Reface or Replace Cabinets?

By: Pete Goode (Page 1 of 7)

Photo by: John Wilkes

Photo by: Geoffrey Gross

1. After they have removed all of the old cabinet doors, installers then sand the face frames. It takes a two-person crew about two days to complete a refacing job in an average-size kitchen.

After they have removed all of the old cabinet doors, installers then sand the face frames. It takes a two-person crew about two days to complete a refacing job in an average-size kitchen.

Veneering the inside edges of rails and stiles is a sign of a quality installation. Here the installer applies a rigid thermofoil that matches the new cabinet doors.

refacing kitchen cabinets; setting the bond on rigid thermofoil

Homeowners have their choice of laminates, rigid thermofoils or wood veneer as a refacing material. Here, Trevor from Kitchen Tune-Up uses a smoothing tool to set the bond on rigid thermofoil.

Attention to details ensures a good installation. Careful trimming of the facing material means that edges will be crisp and seams all but invisible in the finished project.

kitchen cabinet refacing; door and drawer installation

The final touch is to install the cabinet doors and drawers and hardware. Most refacing companies also offer countertops and backsplashes. Some even install new cabinets if requested.

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Mary Saunder disliked the cabinets in her kitchen from the moment she moved into her Bowie, Maryland, home. "They were metal, the color of bronze," Saunder says, "but my husband's motto was 'If it ain't broke don't fix it.'" When her husband passed away last February, Mary decided it was time to act. "I couldn't stand it any more," she says.

But rather than spend the $25,000 or $30,000 redoing the kitchen with new cabinets would have cost her, she settled on a simpler, cheaper and far less intrusive solution. Motivated by a newspaper ad for Sears' kitchen-cabinet-refacing service, she scheduled an appointment and signed up. After two visits to take measurements and show her the new finish and hardware options she could choose from, Sears moved in. Two days and 29 cabinets later, Mary's kitchen was transformed. "I'm 100 percent satisfied," she says. Total cost: $9,100.

Mary Saunder is fairly typical of thousands of U.S. homeowners who make the decision each year to reface rather than replace their cabinets. "The truth is," says Gerald Baldner, founder and president of Kitchen Solvers, a refacing franchising firm in La Crosse, Wisconsin, "some of the cabinets built 20 and 30 years ago are more solidly constructed than most modular, prebuilt cabinets today. So when it's time to redo the kitchen, it often doesn't make sense to start from scratch."