Kitchen cabinet refacing

[auralia]

Was wondering if anyone has done this in lue of an expensive kitchen remodel? We live in a mid line neighborhood. Granite counters and high end appliances don't happen in our neighborhood.

We really need to make our kitchen look better because we will need to sell in the next 2-3 years and in this market our house won't sell if we don't make it look better. But we won't be able to recoup anywhere near a total kitchen remodel so I'm looking at this as a readable solution.

There isn't any reason to change the lay out of the kitchen we would need to take out on cabinet to put in a dish washer and remove a small dividing wall to accommodate a larger fridge but aside from that the cabinets are sturdy, but the doors are pressboard (the actual cabinet part isn't) and look awful stained and falling apart.

It's either this or an ikea kitchen the ikea kitchen would be a least 1500$ more than refacing and take lots of work from me and dh (I have a 8 month old and 4 year old and dh is military so time is not on our side) if we got the ikea kitchen we would Most likely have to redo the floors at the same time too.

Did your refacing go well? Did you like it? I have appointments with a couple of local guys both in business for 20+ years both have a 5 year warrantys on their work and we will only be living her 2-3 more years. It's mostly about making it look good to sell.

 

[gilby]

I refaced our kitchen cabinets and loved it. Much cheaper, approx $5,000 with counter tops. Sears wanted $20,000. I just went with high definition laminate, everyone asked if it was granitate. We spent $5,000 to make $20,000 in our house. We sold our house in 5 weeks.

 

[chris31997]

We pulled off all the doors, added molding sanded everything and restained it all and added new hardware. We also added marble top. We went to the flooring store and got the largest size and installed it ourselves. Added glass subway tile also, to finish it off. All to match the floor that the pervoius owner had installed.

We were in a mid range area also, but with a small kitchen. It really made our kitchen stand out. Because the kitchen was small it did not cost us that much. I don't remember numbers because it was 3 years ago.

 

[ssawka]

Another option is to go to Lowe's or Home Depot. I prefer Lowe's. Anyway, it is much cheaper to pay for cabinets and installation then to pay for a complete remodel. Not as cheap as a refacing, but you get new cabinets. I think we spent like a total of $10,000 to do our whole kitchen several years ago.

 

[TnTWalter]

I did mine and they look GREAT. People are always impressed. It was easy but time intensive too.

I'll post pics later but here's the product.

General Finishes Gel Stain

the gardenweb kitchen forum is where I learned all about it!

Trish

 

[jodifla]

We painted our cabinets white and my husband built beadboard doors for them. Made a huge difference!

 

[DisneyForLife]

I did mine and they look GREAT. People are always impressed. It was easy but time intensive too.

I'll post pics later but here's the product.

General Finishes Gel Stain

the gardenweb kitchen forum is where I learned all about it!

Trish

Looking forward to seeing your finished product. I would love to do this but am afraid of all the sanding. You say if was easy but time intensive. I just assume the sanding will be horrendous. Am I wrong?
I have a lot of cabinets.

 

[Jeff_G]

DW and I did ours, pulled the doors off used a stripper to remove the old stain, sanded them down and applied a new finish.
We then used tile on the counter top with a matching back splash and a new floating bamboo floor.

 

[Riverhill]

Great thread... My DH and I really need to redo our kitchen and have been thinking about the same thing. Our boxes are in great shape but the doors and countertop are from the 1979 and need help.

If anyone has done this please post pics of finished cabinet look.

 

[TnTWalter]

this is the thread with my pics and tips...

then if you read down in the thread I link to 'celticmoon' post. She gives detailed instructions that I mostly followed.

It was light sanding and using mineral spirits to get surface ready....

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0109393919706.html

I'll post a pic here too for fun...

BEFORE

AFTER

 

[starwood]

Stay away from Home Depot. We had them come to give us an estimate and we couldn't get the guy out of our house. They pulled the old "this price is only for today". We told him we would let him know and then he wanted a glass of water. He was here for 2 hours. DH finally told him he had to leave.

 

[Jeff_G]

Sorry I dont have a good before picture but the cabinets were a dark brown color from the 1970s...

After

For now we have left the cabinets bare with no stain as DW wanted the natural. After the old stain is removed you can stain any new color its really easy if you are using a gel stain.

 

[auralia]

Unfortunately my doors are made of pressboard... The cabinets themselves are wood. I've never seen this in any other neighborhood I've lived in. So I can't sand and stain heck the doors by the kitchen sink are so bad you can see all the separated layers and can fan through them like a book so i don't think they can be selvaged. Also some cabinets were added later that dont match the original ones so I think I have to reface or replace.

 

[MickeyManiac]

Unfortunately my doors are made of pressboard... The cabinets themselves are wood. I've never seen this in any other neighborhood I've lived in. So I can't sand and stain heck the doors by the kitchen sink are so bad you can see all the separated layers and can fan through them like a book so i don't think they can be selvaged. Also some cabinets were added later that dont match the original ones so I think I have to reface or replace.

What about ordering new doors and drawer fronts? I've seen places on the internet where you can order them finished or unfinished. You just send them your cabinet measurements. You could order them unfinished and sand the boxes and finish all of it the same. It looks fairly easy.

My cabinets are not that old but I don't like the door style and exposed hinges so I'm thinking about ordering new ones.

 

[MickeyDisneyFan]

Check out rustoleum they have a kit that you can redo the countertop and cabinets.

They are around 150 per kit looks great

http://rustoleumtransformations.com/

 

[ssawka]

Stay away from Home Depot. We had them come to give us an estimate and we couldn't get the guy out of our house. They pulled the old "this price is only for today". We told him we would let him know and then he wanted a glass of water. He was here for 2 hours. DH finally told him he had to leave.

Oh! We bought from Lowe's by going into the store and picking out what we wanted. Then they just had to come out to measure. I assumed HD was the same, but I guess not. Although Home Depot is usually cheaper than Lowe's, I have found Lowe's offers better service.