Has anyone ever refaced their Kitchen cabinets?

[WDWorld2003]

We are agonizing over what to do with our kitchen..... our cupboards are still sound but very dated. We had thought of a complete tear out but because we would not be changing the layout of the kitchen not to mention living without it for 3-4 weeks, we are thinking of refacing the cupboards and putting in new countertops.

This is about 1/3 to 1/2 the price of totalling redoing it. However, we don't want it to look tacky if we do it as it is still a large amount of $.

Has anyone done this or known someone? If so, what were the results?

We would be using a local cabinet maker so they are using real wood vs. the plastic laminate from Sears.....

 

[FroggyinArk]

by using a cabinet maker and not the laminate i would say go for it,, i've refaced many over the years and only had one dis satisfied customer to date.

 

[WDWorld2003]

Froggy,
Thanks! Is that what you do for a living? Can I ask why the customer was dissatisfied?

We have thought of so many options and this seems like the best so far. We have thought about IKEA cabinets and have heard great things about them, but it would involve a complete tear out.

I never knew redoing a kitchen could be so agonizing Thanks for any help!

 

[J/T Gramdma]

I had mis-matched cabinet in kitchen because we had replaced some. We had kitchen re-facing done and they looked great, sure helped us to sell the house.

 

[golfgal]

Can I be rude and ask how much it costs for refacing? How many cabinets do you have? I had thought about doing this for our kitchen too. I haven't contacted anyone because I don't know how serious we are. We have 22 full sized doors, 4 small doors (over the stove/fridge), 9 drawer fronts and a refrigerator surround. I know that it would depend on what style, material, etc. How about a ball park for something along this line:

http://www.merillat.com/products/classic/Labelle-Cherry-SQ.aspx

 

[WDWorld2003]

We have 32 drawer and door fronts.... to replace as is would cost around $8,800 including countertops and plumbing, but NOT including new sink, appliances or electric work. If we change a few cupboards it will probably add another $1,000+.

I found this person's name on Angie's List and he has good ratings. I have also called a few references he gave.

Sears gave us a quote of over $16,000 for the above. They also used laminate materials..... we prefer wood. We still need to look at a kitchen that has been refaced before we make our final decision..... We did get a quote for a totally new kitchen and it was $27,000 at the low end, not including appliances or electrical.

 

[jbthi]

We just had our cabinets refaced last week. I am very happy with the looks but I'm not sure if I would do it again. My old cabinets were the originals from the 50's. They had been painted several times and on the lazy susan especially but also all the shelves you could see hideous paint colors.

The reason I am not sure I would do it again is because of the mess. They sanded everything down and I couldn't believe the mess. They put zippered plastic doors up in the kitchen to contain most of it. My off white wallpaper actually turned a bronzish red. We had to vacuum it 2 or 3 times and vacuum the ceiling. When things settled a few days later we had to do it again.

I went with a natural maple (unfinished) and I went with a solid surface counter top. There are 9 drawers and 16 doors. The doors and drawers are solid wood. I think the sides are laminate. The price was 10,800. I went with the sink built into the top. That was the biggest doubt I had about it but I love it.

I really think the look is more expensive than most new cabinets but I do think it was more trouble than new.

It was a husband and wife team that owned the company and did the work so I think they were very quality conscious.

 

[WDWorld2003]

Hmmm..this makes me nervous. Why do they sand for refacing?

 

[jbthi]

They told us in advance they would be sanding the sides so the laminate would hold better.

I think probably we had more of a mess since they almost completely redid the insides of our cabinets. They painted the sides and the shelves that weren't replaced were sanded and laminate put on them.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

A friend of mine just painted her kitchen cabinets. I cannot believe how beautiful they look! She had the paint store match a piece of mahogany wood, and that's what paint she used. They look so nice! She also bought new knobs and pulls. It really looks like she has new cabinets.

 

[Cindyluwho]

We just had our cabinets refaced last week. I am very happy with the looks but I'm not sure if I would do it again. My old cabinets were the originals from the 50's. They had been painted several times and on the lazy susan especially but also all the shelves you could see hideous paint colors.

