A fast, affordable kitchen facelift

If youre tired of looking at your worn, old kitchen cabinets, theres an affordable option to update them without the hassle and expense of gutting the whole room.

Refacing your cabinets can offer anywhere from a 30 to 60 percent savings off custom-made new cabinets, and the job can be done in a matter of days with minimal disruption, compared to weeks of major construction with new cabinet installation.

With cabinet refacing, you dont have flooring issues, plumbing issues, electrical, wall repair, said Scott Stock of Marott Contractors Inc. in Texas. All those things come into play when you do cabinet replacement. If youre happy with the layout of your cabinetry, cabinet refacing is definitely an economical way to update your kitchen to current designs and finishes available.

Refacing consists of installing new cabinet doors, drawer fronts and handles, trim moldings, hinges and hardware, and covering the exposed frames of the cabinets with a matching wood or laminate veneer.

A lot of times, what youre putting in is not as good as what youre tearing out, unless youre upgrading to solid wood box or dovetailed drawer box, which cost a lot more, said Bruce Zaidman of American Wood Reface, which has offices in North and South Carolina and Ohio. If the general footprint of the kitchen is good and the boxes are not in horrible shape, then refacing makes a lot of sense.

Zaidman said his company uses quarter-inch solid wood refacing material, rather than ultra-thin veneers, laminates or plywood.

Its a higher quality, Zaidman said. Its good enough to go into a $2 million home, but its affordable enough for an $80,000 condo.

Stock said he uses a quarter-inch solid wood veneer for the exterior of the cabinet boxes and incorporates a solid wood corner, which creates a scribe, which allows the cabinets to fit seamlessly against uneven walls.

It has exactly the same appearance that a new cabinet would have, so when were done, you cant tell a cabinet reface versus a new cabinet, Stock said. We can change the type of wood they want, as well as the type of finish and the door design. We can take a set of white cabinets, make them a knotty alder, change the moldings, redo the exterior of the cabinets and use existing cabinet boxes, and totally change the look of the kitchen.

Cabinet refacing projects can range from $3,000 to $20,000 depending on the job, type of refacing material and other custom designs. Many refacing companies can custom-make drawers or alter the size of the cabinets to fit the homeowners desires.

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A fast, affordable kitchen facelift