Cabinet Makeover Options Compared: What Stays, What Changes

When your kitchen cabinets start to look tired, there is more than one way to fix them. Some options keep almost everything you have and change only the colour. Others swap the doors, rework the layout or add storage. Each one keeps a different amount of your existing kitchen and asks a different amount of your household while the work happens.

This guide lines up the main cabinet makeover options side by side, so you can see what is kept, what is replaced and what to expect at home. Prices are left out on purpose, because every kitchen is different.

Cabinet makeover options at a glance

• Refinishing: keeps your doors, drawer fronts and cabinet boxes, and changes the colour and finish.
• Refacing: keeps your cabinet boxes, adds brand-new doors and drawer fronts, and finishes the frames to match.
• DIY Kitchen Update Kit: your doors and drawer fronts are refinished professionally in our shop, and you paint the frames yourself.
• Organizers and space savers: custom pull-outs and storage added inside the cabinets you already have.
• Custom carpentry and modifications: changes to the cabinets themselves, such as an island, ceiling-height uppers or turning doors into drawers.
• Full replacement: everything comes out and new cabinets go in, usually as part of a larger renovation.

Many kitchens end up with a combination, such as refinishing plus a few organizers, or refacing plus a small layout change.

Refinishing: same cabinets, new colour and finish

Refinishing suits cabinets that are solid and well built but look dated. Your doors, drawer fronts and boxes all stay. Only the colour and finish change.

With professional cabinet refinishing, doors and drawer fronts are removed and taken to our shop. There they are sprayed with an industrial two-component coating and bake-cured, a factory-grade process. The cabinet frames are finished in your home.

Time and disruption at home

Expect about four days of work in your home, with a 7 to 10 day gap while the doors are in the shop. Because the doors are sprayed in the shop rather than in your kitchen, there is less dust and noise in the house. Refinishing comes with a written 3-year warranty.

Refacing: same boxes, new doors and drawer fronts

Refacing keeps the part of your kitchen that is hardest to change, the cabinet boxes, and replaces the part you see and touch most. You get brand-new doors and drawer fronts, and the frames are finished to match.

It is a good fit when doors are swelling or damaged, or when you want a different door style altogether. Cabinet refacing comes with a written 5-year warranty on the new doors.

Time and disruption at home

Your cabinet boxes and layout stay in place, so there is no tear-out of the kitchen. The schedule depends on the size of the kitchen and the door style you choose, and your estimator can walk you through it when they visit.

The DIY Kitchen Update Kit: share the work

If you are handy and want to take on part of the job, the DIY Kitchen Update Kit splits the work. Your doors and drawer fronts are professionally refinished in our shop, and you paint the frames using the materials and guidance in the kit.

There are two versions:

• Novice Kit: we remove, refinish and reinstall the doors, and you paint the frames.
• Expert Kit: you handle removal, delivery, frame painting, pickup and reinstall.

Tool rentals are available. How long your kitchen is in progress depends mostly on how quickly you work through the frames.

Organizers and modifications: changing how the kitchen works

Sometimes the look is fine and the problem is function: a blind corner nobody can reach, a cluttered under-sink cabinet or a pantry where things get lost.

Custom-built organizers keep your cabinets and change what is inside them. Options include garbage and recycling pull-outs, under-sink storage, spice and pantry pull-outs, tray storage and blind-corner solutions, all with soft-close. They can be added on their own or as part of a refinish or reface.

Custom carpentry goes a step further and changes the cabinets themselves. Typical changes include adding an island, extending uppers to the ceiling, adding cabinetry or converting doors to drawers. Our carpenters and finishers work under one roof, and the carpentry portion usually takes a day or two.

Full replacement: when everything comes out

Replacing cabinets means removing the boxes, doors and usually the countertops, then installing a new kitchen. It is the right call when the boxes themselves are failing, for example from serious water damage, or when you want a completely different layout that moves plumbing or walls.

It is also the most disruptive option. Countertops, backsplash, plumbing and sometimes flooring are affected, and several trades are involved. If your boxes are sound and the layout works, refinishing or refacing keeps far more of what you already have.

How to choose the right option for your kitchen

A few questions narrow it down quickly:

1. Are the cabinet boxes solid? If yes, you can likely keep them and refinish or reface.
2. Do you like your door style, and are the doors in good shape? If yes, refinishing changes the colour and keeps the doors. If not, refacing gives you new ones.
3. Is the real problem storage or layout? Organizers or carpentry may matter more than a new colour.
4. How hands-on do you want to be? The DIY kit suits homeowners who are happy to paint the frames themselves.

To see these options in real kitchens, browse our before-and-after kitchen gallery.

Since 2009, our family-owned team in Aldergrove has transformed about 7,000 kitchens across the Lower Mainland, with 30+ in-house employees and no subcontractors. There is no one-size-fits-all price, because no two kitchens need exactly the same work.

When you book a free in-home quote, we look at your cabinets, talk through which options fit and give you clear, line-item pricing.

Frequently asked questions

Which cabinet makeover option is least disruptive?

Organizers are usually the smallest change, since your cabinets stay as they are. For a new look, refinishing keeps your doors and boxes and takes about four days of work in your home, and because the doors are sprayed in our shop there is less dust and noise in the house.

Can I combine refinishing or refacing with organizers?

Yes. Organizers and space savers can be added on their own or as part of a refinish or reface, and carpentry changes such as converting doors to drawers can be planned into the same project.

How much does a cabinet makeover cost?

It depends on the size of your kitchen, the option you choose and any add-ons. A free in-home quote gives you clear, line-item pricing for your kitchen, and financing up to $100,000 is available through Financeit for eligible projects, subject to approval.