Temecula Kitchen remodeling is one of the most expensive projects that homeowners undertake. In this post, we’ll detail what you need to know in order to get the best quality and value for your refacing kitchen cabinets. Make sure you see all our resources below.
What is Cabinet Refacing?
In short, refacing means replacing the front surfaces (or “faces”) of your existing cabinets with new materials that are better suited to your needs. Refacing kitchen cabinets can replace worn out laminate or particle board cabinet faces with low-maintenance materials like solid wood veneers, 3D printed plastics, or durable coated metals like stainless steel or powder-coated aluminum alloy. New cabinet faces can also be made of different materials – think quartz countertops or even glass.
Here are the cheapest ways to reface kitchen cabinets.
Using Lumber Plugs
This type of renovation is called “face-lifts”. Face-lifts are essentially refinishing the cabinet doors by stripping off the old paint and varnish and replacing it with a new coating. Face-lifts also involve replacing the hardware, since old hardware will no longer look right on shiny new cabinets.
Basically you are taking out all doors in your kitchen and sand them down, refinish them (for example, put a new finish like lacquer), then put back together.
This style of cabinet refacing is time consuming and labor intensive, but it also gives you the most control over the entire process. Many homeowners choose this option because they want to maintain their own individuality throughout the refacing process. Lumber plugs are a good way to repair smaller holes left by doorknobs and hinges, but larger dents and cracks may require more extensive—and expensive—methods.
Cost: about $35 per door for materials for all face-lifts compared to about $50 per door in our estimation for pre-made cabinets (though many of those companies also offer financing for when you need a new fridge or an upgraded countertop).
Using Custom Kitchen Cabinets
As mentioned above, the real benefit of using custom cabinets is that they really create a customized look for your kitchen. If you replace all the doors on your cabinets with new ones, or you add in new rails and shelves or even drawers, then it will look like a whole new kitchen. In addition to looking great, custom cabinets are also nearly impossible to identify as refacing rather than custom-built pieces.
The drawbacks include price (though many companies offer financing), installation time (which isn’t typically longer than it takes to install pre-made cabinets), and space concerns (if you don’t have enough wall space for customized vanities).
Cost: About $30 – $70 per door for materials and can be more expensive for customized items.
Reface with a 3D Printer
3D printers are also known as additive manufacturing technology, or “manufacturing by computer”. These machines build objects layer-by-layer, so you can design a kitchen cabinets piece to exactly meet your needs. Like custom cabinets, the finished look of 3D printed furniture will be very difficult to mistake as refaceable, but they are also incredibly labor intensive—and costly—to produce. Many manufacturers even use 3D modeling software in order to print their designs before they invest in the expensive equipment needed to actually produce them.
Cost: can be as low as $1 per square inch
Reface with Laminate
Laminates are less expensive than other forms of refacing and provide a quick and easy way to give your kitchen an updated look. Companies that sell laminate reface kitchen cabinets for about $60 – $100 per door and about $400 – $600 in total, depending on the price of the laminate used and the number of doors you need to replace. The biggest advantage of using laminates is that they come with a wide variety of styles and finishes, so you can really customize your kitchen to fit your tastes. The downsides include maintenance, which can get more expensive by the year if you use it with a lot of wood-composite materials (which is most common), and the fact that they are not as durable as other options.
Cost: around $60 – $100 per door for materials and about $400 – $600 in total.
Reface with Paint or Stain
Painting is an inexpensive way to give your cabinets a fresh look, but it will also make any scratches that may have been present on your old cabinets more visible, which means you will have to polish them again after painting. Painting also isn’t going to make your cabinets last as long as more expensive options.
Staining is similar to painting and is a less labor intensive option that you could try for a more inexpensive refacing project. However, like painting, the difference between staining and refinishing is the way that stain interacts with your existing cabinets. If you have an old bar cabinet or buffet that has been exposed to water damage, for instance, staining won’t be able to hide the scratches and wear better than a refinishing would.
Cost: About $30 – $60 per door for materials (depending which paints you use) or about $300 – $800 if wood-composite materials are used instead of wood laminate.
Reface with Metal
Using metal can be a great option if you want your cabinets to look high-end, but it is also a more expensive option. There are all kinds of options when it comes to metal kitchen cabinets: stainless steel and powder coated aluminum are two of the most popular. Metal is durable, so the finishes won’t scratch off or peel, and they also look upscale. Again, keep in mind that using metal may make your kitchen slightly more difficult to sell as refaceable later on, though it will still be worth less than custom-built cabinetry.
Cost: Usually $800 – $1,500 per door, but this price can vary depending on the type of metal used.
DIY Cabinet Refinishing with Cabinet Coatings
Cabinet coatings are another option for cabinet refacing on a budget. These products come in liquid form and are applied with a paintbrush or sprayed by a professional. The cost is between $20 and $80 per door depending on which product you choose and how many doors you plan to coat in your kitchen (each kit covers up to four doors). The biggest benefit of coating is that you do the work yourself, which means it’s less expensive than going to a specialist or hiring someone to do it for you. On the downside, coatings can only be applied to wood-composite cabinets and rough plywood, and they aren’t ideal for each and every kitchen cabinet refacing project.
Cost: about $20 – $80 per door for materials.
Conclusion
The truth is, there just aren’t very many more affordable options for refacing your cabinets right now. Not only are the materials very expensive, but also the labor is pretty strenuous as well. Unless you have a place to store what you already have, or work with someone who does, it’s going to be difficult to avoid spending a lot of money on refacing in the future. So if you’re working with a tight budget and want to give your kitchen a new look, refinishing is probably not the best option for you.
As always, let us know of any questions you might have. We’d be glad to help along the way.
(951) 289-3063