Is Cabinet Refacing Eco-Friendly? What You Keep and Replace

If you care about waste, a kitchen update raises a fair question: is there a way to get a new look without sending a whole kitchen to the landfill? Cabinet refacing is often described as the greener choice. That is broadly true, but it helps to know exactly what stays, what goes and how refacing compares with the other options. So, is cabinet refacing eco-friendly? Here is what you keep and what you replace.

Here is a plain look at what refacing keeps, what it replaces and when it is the lower-waste path.

What cabinet refacing keeps

With cabinet refacing, your existing cabinet boxes stay in place. The boxes are the structure of the kitchen: the sides, backs, shelves and frames that hold everything up and are fixed to your walls.

Because the boxes stay, a lot else usually stays with them:

• Your countertops, which sit on the boxes
• Your backsplash, sink and plumbing connections
• The flooring and walls around the cabinets
• Your layout

The cabinet frames are finished to match the new doors, so the boxes look like part of the new kitchen rather than leftovers from the old one.

What refacing replaces

Refacing replaces the doors and drawer fronts with brand-new ones. That is the part of the kitchen you see and handle most, and it is often the part that wears out first.

New doors make sense when the old ones are swelling, damaged, or simply a style you no longer want. They come with a written 5-year warranty.

So refacing is not zero waste. The old doors and drawer fronts do come off. But they are only part of the material in a kitchen, and the bulkier pieces stay where they are.

Is cabinet refacing eco-friendly compared with replacement?

A full cabinet replacement usually removes everything: boxes, doors, drawers and often the countertops and backsplash too. New cabinets are then built, delivered and installed, and the old ones are typically thrown out.

Compared with that, refacing keeps the largest part of the cabinetry in use. It also avoids the knock-on work that replacement can trigger, such as new countertops cut to fit new boxes, patched walls or new flooring where the old cabinets used to sit.

If your boxes are sound and the layout works for you, keeping them is usually the lower-waste choice.

Refinishing keeps even more

If your doors are in good shape, there is an option that keeps even more of your kitchen. Cabinet refinishing keeps your existing doors, drawer fronts and boxes and changes only the colour and finish.

Doors and drawer fronts are removed, sprayed in our shop with an industrial two-component coating and bake-cured. The frames are finished in your home. Because the doors are done in the shop, there is less dust and noise in your home as well. Refinishing comes with a written 3-year warranty.

Put simply, from least to most material replaced:

1. Refinishing: nothing replaced, new colour and finish.
2. Refacing: new doors and drawer fronts, boxes kept.
3. Full replacement: boxes, doors and often countertops replaced.

Making a refaced kitchen last longer

The greenest kitchen is one you do not need to redo a few years later. A few choices help a refacing project hold up, both in looks and in how the kitchen works:

• Choose a door style you will still like. Simple, classic styles tend to date more slowly than very trendy profiles, so you are less tempted to change them again soon.
• Fix how the kitchen works, not just how it looks. Custom organizers and space savers, such as garbage and recycling pull-outs or blind-corner solutions, can be added during a reface so the cabinets you keep work better every day.
• Make small layout changes instead of starting over. Custom carpentry, such as converting doors to drawers, adding ceiling-height cabinets or adding an island, can solve layout problems without replacing the whole kitchen. The carpentry portion usually takes a day or two.

When refacing is not the right call

Refacing depends on the boxes being worth keeping. If the boxes themselves have serious water damage or are coming apart, or if you want a completely different layout that moves plumbing or walls, keeping them may not make sense.

That is why an honest look at the boxes comes first. Sometimes the answer is refinishing, sometimes refacing, and occasionally a bigger renovation is the better use of your money.

Find out how much of your kitchen you can keep

Our family-owned team has been refinishing and refacing kitchens across the Lower Mainland since 2009, with 30+ in-house employees and no subcontractors. Every kitchen is different, so there is no one-size-fits-all price.

Book a free in-home quote and we will look at your cabinets, tell you what can be kept and give you clear, line-item pricing.

Frequently asked questions

Is cabinet refacing better for the environment than new cabinets?

In most cases it creates less waste, because refacing keeps your existing cabinet boxes and usually leaves the countertops, backsplash and layout in place. Only the doors and drawer fronts are replaced.

Is refinishing or refacing the lower-waste option?

Refinishing replaces nothing. It keeps your doors, drawer fronts and boxes and changes the colour and finish, while refacing replaces the doors and drawer fronts. If your doors are in good shape, refinishing keeps more of your kitchen in use.

Can I add recycling storage when I reface my cabinets?

Yes. Garbage and recycling pull-outs and other custom organizers can be added during a refinish or reface, or on their own, and they are built with soft-close.