Kitchen Cabinet Refacing

Cabinet refacing is a great way to simply improve the look of your kitchen by taking your old aged looking cabinet faces and reinvigorating them with a fresh look. Kitchen cabinet refacing involves replacement of the cabinet doors and drawer fronts as well as covering any exposed faces of the cabinets with a matching veneer.

It’s a great alternative to replacing cabinets, refacing kitchen cabinets can work out up to a third of the cost of completely gutting your kitchen. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Cabinets built a few decades ago were often built far more solidly than the modular factory cabinets that factories churn out in their thousands today. If that happens to be the case then it makes much more sense not to rip out perfectly good cabinets to replace them with something less solidly built when simply switching the facing can achieve something that looks wonderful, and as fresh as if it was ripped out and replaced.

You have three options when it comes to finishes. Plastic laminates, which come in solid colours and grain effects; Rigid thermofoils, which is a vinyl based pressure moulded surface applied over medium density fibreboard doors; finally wood veneer is another option, one which provides the best effect by letting the natural beauty of real wood do its thing in your space. The other options can’t match wood in terms of looks, though they can come close to achieving the look of wood at more reasonable prices.

Refacing won’t change the layout of your kitchen. If you’re kitchen layout is poor then the kitchen cabinets refacing cost may make refacing something that isn’t worthwhile. In those circumstances it could be wise to invest the extra in having your kitchen entirely replaced.

That said, sometimes kitchen refacing firms can provide some basic reorganisation of your kitchen for fairly reasonable prices. Get a quote and find out what would be more worthwhile in the long run.

It’s an ideal time to upgrade other things. Consider replacing the drawers while you are at it. Upgrading to more modern drawer rollers from old wood center glides is a worthwhile addition when you reface kitchen cabinets, one that will improve your experience in the kitchen.

When getting your kitchen refaced, your flooring and countertop installations can be redone as well, and better yet most refacers will also include those at additional pricing.

Other things that can be included is everything from adding corner cabinets or kitchen islands to adding accessories such as pull out bins, and wine racks.

Thinking about your kitchen cabinet refacing cost, it’s easy to imagine you’d have to pay out a small fortune. Refacing is cheaper than totally replacing your kitchen though. They start at $3,000 for a very simple kitchen cabinet refacing that heavily relies on what is already there in terms of base and looks. An average of about $5,000 is typical across continental US. The more quotes you get the better, as you will find some that are more reasonable than others. Be sure to also check out the quality of the work done by the firm you are looking at doing your work. You should be aware that the quality of the work done by such firms varies greatly. A refacing job done poorly can look awful.

Make sure your quote includes, installation, tax, refinishing of walls to cover any gaps caused by new cabinets not lining up exactly as before, handles, plumbing, electrical work, and moulding. Discuss the process with the company representative, as this is as important as the finishing. Once you’ve looked at all these factors you may find refacing kitchen cabinets cost less than you think.

There are three options when it comes to kitchen cabinet refacing, which range from simple to more complicated.

• Painting kitchen cabinets is a simple way to turn the old into new and works out the cheapest option but whether it works or not depends heavily on what is already there to work with.
• Refinishing kitchen cabinets will involve the same preparation as painting, namely cleaning with TCP or Sugar Soap, then sealing. Then a refinishing agent can be applied.
• Refacing kitchen cabinets is of course the one that will give you the greatest improvement through taking away and replacing a lot more, the whole look of the kitchen can be significantly changed.

There is also the DIY approach which means with a little elbow grease, you can fit your own replacement panels and save some money. But there is a lot of measurement and hard work involved. Having a company do everything for you is very convenient. But if you do decide to go down the DIY route there are plenty of options, some of which aren't all that hard to do once you get started.

Consider health and safety before you start.

Leaded Paint - Any paint prior to 1978 had lead in it, so if your cabinets were painted prior to this date your cabinet refacing firm will have to take special precautions when working with them. Read up on leaded paint, so that you can ensure proper precautions are taken.

General Safety - If you do decide to reface your kitchen cabinets yourself then don't leave your tools laying around at the end of each day. Keep a clear work area throughout the day. Be careful when using any tools.

To get ideas for your kitchen cabinet refacing surf home and kitchen websites on the internet, buy home and kitchen magazines and create a ‘swipe file’ that contains all the different kitchen ideas you liked the look of. In the showroom of the kitchen cabinet refacing firm discuss how you can achieve something similar. Doing so will lead naturally to a lot more kitchen cabinet refacing ideas, some of which may find their way into your final design.