Cabinet Refacing

Keeping the Good Part of Your Kitchen

Refacing replaces what you see and touch, the doors, drawer fronts, hinges, slides and exposed box surfaces, while keeping the cabinet boxes that are already on the wall. When those boxes are sound it is one of the most sensible remodeling decisions a homeowner can make. You get a kitchen that looks new for well under half the cost of replacement, the countertops can often stay in place, and the room stays usable for most of the job.

It only makes sense if the boxes deserve to be kept, so that is where every refacing conversation starts.

Are Your Boxes Worth Keeping?

We open every door and look. These are the things that decide it.

• Material. Plywood boxes are good candidates. Particleboard boxes can be, if they are dry and undamaged. Particleboard that has swollen at the bottom edge of the sink base is not coming back.
• Square and solid. Boxes should be square, fastened firmly to studs, and level enough that new doors can be adjusted to line up.
• Dry. We take moisture readings under the sink, beside the dishwasher and at the uppers next to the range. A high reading can mean a hidden leak or a ventilation problem that needs solving first.
• Layout. If the work triangle is awkward, the aisle is under 42 inches, or you want to move the sink, refacing preserves a layout you still dislike.

Many kitchens in the larger 1980s and 1990s houses around Somerset, Woodridge and Bridle Trails were built with decent plywood boxes and dated oak doors. Those are the ideal refacing kitchens. Some 1950s and 1960s ramblers in Lake Hills and Eastgate have site built boxes that are sound but oddly sized, which refacing handles well because every new door is made to the opening.

What Gets Replaced

New doors and drawer fronts are built to measure in the species and finish you choose. Exposed sides and face frames are covered in matching wood veneer or a thin applied panel. Old hinges come out and concealed soft-close hinges go in. Drawer boxes can be kept or replaced with dovetailed boxes on full extension, soft-close slides, which is often the most noticeable daily improvement of the whole job.

It is also a good moment to convert a lower door cabinet into drawers, add a pullout trash cabinet, or replace a blind corner with a pullout.

Wood and Finish Choices for Refacing

The same climate logic applies as with new cabinets. Painted refacing doors are most reliable when built with a solid maple frame and an MDF center panel, because that panel moves far less than solid wood as the humidity changes and the paint stays intact at the joints. For stained work, rift sawn white oak veneer and solid oak frames give a calm, stable look, and cherry gives warmth that deepens over the years.

The one thing to be careful about is matching. New veneer over old box sides must be finished to match new doors exactly, so we finish the doors and the veneer together, not separately.

How a Refacing Job Runs

1. Inspection of the boxes with moisture readings and a written recommendation, including an honest note if replacement is the better choice.
2. Measurement of every opening, then door and veneer samples in your chosen finish.
3. Four to six weeks for doors and fronts to be built and finished.
4. Installation over roughly three to five working days, during which the sink and most of the kitchen remain usable.
5. A follow-up adjustment after the next season change.

When Refacing Is Not the Answer

If you plan to move the range to an island, change countertop height, or add an induction cooktop that needs a new circuit and a different base cabinet, you are already changing enough that new custom cabinets may cost only a little more for a much better result. We will lay out both numbers side by side so the decision is yours.

Call (425) 461-1454 and we will come look inside your cabinets.