Thousands of dollars are spent each month on advertising touting cabinet refinishing as an inexpensive way to revitalize tired and outdated kitchens. On the surface, remodeling seems like a convenient and sensible approach to remodeling one’s kitchen on a budget; And who is not interested in that?
Considering the important differences between refacing and replacing reveals much more than the hype would have you believe.
First, make no mistake about it; refacing is not cheap. A typical Orange County kitchen can cost anywhere from $10,000.00 to $18,000.00 just to refit the cabinets, not including the countertops.
So what do you get for your money anyway? New doors, perhaps new drawer boxes, new hinges, and a veneered or refinished cabinet exterior. Perhaps most important is what you don’t get.
• Receive no new cabinet interiors. This means that when you open your new doors you still see the same old ugly interior, consisting in most cases of your kitchen wall and 1″x2″ slats to hold up the shelving.
• You can’t rearrange the kitchen. This means you’ll still be stuck with that dead space in the corner and all those wasted cavities that could have housed spice racks, dump trays, lazy susans, junk drawers, and more. Many wonderful improvements have been made in the areas of kitchen and cabinet design in the last 10 to 15 years. Homeowners cannot enjoy most of these improvements if they choose to remodel rather than replace.
• You don’t have so many finishing options. Because there are only a limited number of veneers available, and because only so much can be done when refinishing the exteriors of old cabinets, you often can’t get the beautiful matching finish that you can when you replace your cabinets with new wood cabinets. solid prefinished Also, the best finish (a baked-on oil-based catalyzed lacquer) cannot be had in California.
• It doesn’t save as much time as you might think. Everyone has heard of someone whose kitchen was in a state of chaos for 2 months, 3 months, or even longer while cabinets and countertops were replaced. Facing seems to take a lot less time since no cabinets are removed in the process. In reality, after the cabinets have been delivered by the manufacturer (usually 3-7 weeks after ordering), most kitchens can be professionally installed within 5-10 days, including the countertops. It does not take 2-4 months to install kitchen cabinets and countertops.
• You don’t save as much money as you’re led to believe. The reason most people believe you can’t afford new cabinets is because many companies inflate the cost of cabinets and granite so much that the cost of refacing seems cheaper by comparison. The truth is, people just need to do a little more shopping to find a cabinet store that has the commitment, experience, and staff to get what they want done in a timely manner for a price they can afford.
A homeowner I know had signed a contract to have his kitchen cabinets relined by a reputable company for $12,500.00 and countertop installation for $4,500.00. The next day she found that someone was able to completely reorganize her kitchen, removing an ugly, non-functioning peninsula, adding a new island, and incorporating a host of other wonderful improvements. And all this in a beautiful cherry wood with beautiful granite countertops. The cost was only about $2,500.00 more to have a wonderful new kitchen instead of just a cosmetic makeover from the old one.
What did he do? He canceled the first contract the next day.
If you’re thinking about changing the face of your cabinets, perhaps you should consider what you’re getting for your investment.
david allen
President, Preferred Cabinets