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Humidity Control

Humidity Control: Taking care of your wood cabinetry

Regulating humidity in your home is essential to taking care of your wood surfaces. Wood is hygroscopic, meaning it takes on moisture and expands, and releases moisture and shrinks. Taking ambient humidity readings and visual inspection of your space for indicators of high or low humidity is an important part of the estimate walkthrough. 

Use a hygrometer

Often, smart thermostats have built-in hygrometers to measure relative humidity of your home,  or there are independent units that are reasonably priced ($50 or less) at your local hardware store. Aim to keep the humidity in your home between 30%-50% with the help of a humidifier or dehumidifier. At Craine Painting, we will often leave a small hygrometer at your home for the duration of work so we can match home humidity levels and to help us estimate dry time.

Use a dehumidifier in damp areas

Dehumidifiers take moisture out of the air, just don’t forget to drain/empty excess water regularly! In Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, a dehumidifier is useful during rainy seasons (March-August). 

Signs of high humidity:

  • Swollen door frames that make it difficult to shut your door
  • Cabinet doors that used to lay flush are now rubbing/bumping the frame
  • Condensation on windows
  • Increased mold in damp spaces
  • Increased insect activity: earwigs, centipedes, and silverfish



Use a humidifier in the fall and winter

A whole-house humidifier, added onto your HVAC system, is the easiest way to maintain humidity regulation in the dryer months. Stand alone room units can increase humidity levels, but you should check the square footage of your home and use the correct number of units to achieve 30-50% humidity.

Signs of low humidity: 

  • Cracks or splits in your solid wood cabinetry and furniture.
  • Needing to water plants more frequently. 
  • Complaints of dry skin, mouth, and nose

During our initial walkthrough of your home, we will inspect the area for signs of high and low humidity.

A table with a crack caused by low humidity

A special note about caulking: 

Since the midwest has a large humidity range,  we don’t use caulk in our cabinet refinishing process. On 5 panel doors, the center panel is meant to float so that it can expand and contract with seasonal changes. 

A professional-grade finish can reduce moisture gain and loss, but wood fibers will expand and contract with humidity changes. Be sure to check your home’s humidity levels frequently and make adjustments via humidifiers and dehumidifiers in order to take the best care of your cabinets. 

Need a professional painter for your home project? Craine Painting is a local, family-owned business with over a decade of experience in the Lake Geneva area.

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Specialty Finishes

While crisp, white kitchen cabinets will always be in style, we understand that some families like a handcrafted look. 

Michael at Craine Painting has over a decade of hard-earned skill with unique finishes, including high gloss, deep shades, distressing, pinstriping, and glazing. 

Let’s break down a few of these terms so you know exactly what to ask for when getting your cabinets refinished.

Distressing

Distressing is purposeful marking of the finish and wood, highlighted by the application of glaze. This is a handcrafted finish, and each door/drawer front will look different from the next. The scuffs, notches, and dents in the wood and finish create a visually-interesting texture, perfect for a country home. Distressing typically looks best when other elements of the room are kept simple. Distressing still allows for color choice, as any color of tinted topcoat can be used with a contrasting glaze. 

Green distressed & glazed cabinet doors, finish matched by Craine Painting
Green distressed and glazed cabinet doors, refinished by Michael Craine

Pinstriping

Pinstriping is hand painted application of glaze in the recesses of your cabinetry. This finish looks best on raised, recessed, or decorative panel cabinetry. The pinstriping pictured below is done with gray glaze in the recesses, but many tones of glaze are available. Pinstriping is applied after a tinted topcoat, so you can choose a color that works with your interior style. 

Refinished white cabinet doors, pinstriped with a gray glaze.

Glazing

Glazing is the hand application of glaze in corners and recesses, and results in a lived in look. It’s perfect for rustic-style kitchens and will add visual texture, especially when applied to neutral cabinets. We love the looks of the glazed kitchen below, and it won Craine Painting an American Painting Contractor Top Job Award. 

Refinished and glazed white kitchen cabinet doors.
Glazed blue feature island by Craine Painting

High Gloss

This high-shine specialty finish refers to gloss or sheen values, measured at an angle to your wall. 0 gloss is a true matte that doesn’t reflect light back to you. High gloss paint will have a gloss value of 80+ and reflects a lot of light. We recommend working with a designer to ensure the outcome fits our home’s style, and we will prepare a product sample to set expectations for high gloss projects. 

High gloss finishes may make it slightly easier to wipe up the occasional spill, but all catalyzed products we use have superior chemical resistance and durability, regardless of gloss value. 

High gloss gray-blue sample
High gloss value violet finish by Craine Painting.

Deep/Dark Colors

Heavily pigmented paint, like that required for dark or deep shades, can behave differently than less pigmented product. Often, a specially tinted primer is required, and multiple coats may be needed to ensure adequate coverage. 

For these reasons, deep and dark colors have a premium finishes fee applied to your estimate.

Cabinetry refinished in black by the team at Craine Painting.
Built-in refinished in deep brown by Craine Painting

No matter your interior design style, Craine Painting will work with your family and designers to create a finish that you’ll be proud to show off to guests this season!

Ready to move forward with your refinishing project? Contact Craine Painting today for an estimate or call (262) 725-1310.

