Is Refacing Kitchen Cabinets Right for You? Questions to Ask

Refacing kitchen cabinets sits in the middle ground between a fresh coat of colour and a full tear-out. You keep the cabinet boxes you already have, and the parts you see and touch most, the doors and drawer fronts, are brand new. For a lot of kitchens that is the right amount of change. For others it is more than they need, or not enough.

Before you decide, it helps to ask yourself a few honest questions about your cabinets, your kitchen and how you live in it.

What does refacing kitchen cabinets actually change?

It is easier to judge fit when you know exactly what is kept and what is replaced.

• Kept: your existing cabinet boxes, so the layout, sink location and appliance spaces stay where they are.
• Replaced: every door and drawer front, with brand-new ones in the style you choose.
• Finished to match: the cabinet frames, so the old and new parts read as one kitchen.

Our cabinet refacing service comes with a written 5-year warranty on the new doors. With that picture in mind, here are the questions worth working through.

Questions about your cabinets

1. Are your cabinet boxes still solid?

Refacing only makes sense if the boxes are worth keeping. Open each cabinet and look inside. Shelves should sit level, the sides and bottoms should feel firm, and there should be no soft spots or ongoing water damage, especially under the sink and beside the dishwasher.

If the boxes are sound, refacing lets you reuse the most hidden and least glamorous part of your kitchen. If they are falling apart, new doors will not fix the problem underneath, and that is a conversation to have during a quote.

2. What is wrong with your doors?

This is often the deciding question. Look closely at your doors and drawer fronts and be specific about what bothers you.

• Doors that are swelling, peeling at the edges or damaged point toward refacing, because those doors are being replaced.
• Doors in good shape that are simply the wrong colour may only need a new finish.
• A door style you no longer like, such as a dated arched panel, is something paint cannot change. New doors can.

If your doors are solid and you mainly want a new colour, cabinet refinishing keeps your existing doors, drawer fronts and boxes and changes the colour and finish. Refinishing has a written 3-year warranty. Many homeowners find that answering this one question settles the choice.

Questions about how your kitchen works

3. Do you like your kitchen layout?

Refacing keeps your layout. That is a strength if the kitchen works well and simply looks tired. It is a limitation if you are frustrated by where things are.

There is a middle path, though. Smaller layout changes often do not need a full remodel. Adding an island, extending cabinets to the ceiling, adding new cabinetry or converting doors to drawers can all happen alongside a reface. Our custom carpentry and cabinet modifications are done by carpenters and finishers under one roof, and the carpentry portion is usually a day or two.

If you want to move the sink, take out walls or rebuild the kitchen from scratch, that is a renovation, and refacing is not the tool for it.

4. Is storage part of the problem?

Sometimes a kitchen feels outdated because it is hard to use, not because of how it looks. Deep base cabinets where pots disappear, a blind corner nobody can reach and a cluttered under-sink area all add daily frustration.

Refacing is a natural time to fix this. Custom-built pull-outs, garbage and recycling pull-outs, spice and pantry pull-outs, tray storage and blind-corner solutions can be added with a refinish or reface, or on their own. Soft-close hardware comes with them.

Questions about the project itself

5. How much disruption can your household handle?

Refacing is far less disruptive than a full tear-out, because the boxes, countertops and plumbing stay in place. You still need to plan for some time with a crew in your home and cabinets that need to be emptied.

Ask for the expected schedule during your quote so you can plan meals, work-from-home days and anything else that depends on the kitchen. Our team of 30+ in-house employees, including schedulers and installers, means you deal with the same company from start to finish, with no subcontractors.

6. Are countertops or plumbing changing too?

Think about the rest of the kitchen before you commit. If you plan to replace countertops, it is best to coordinate that with the cabinet work rather than doing it later. Countertops can be coordinated through FloForm.

We do not do plumbing. If a sink or faucet is being moved or replaced, you will need a licensed plumber, so build that into your plan.

7. How will you budget for it?

Every kitchen is different, so there is no one-size-fits-all price for refacing. The number of doors, the door style you choose and any organizers or modifications all affect the total. For a starting point, try our kitchen cost calculator.

A free in-home quote gives you clear, line-item pricing, so you can see what each part of the project adds and decide what to include. Financing up to $100,000 through Financeit is available for eligible projects, subject to approval.

Getting a clear answer for your kitchen

If you have worked through these questions and refacing still sounds right, the next step is to have someone look at your cabinets in person. Kitchen Makeovers is a family-owned company in Aldergrove that has been refinishing and refacing cabinets since 2009, with about 7,000 kitchens transformed across the Lower Mainland.

When you are ready, book a free in-home quote. We will check the condition of your boxes and doors, talk through refacing, refinishing and any add-ons, and give you line-item pricing so you can decide with confidence.

Frequently asked questions

Can I reface cabinets if the boxes have some wear?

Often, yes. Refacing keeps the existing boxes and finishes the frames to match, so normal wear on the frames is covered by the new finish. Boxes with structural problems or ongoing water damage are a different matter, and an in-home quote is the best way to tell the difference.

Is refacing or refinishing better if my doors are in good shape?

If your doors are solid and you like their style, refinishing is usually the simpler choice, because it keeps your doors and changes the colour and finish. Refacing makes more sense when the doors are swelling, damaged or a style you want to change.

Can I add organizers when I reface my cabinets?

Yes. Pull-outs, garbage and recycling pull-outs, tray storage and blind-corner solutions can be added with a reface, and they include soft-close hardware. Doing it at the same time means one project instead of two.