actually paint — door fronts and backs, drawer fronts, face frames and exposed end panels — and converts the total into quarts and gallons.
How to use this tool
- Count the doors and enter their average width and height in inches; tick the box if you will paint the backs.
- Count the drawer fronts and enter their average size.
- Enter the length of the base and wall cabinet runs, the wall cabinet height and the number of exposed end panels.
- Enter the coverage from the paint and primer cans, the number of coats and a waste allowance.
- Read how many quarts or gallons to buy.
Formula
Paint (gallons) = total area × coats ÷ coverage × (1 + waste %)
Door area = count × width × height ÷ 144, doubled when backs are painted. Face frames are estimated at 1 sq ft per running foot of base cabinets and 0.5 sq ft per foot of wall cabinets; frameless cabinets have none.
Example
For the default kitchen — 20 doors averaging 15 × 27 in painted on both sides (112.5 sq ft), 11 drawer fronts of 15 × 6 in (6.9 sq ft), 14 ft of base and 12 ft of wall cabinets (20 sq ft of face frames) and three end panels (10.75 sq ft) — the total is 150.1 sq ft. Two coats at 350 sq ft per gallon plus 10% waste need 0.94 gallon, so buy 1 gallon of paint. One coat of primer needs 0.47 gallon, or 2 quarts.
Frequently asked questions
How much paint does a typical kitchen need?
A kitchen with about 20 doors usually needs close to one gallon for two coats, as in the example. Thirty or more doors, three coats or a big colour change can push that to 1.5 gallons or more.
Do I need primer on cabinets?
On factory-finished, glossy or previously oil-painted cabinets a bonding primer helps the paint stick, and on bare wood it seals the grain. Untick the primer box if your paint is self-priming and suitable for the surface.
Are cabinet interiors included?
No — most people paint only the outside of the boxes and the door backs. To include interiors, measure those surfaces in square feet, multiply by the number of coats and divide by the coverage to add them.
How much extra should I allow if I spray?
Brushing and rolling waste little, so 10% is usually enough. Sprayers lose paint to overspray and to filling the hose, so allow 25% or more.
Last updated: 2026-10-30