Refacing Kitchen Cabinets?

[GregT]

All,

Remember a few months ago I asked about stainless steel appliances? Well, they look terrific. So terrific, in fact, that DW wants to re-do the whole kitchen now. Hmmm....

So, has anyone refaced their kitchen cabinets, and if so, do they last? When we bought our house 11 years ago, we could barely afford the house and therefore did the standard kitchen cabinets (with white laminate). The white laminate is now peeling, and we want to reface all the kitchen cabinets.

We're concerned that the new laminate will simply peel in 11 years -- and I expect to be in this house a long time.

Please advise with any perspective and thanks very much!

All the best,

greg

 

[thunderbolt]

Greg,
we are looking into that as well, but as I understand it, the cabinet doors are all replaced, not just the laminate surface. These come in man made materials, all the way up to solid wood. The frame work of the cabinets are the only areas with glued on laminate, and they stand up very well to the test of time.
Doug

 

[GregT]

Greg,
we are looking into that as well, but as I understand it, the cabinet doors are all replaced, not just the laminate surface. These come in man made materials, all the way up to solid wood. The frame work of the cabinets are the only areas with glued on laminate, and they stand up very well to the test of time.
Doug

Doug,

This is exactly what we are looking at -- replacing the cabinet doors with actual wood, and then putting glued on laminate over the existing cabinet frames themselves that matches the new cabinet doors.

I just hope the glued on laminate for the cabinet frames will hold up over time -- and would appreciate any perspective if someone has experience with this.

Thanks very much,

Greg

 

[MelBay]

We had this done 15+ years ago, and I don't regret it. Our house was built in the early 60's and the cabinet shelves could easily each hold an elephant. So, I didn't want to tear them all out and put in cheap new cabinets that would have saggy shelves in short order.

We did get new doors, all new hardware, and brand new drawers with dovetail boxes. The parts that were laminated still look great - anything that doesn't look good can be credited to something one of the kids or the dogs did.

So, I'd recommend it. We used a small shop as we were very impressed with the quality of the doors & drawers over those of the bigger chains.

We found this person at our annual spring home show - good place to comparison shop pretty efficiently.

Good luck, and enjoy. It wasn't fun having it done - everything lived in the living room for a month and while eating out for that period of time was great, I was ready for the mess to be done by the time it was all over.

P.S. Don't go trendy. In 10 years you'll be sad. Do something traditional, and maybe do trendy hardware, which is much easier to change.

 

[slip]

I did have this done two years ago. So far they have held up nicely. Now I do
Not have any small children being rough on them. The guys who did ours have
Been doing this for over twenty years a piece. It was only slightly cheaper than
New cabinets, if I would have installed them myself. I think the refacing is only
As good as the installers. Make sure they are experienced.

Overall I'm happy with them and I would do it again. If I was doing a more
Extensive renovation I would install new cabinets.

 

[tompalm]

We did it seven years ago and still looking great with the new door and drawers. Just make sure that your cabinets are solid wood, and not particleboard. The cabinets may not last much longer if they are press-wood. Also, if you add granite to the top, it is very heavy and you really need solid wood frames.

 

[Karen G]

We had ours done almost five years ago and couldn't be happier. The doors are solid wood, all new drawers & hardware plus several pull out drawers where there had been just shelves. We added some crown molding on the tops along with recessed lighting and under-cabinet lighting. It all looks great. We had ours done through Home Depot.

 

[dwojo]

I refaced my kitchen cabinets 9 years ago and they still look great. The cabinet doors were replaced and held up great.