One of the many questions we are often asked is what is more affordable, refacing cabinets or replacing them? Simply put it usually comes down to your budget. Before you decide what decision is best suited for you there are a few things you should consider.
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| Refinishing cabinets from the wear and tear. |
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| New door and drawers. |
There are three ways to reface cabinets. The first is to refinish the existing cabinets, by re-staining or painting. If this process of refinishing is too labor intensive you could install new cabinet doors and drawer faces. This is a great opportunity to update the profiles and have a clean slate for finishing. The third is to install new wood or laminate veneer over the existing cabinets. This can prove to be the most timely and costly. However, in any of these options, cost will depend on how much work, time and money you wish to invest. If you are a DIY-er consider more time. If you are hiring it out add labor time into your budget!
Before you commit, consider first the condition of the cabinets. Are they structurally sound? Do you like the current layout and features? Do you have enough storage? These factors will help determine whether or not it would be worth refacing your cabinets. With refacing you are limited to the changes and modifications you may wish to add. Adding cabinets or modifying original cabinets is expensive and very labor intensive which will prove more costly in the end. If you wish to update your cabinet with accessories and features like a pull-out trash can or pull out shelves, it is far easier to add these to custom cabinets rather than existing. However if your cabinets are only a few years old then you may have the features and the layout you and your family requires. So adding a new coat of paint will update your space with out extra expense.
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| Refinishing traditional oak cabinets to an updated enamel paint. |
On the other hand if you are looking for more than just a face-lift for your cabinets, in the end replacing cabinets will give you more freedom for adjustments and updates. Replacing will also provide you with more satisfaction and savings versus modifying your existing cabinets! In our experience, homeowners who wish to go through a remodel often times desire to alter the current layout to benefit their lifestyle. Refacing will not help you in this area. With new custom cabinets consider also the quality versus the older cabinetry. Over the years hardware, techniques and materials have only improved and will stand better to the test of time.
The cost debate of refacing verses replacing has many factors to consider, however custom cabinet costs have become more affordable with higher quality standards. So, depending on your choices the costs may be very close to a similar price. With that being said if you get a better product, designed for you and your family in mind, it would make way more sense to replace your cabinets!
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