Refacing or Refinishing Existing Cabinet Boxes

Most people judge a kitchen by the door fronts and never look inside the box. Whether an old cabinet should be refaced, refinished or replaced is decided by the carcass, and austin cabinetry spazio xyz sets the order of checks deliberately, starting under the sink. A solid box in a Hyde Park or Travis Heights house is worth keeping. A swollen one in Austin, TX is not.

Check the box first

Press on the bottom panel under the sink and along the toe kick. Soft or crumbling board means the box has taken water and the cabinet needs replacement, not a new face. Open each drawer and look at the drawer box joints. A dovetail drawer in hardwood usually survives for generations, while stapled particleboard does not. Sound plywood box construction is a good sign.

What refacing means

Refacing keeps the carcass and the face frame, covers the frame with veneer, and swaps the doors and drawer fronts. It suits boxes that are square and dry but dated, which describes many cabinets in older neighborhoods. New fronts can be a shaker style in maple or oak, or a flat slab door. The layout stays the same, so refacing cannot fix a bad floor plan.

What refinishing means

Refinishing keeps everything, scuffs or strips the existing coat, then applies new primer and a finish coat. It suits solid wood or good veneer in plain condition. Refinishing fails on thermofoil and tired melamine, which do not hold a coating well. Raised panel doors with deep profiles take more prep because dirt and old finish pack into the grooves.

Updating hardware on old boxes

Old boxes can take new hardware. A euro hinge with a soft close damper can replace a worn hinge on a full overlay door, though an inset door may need different cups. New drawer slide rails make a tired drawer glide again if the drawer box is square. A new cabinet pull on a refaced door should line up with the old screw holes, or the old holes get filled and drilled again.

When replacement is the better call

Replacement wins when the boxes are swollen, when the layout wastes space, or when walls were opened up and everything shifted. A frameless run can replace a cramped face frame run and gain a little room inside each drawer. Boxes in mdf or melamine that have soaked in water cannot be refaced, and the whole run comes out.