Cabinet Redooring vs Cabinet Refacing
Kitchen Tune-Up specializes in helping our clients make the most of their updating dollars by upgrading the cabinets they already have. While we offer full cabinet replacement, most of our projects involve improving existing cabinets through our unique Tune-Up process, the highest quality cabinet painting, and redooring and refacing cabinets. Let’s look at redooring and refacing in depth to understand how they may work for you and your kitchen.
Refacing and redooring are similar processes. In both cases we replace your cabinet’s old doors and drawer fronts with new ones. The difference between the two services is in what happens to the cabinet boxes: refaced boxes get veneer and redoored boxes are left alone or painted. Both processes allow clients to make changes to the kitchen’s functionality, like adding trash pull-outs, roll-out trays in base cabinets, and turning doored cabinets into deep drawers.
Veneer is a thin sheet of material applied as a decorative finish. You can find veneers in high-end furniture, decorative items, and also on some styles of new cabinets. In refacing projects, veneers can be made of wood or laminates, and we use veneers that match your new doors and drawer fronts. So, if you choose a navy blue wood painted Shaker-style cabinet door for your kitchen update we will use a flexible factory-finished wood veneer in the same navy blue on your cabinet boxes. The veneer is cut on site to cover the boxes and frames. We also use factory-finished panels of varying thicknesses in addition to veneer in refacing projects. You may see seams where pieces of veneer meet on the cabinet faces, but typically the seams are behind the doors and drawer fronts and are in the same places where stiles and rails on cabinets meet, so the seams do not look out of place. Refacing is a great choice if your old cabinets have a texture you want to hide. We recommend refacing for oak cabinets when our client no longer wants to see the texture and grain pattern from the oak. Refacing is also the only choice we offer if you want to update using a wood stained finish.
Redooring projects combine the new doors and drawer fronts with paint custom mixed to match the new doors and drawer fronts. Typically, the doors and drawer fronts see more wear than the boxes, and we use the highest quality paint available which will stand up well to everyday use. There also aren’t any veneering seams, which isn’t positive or negative but just a difference. Redooring works well on smooth wood cabinets where the client wants to change the color and style. We also use redooring when there’s some sort of detail on the cabinet boxes that cannot be covered in a veneer but could be painted (like a bead). We also redoor white laminate cabinets where the client wants new doors but the laminate on the boxes has held up well.
Cabinet refacing and redooring projects cost about the same. And we often combine the two, using veneer in some places and paint in others depending on cabinetry and how the family uses the kitchen. We may, for example, put panels on the back side of an island, but paint the face frames. We want the best result possible, so each job is approached with that goal in mind. There’s not a notable difference in price. One uses more materials, and one uses more labor. Either process generally takes two to five days depending on the number of cabinets.
At Kitchen Tune-Up we want to help you make the most of your home. We would love the opportunity to see your kitchen, show you door and hardware samples, and create a plan to update and upgrade your space to meet your needs. Contact us today for a free design appointment and estimate.