To Reface or Replace, That is the Question

Every month thousands of dollars are spent on advertising which touts cabinet re-facing as an inexpensive means of revitalizing tired, dated kitchens.

On the surface re-facing appears to be a convenient, sensible approach to remodeling one's kitchen on a budget; and who isn't interested in that?

Considering the important differences between re-facing and replacing reveals a good deal more than the advertising would lead you to believe.

First, make no mistake about it; re-facing isn't cheap. A typical Orange County kitchen can cost between $10,000.00 and $18,000.00 just for cabinet re-facing, not including the countertops.

So what do you get for your money anyway? New doors, perhaps new drawer boxes, new hinges, and a veneered or re-finished cabinet exterior.

Perhaps more important is what you don't get.

You don't get new cabinet interiors. This means that when you open your new doors you still see the same old ugly interior, consisting in most cases, of your kitchen wall and 1"x 2" wood strips to hold up the shelving.
You don't get to rearrange the kitchen. This means that you will still be stuck with that dead space in the corner and all those wasted cavities that could have been home to spice racks, tip-out trays, lazy susans, trash bin pull-outs and more. There have been many wonderful improvements made in the areas of kitchen design and cabinetry over the last 10-15 years. The majority of these improvements cannot be enjoyed by homeowners if they elect to re-face rather than replace.
You don't have as many options for finishes. Since only so many veneers are available and since only so much can be done when re-finishing old cabinet exteriors, you often are unable to get the beautiful matching finish you can obtain when you replace your cabinets with new pre-finished solid wood cabinets. Also, the best finish, (a baked on oil base catalyzed lacquer) cannot be obtained in California.
You don't save as much time as you might think. Everyone has heard of someone whose kitchen was in a state of chaos for 2 months, 3 months or even longer while their cabinets and countertops were being replaced. Re-facing would seem to require considerably less time since no cabinets are being removed in the process. Actually, after cabinets have been delivered by the manufacturer, (usually 3-7 weeks after the order is placed) most kitchens can be professionally installed within 5 or 10 days including the countertops. It doesn't take 2 to 4 months to install kitchen cabinets and countertops.
You don't save as much money as you were lead to believe. The reason most people believe that they can't afford new cabinets is because many companies inflate the cost of the cabinets and granite so much that the cost of re-facing does seem cheaper by comparison. The truth is, people just need to do a bit more shopping to find a cabinet store that has the commitment, experience and personnel to do what they would like in a timely manner for a price they can afford.

A homeowner I know had signed a contract to have his kitchen cabinets re-faced by a well known company for $12,500.00 and countertops installed for $4,500.00. The following day he ran across someone was able to totally rearrange his kitchen, by removing an ugly nonfunctional peninsula, adding a new island and incorporating a host of other wonderful improvements. And all of this in a beautiful cherry wood with lovely granite countertops. The cost was only around $2,500.00 more to have a wonderful new kitchen rather than simply a cosmetic make-over of the old one.

What did he do? He cancelled the first contract the very next day.

If you're thinking about re-facing your cabinets perhaps you should consider just what you are getting for your investment.

David Allen