Kitchen Cabinet Refacing – Did You Get Brand New Cabinets?

New cabinets can make a big difference in the look and feel of a kitchen. But installing new kitchen cabinets can be very expensive. Did you know that a complete kitchen re-design project could cost you thousands of dollars and take months to complete? That’s why more homeowners see refacing those old kitchen cabinets as a viable option to installing brand new ones. Just imagine that by the end of a refacing project your friends and family could be asking, “Did you get brand new kitchen cabinets?”

Saving Face

Refacing kitchen cabinets can be done at a fraction of the cost of installing new ones. And with the kitchen being the equivalent of grand central station in most homes as well as major selling points for potential homebuyers, you'll want to make sure your kitchen looks and functions the best that it can.

Essentially, a refacing project involves applying a new finish to your cabinetry, installing new doors, drawers, and hardware, and a sprucing up of the framework containing it all. No cabinets are ripped off the wall in a refacing project. The structures of the kitchen are left completely in tact, and your kitchen layout stays the same.

To resurface any exposed cabinet framework—matching wood, paint or laminate veneer is used. You can also just paint or stain cabinets, which can be a very cost-effective method of updating your kitchen and getting a great return on investments. Try combining the painting and staining methods for your cabinets, utilizing each method in two different areas of your kitchen. Or try applying stain on your cabinets in two different colors.

A refacing project can also include upgrading components in your cabinets with extras such as rollout shelves, pull-out trash bins, flip-down drawer fronts, wine racks, high-quality drawer slides and much more. If you are planning to hire professional refacers to tackle your kitchen job, expect that you will be prompted to update your flooring and countertops too in order to have them match your new and improved cabinets. And if your sink and faucet appear out-of-date, you’ll probably be urged to replace them also.

Should I Reface?

Truthfully, refacing is not for every kitchen. Consider that a kitchen with problems such as rusting on metal cabinets and/or existing cabinets that were shoddily built in the first place are not going to be helped by a refacing job. Also consider that if your kitchen has a poor layout or larger structural issues such as off-kilter floors, refacing cabinets will just be a waste of your money. A nonfunctional kitchen is a nonfunctional kitchen, no matter how well it looks. Spend the money to fix big problems first before you even think about doing cosmetic upgrades.

Styles

There are literally hundreds of styles to choose from to do a refacing project. If you are hiring a professional to do the job, you’ll meet with a designer and make a detailed plan to create the look you want for your kitchen design. From there you’ll have custom-built doors, drawer fronts and cabinet facings. And with add-on features and other elements, you’ll get a kitchen that looks brand new.

Finish Options

There are three basic finish options to choose from: plastic laminates, rigid thermofoils (RTF) and wood.

The least expensive of the three is RTF. RTF is a very pliable vinyl foil that is applied to medium-density fiberboard (MDF) with heat and a special adhesive. RTF is durable, easy to clean, mimics the appearance of wood, and is very affordable. It can be shaped and molded in a plethora of styles including arched and cathedral doors and a huge selection of panel door styles. But RTF is limited in choice of solid colors when compared to laminates.

Plastic laminates are slightly more expensive than the RTF, and they come in a range of solid colors and wood-grain looks. They have more color options but are not as durable as RTF. They are also less pliable, which means they are resigned to plainer cabinet door styles because they cannot be shaped and molded as much.

The most costly finish option of the three is wood. Woods can be ordered natural, stained, painted, or paint ready. And with all the new advances made with wood cabinetry, you won’t have to constantly wax the finished surfaces.

Basic care for your wood will likely consist of regular dusting and giving the surfaces a good yearly polish. There are also sealers you can buy that will protect the wood and ultra violet inhibitors to defend against fading effects that will happen due to constant light exposure. Know that doing a refacing project with wood is going to cost you about 25 percent more than laminate would. But wood is definitely going to be a good upgrade comparatively.

Make sure you repair any damage by filling in, sanding down, and sealing over any holes before installing the new faces. Take good measurements. Install plumb and level doors and cabinets. A straightforward DIY refacing job with no surprises will take you about a week. Professionals can have the job finished in a matter of days.

Painting

A good way to completely redo the look of older cabinets is to have them painted. Experiment with a range of colors to create the dramatic kitchen of your choice. From deep blue and bright yellows to smoky grays and blacks and whites, to weathered or faux finishes, nothing is too far from the imagination.

One note of caution, however, is that it can be very complicated if not downright undoable to lighten dark stained cabinets without them becoming blotchy. This is because old cabinets are comprised of old wood and extra coatings such as stain, varnish or lacquer, and oily residues that stem from cooking, cleaning products, your fingers, etc. There is usually a steeper charge for having to strip, sand and re-stain the cabinets, and you’ll have no guarantee of what the result of the refinishing project will look like.

And Yet Another Option

If you just want to enhance the appearance of your kitchen cabinets without altering the color it might be a good idea to consider restoration. Restoration uses specialized cleaners, stains, finish rejuvenators and polishes to get rid of those filmy layers on your cabinets, to buff out dents and scratches, to fix tattered spots, gashes, and even water marks.