Price difference for refacing cabinets??
Ledebuhr1
| Posted in General Discussion on
Anyone here have any experience in refacing cabinets? I am looking at refacing a small kitchen (8X11).
What prices difference should I expect over replacing all of the cabinets? refacing should be much less invasive.
Thanks
Replies
I reface a lot...not all material and finishing is created equal. If you've got good old carcases, you can probably save 30-50 percent over replacing with comparable quality new cabs. Not to mention countertops and floors, which are probably part of the replacement deal as well.
Beware the cheesy new cabinets, I'd rather have a set of substantial old cabinets refaced than some of the crap I see in new homes, no joke. The refaces I do are difficult for most people to decern. Keep moldings to a minimum so it dosen't look like a trailer house.
Cost will be affected a lot by your choice of door style and material. Hardwoods are more than RTF, solid (like raised panel) are more than ply centers (inset panel). On the other hand, RTF is super durable and easy to clean, if you've got kids or dogs. To my eye RTF looks best in the "painted" versions, even though the woodgrains are pretty convincing.
I'm happy to answer any other questions, and I bet I've raised a few. Takin' off on a bike ride now so my response may be a while coming.
PJ
Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.
Edited 7/15/2006 12:10 pm ET by PeterJ
Here are a few numbers you might use to compare things. Your mileage will vary depending on your material selections, finish, and of course, your location.
We deleted a 24w x 80h x 24d pantry cabinet from a three-room cabinetry order. That size a box rounds up to 14 s.f. of cab front, and I will use the experience from our recent delivery.
A cab like that can cost between $1200 and $1600, when outfitted with bells and whistles like finished sides (the outsides), pantry hardware inside like rotary or ballbearing slide shelving, species fronts such as cherry, glazed or distressed finishes, high end hardware, etc. That amounts to between $85 and $115 per square foot of front.
But in buying just the fronts, your cost, including new hardware, might be down in the $20 to $30 range, per square foot.
Thanks both for your information.
Where do you buy your doors and drawers? I have a CSH catalog, and have heard of a place called Sheres??(sp?).
Do you stain and finish the vaneer before you install it on the face frame? or after?
We get everything from Scherr's. They are easy with which to do business. We email all RFQs to them, and they respond in kind, using Adobe to transmit quotes and drawings.
Cannot answer re the veneering of the faceframes. We do new work, not re-fits.
Dose anyone have a ballpark idea what doors and drawer fronts cost? I know there is a huge variation. I am just looking for rough Ideas.
How about a 12"X30" door, raised panel, arched top in maple. just as an example, or use your own.
Thanks.
Start with 20 bucks a square foot, and go from there.
I have been thinking about refacing the cabinets in my kitchen. However, the shelves are looking pretty ratty. These are 50 year old plywood cabinets with knotty pine veneer. The face frames are in pretty good shape but the doors, shelves, and drawers are not so great. They also do not have decent slides on the drawers, so may not be cost effective to resusitate. But anyway, what does a refacer do about refurbishing tired shelves?
A recent project had me swapping out 4 sets of lower cabinet doors and their shelves as well as the drawer boxes themselves. The whole kitchen was originally done in a select solid cherry. We needed to order new doors and a couple of drawer fronts. The cabinetmaker made the boxes and installed full extension hardware for the new 3 drawers replacing the set of doors and shelves in each carcass. 4 carcasses in total.
I, myself, stripped and refinished the existing drawer fronts being reused and finished the new wood showing. Also stripped and refinished the exposed frame cherry wood.
The cabinetmaker charged me $3400 for his services. The new material was all purchased thru the cabinet maker. I was happier than a pig in sh*t after.
The stripping and refinishing took a while. Probably a total of another 120 hours and several hundred in finishing materials. But after allowing the wood to "tan" for a couple of months, the new work is undistinguishable from the original. Other than my finish is superior to the original stuff.