Kitchen Cabinet refacing?

[CTdiznymom]

Has anyone had their cabinet door/drawer fronts replaced? Are you happy you went that route? Was it expensive to do? How do they reface the flat fronts around the doors and sides of cabinets? Kicking around the idea and want to hear first hand experience. TIA

 

[The Moonk's Mom]

We did it in our old house and we have done it in 2 bathrooms in our currnet house. I have to say that I love it...however, you should also know that my DH's BFF is the owner of the company that did it for us...so that may have made mine go very easy. But, really for the time it took and the minimal mess it made in my home, I would so do it again if you are happy with the current layout of your kitchen. Our old home had 1950's cabinets and he rebuilt all of the drawers and I loved the look after it was done. They cover the fronts of the cabinets with matching laminate and on the sides too.

 

[scottmel]

We did something different. I have ash cabinets (what a baseball bat is made from) but I wasn't so crazy for the color but I appreciated the solid wood they are. I used FURNITURE MEDIC (they are a chain) and they change the color of the cabinets with a very industrial strength finish. I can wipe the cabinets so clean - they are almost slick..Allowed me to keep the wood, I didn't like refacing b/c in some cases they just cut and peel woodgain onto cabinets! in furniture medics case, they actually STAIN the cabinets.....they look brand new and this was done 5 years ago???

 

[luvthatdisney]

We did ours about 4 years ago. I would suggest not deviating too far from the original color of your cabinets. Ours were almost chocolate brown and I wanted something light. So we went with a honey pine color for the refacing. It looks great until you open the cabinet. The inside is still the dark color and I hate it. I am thinking I may take a piece of the refacing wood and get some paint made to match it and paint the inside of the cabinets. Other than that love our cabinets and we saved about $3000 with the refacing vs buying cabinets (and they were not even real wood).

Also ours were refaced by a neighbor who does it on the side. He used real wood and finished it so it looks just like what you would buy in the store. I have the left over wood so I know it is really wood.

 

[TxRabbit]

Would just like to chime in on Furniture Medic as a company. They did a great job fixing our cabinets after we had a dishwasher issue.

We didn't reface, WE restained our cabinets. DIY. Came out great. The proper chemicals and elbow grease will remove the old stain. You can stain to match your new doors, if you want a new door style and drawer front, or do all the work on the doors and drawer fronts as well, which is what we did.