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Cabinet Refacing: Five Considerations
If your kitchen cabinets are looking shabby, you should consider refacing them instead of buying new ones. Replacing cabinets can be difficult if it includes rerouting plumbing or rewiring electricity. Cabinet refinishing is easier and costs thousands less than replacement.
Here are five things to consider when resurfacing your cabinets.
After you're finished, your cabinets should look new because, for the most part, they are new. And by choosing to refinish instead of replace, you have saved yourself a great deal of money.
The door is your cabinet's most prominent feature. When refinishing your cabinets, you should give careful consideration to what style of door you want. You can have recessed and raised panel doors, bead board, flat fronts, and more. If your old cabinet doors are flat fronts, and you are happy with that style, you need not replace them at all. Flat-front doors can be resurfaced with veneer, which lowers your cabinet refacing costs.
Take careful measurements of your cabinets--especially if you are doing the project yourself. Most retailers have hundreds of cabinet packages to choose from--more, in all likelihood, than they carry in the store. Usually the store ships your veneer and cabinet refinishing supplies in from a warehouse specifically for you--and this takes time. Make sure you order enough veneer the first time. You may develop a new understanding of the term "snail mail" when you are waiting in a messy kitchen for your materials to arrive.
A normal refinishing job includes replacement of hinges. You have two choices for new hinges--traditional or European. Traditional hinges are exposed on the front frame of a frame cabinet. European hinges are concealed and not visible from the exterior.
The basic finish options are plastic laminate, rigid thermofoils (RTF), and wood. For its durability and affordability, RTF is the most popular of the three. RTF is a durable laminate that can easily be molded into different door styles and surfaces.
A wood refacing can cost 25 percent more than other materials. You can decide on a finish and then order it stained, natural, or paint ready.
Bob Vila, Refacing Kitchen Cabinets