Taking Care of Your Refinished Cabinets

At Craine Painting, we believe your hardwood cabinets can last a lifetime, but that refinishing may be necessary as personal style and habits change. We only use high quality, durable finishes that are easy to maintain for most families.  If you’ve recently had your cabinets refinished, potentially as part of a kitchen renovation project, you should keep the following in mind.

Recommendations:

1. Clean up obvious spills as soon as they happen.

Spaghetti sauce on your new glazed cabinets? We’ve been there! Most of the time, a wipe with a damp soft cloth will remove the stain. Don’t scrub or use abrasives that would damage the integrity of the topcoat. Even staining items, like tomato sauce, can usually be removed from our finishes.

2. Wipe with a damp microfiber cloth quarterly.

Small spots are hard to see, but if you make it a quarterly chore, your cabinets will look better for longer! We highly recommend using just water for maintenance. We believe in the products we use, and chose them for chemical resistance, but surfactants, degreasing agents, and abrasives are too harsh for painted wood. We recommend that clients also share these instructions with cleaning staff.

3. A special note about horizontal surfaces

If we’ve redone horizontal surfaces (shelving, countertops, built-ins) please consider waiting the finish’s full cure time before decorating with heavy items. Most finishes cure within 30 days, and our team will provide you with specific guidance for your unique finish.

Avoid:

1. Soaking wet cloths

Your hardwood cabinets are still a porous surface, even when refinished. Humidity variations can cause the wood to expand and contract, exposing unfinished grain. We recommend you keep the humidity levels between 35-55%. While we’re refinishing, you may notice that we use a humidity meter to predict dry times and do our best to replicate your home’s humidity levels in our shop.

2. Heavy duty kitchen & bathroom cleaners

These products were created to disinfect and clean nonporous surfaces like porcelain or stainless steel. While dish soap is generally regarded as gentle, new soaps have added alcohols and solvents. That makes them great for getting all the grease off of your dishes, but your paint doesn’t stand a chance!

3. “Magic” Abrasives

Even if they feel softer than sandpaper, these sponges or “erasers” are highly abrasive and will remove layers of topcoat and primer, along with whatever you’re trying to scrub off. Save these for use on bathtubs and sinks!

Do you have painted cabinets that need some TLC? Contact Craine Painting for a custom estimate on touchups, including finish and color matching.

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How can I save money on my kitchen renovation?

How can I save money on my kitchen renovation?

Kitchen renovations are a high-impact facelift for your home- adding modernity and value, but the price can easily climb towards $100,000. If you’re interested in giving your home a new look without a big price tag, consider refinishing your cabinets instead of replacing and refacing them.

Refinished kitchen cabinets in white

Refinishing your existing cabinetry will cost one third what you will pay to replace, and about half the cost of refacing. 

At Craine Painting, we understand that a fresh finish can make a big impact, and want you to get a bang for your buck! We’ve priced out a few ways to get new looking cabinets: total replacement, refacing, and refinishing. Refinishing your existing cabinetry will cost one third what you will pay to replace, and about half the cost of refacing.

As of 2026, our current refinishing prices start at $143 per linear foot (a horizontal measurement of the length of your cabinets). Our base price includes primer and top coat(s) to achieve a single color finish. The products we use will be chosen to fit the desired color, wood species, and durability. We offer “all-in” pricing that includes all prep, finishes, and clean up- no surprise disposal or installation fees here!

Kitchen cabinets refinished in a warm, modern white

We can’t wait to help you create your dream kitchen! If you’re looking for more information about our process, we recommend this YouTube playlist. And reach out with kitchen cabinet questions to Michael@Crainepaintingllc.com.

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How often should I repaint my home?

Keep your home looking sharp with routine interior painting

Freshly painted dining room and living room walls by Craine Painting in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

Every 1-3 years for active families with pets and children

We all want to put our best foot forward when welcoming guests and family into our homes. Dings, scratches, and scrapes are very common wear patterns, especially around high touch and high traffic points. The living room, kitchen, and finished basement walls will need to be refinished more frequently to account for their daily use. 

If your home hosts several large family gatherings throughout the year, you may want to schedule painting maintenance before large events. Craine Painting can match finishes and sheens so that touchups look seamless and your home is ready for hosting. 

If you’re working with a designer (or basing your design choices on the latest trends) you’ll want to keep up with your color choices every 3-5 years.

We encourage you to make your home uniquely yours using colors, textures, and accent walls. Your home should reflect your personality and feel comfortable. Please note that we will take into account current and desired color choices during our estimate walkthrough. Extreme color changes will take tinted primer and/or multiple coats to achieve a near-perfect finish. 



If you’ve had significant work or repairs done to your home, you’ll likely have scrapes or dings. If your appliances were replaced, you may notice that parts of your walls that were previously hidden are suddenly on display! Even moving furniture and paintings will uncover UV fading, soot accumulation, and touch points you didn’t even know were there. We recommend giving your home a fresh, uniform coat of paint once work in the area is completed. If you want an even cleaner look, we suggest painting ceilings to get a crisp edge and to add brightness.

Special considerations for second homes

Opening up your lake house or cabin for the summer is such an exciting time- with months of family memories ahead of you at the lake. That’s why we want your first step into your vacation home to be perfect! We work on vacation homes throughout the year, and are flexible around your schedule. Heading south to visit family for a week? That’s the perfect time to get touchups done. And our meticulous prep work and jobsite cleanup ensure the only trace we leave is a beautifully refreshed home.

If you’re ready to refresh your interior spaces, reach out today for an estimate on your project.