The reason I am not sure I would do it again is because of the mess. They sanded everything down and I couldn't believe the mess. They put zippered plastic doors up in the kitchen to contain most of it. My off white wallpaper actually turned a bronzish red. We had to vacuum it 2 or 3 times and vacuum the ceiling. When things settled a few days later we had to do it again.

I went with a natural maple (unfinished) and I went with a solid surface counter top. There are 9 drawers and 16 doors. The doors and drawers are solid wood. I think the sides are laminate. The price was 10,800. I went with the sink built into the top. That was the biggest doubt I had about it but I love it.

I really think the look is more expensive than most new cabinets but I do think it was more trouble than new.

It was a husband and wife team that owned the company and did the work so I think they were very quality conscious.

Ummmm....Can you imagine the mess if you'd pulled out he old cabs and put in new?
If you like the positioning of your old cabs, definately go with refacing. If you don't like old implements, ie the lazy susan etc, you can take them out and replace them. The quality of the wood in the old cabinets is almost always higher than what you could buy for any price nowadays. Even if the door fronts of new cabs are solid wood, the interior boxes will not be. They will be pressboard or some other low quality stuff. We had our cabs resurfaced last year and couldn't be happier. Our kitchen is approx 800 sq ft and it cost us $6800 plus tax. We used pink birch for our wood choice and then topped them with copper counters, an add'l $1700.

 

[DisneyArk]

We have not had our cabinets refaced, but we did get new Formica counter tops and new tile back splash. It made a huge difference in the way the kitchen looks. But it was very messy! The tile guys cut the tile in the house and there was dust from that. Plus the counter tops had to be sanded and that was messy too!

I think that most kitchen remodel projects are messy! Even brand new cabinets create quite a mess. Good luck

 

[Lisa L from MI]

Wow...I didn't think re-facing would be that much $$. I have 26 doors and 7 drawers!! That would be alot of money.

 

[Cindyluwho]

You're right, it is very expensive. In fact, it's not much cheaper to resurface than to replace. The doors and drawer fronts will all be new but the older cabinets have much higher quality boxes. If you like the positioning of the kitchen, definately have them resurfaced.

 

[WDWorld2003]

Thanks everyone! You're making this decision easier.... anyone else?

 

[WDWorld2003]

Bumping.... in case anyone else has opinions on refacing

 

[staci]

We bought our house this summer and it has refaced cabinets and countertops. We actually thought the whole kitchen was new, until we opened the drawers and saw the older contact paper. It looks WONDERFUL and I imagine the improvement was amazing, because I can see from the inside of the cabinets how dark they were and now they are light and new looking! I assume the previous owner did it himself, as he was a fixerupper kinda guy, and it still looks great. People come into our house that we paid a VERY reasonable price for, and are so amazed by our kitchen. When I am in there, I feel like I am in a brand new house, not my 40 year old one!

 

[JanetRose]

jbthi -

Why didn't they take down the cabinet doors and sand them outside the house?

 

[jbthi]

They didn't sand the cabinets doors. They are completely new, solid wood.

They sanded the sides of the cabinets where the laminate went.

I think probably what made the most mess, is they sanded the insides of the cabinet too. They repainted them, and put some kind of new material on the shelves. Someone commented that they didn't realized their cabinets weren't new until they saw the insides, old contact paper, etc. You can't tell that mine aren't new. Everything inside and out looks perfect. They even put a new bottom on the cabinet that the sink is in because you could tell at one time there had been a leak.

I really think mine look better and is a better quality than the average new cabinets.

One of the big improvements they made--I have the biggest lazy susan cabinet with the biggest turntable I have ever seen. You could see remnants of bright yellow paint, blue paint, pink paint and my contribution, almond color.
It was so heavy and wobbly to try to turn. They took it all apart, sanded all color off (this was done outside) and refaced the inside. Put a new pole in. In other words, completely rebuilt it. You can't tell it from new.

 

[WDWorld2003]

Thanks everyone... this board is so great!!!! The more I hear the more I think refacing is the route we will take. We have to get a few more bids and hopefully, it will be this spring's project (no openings with the cabinet maker until then).