| Paint | Reface | Replace | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What changes | Colour only | Doors, drawer fronts, hardware, veneer on the frames | Everything: boxes, doors, drawers, layout |
| What stays | Everything else | The old boxes, shelves, drawer boxes and layout | Nothing, unless you choose to keep it |
| Fixes a bad layout | No | No | Yes |
| Fixes sagging shelves or failing boxes | No | No | Yes |
| Relative cost | Lowest | Often 70-80% of new custom | Highest |
What each option actually changes
Painting keeps every part of your cabinets and changes the colour. Done well, it means removing the doors, cleaning and degreasing, sanding, priming and spraying. Done badly, it means brushing paint over a greasy surface, and it peels within a year.
Refacing keeps the cabinet boxes and replaces what you see from the front: new doors and drawer fronts, new hinges and pulls, and a veneer laminated over the face frames and exposed sides. The inside of the cabinets, the shelves, the drawer boxes and the layout stay as they are.
Replacing means new cabinets: new boxes, new drawers, new doors, and a layout drawn for how you use the kitchen now.
When refacing is the right call
- The boxes are solid wood or plywood and still square, with no water damage under the sink.
- You like the layout: the sink, range and fridge are where you want them, and there is enough storage.
- The countertops are staying. Refacing happens around them, so a new stone top is not part of the job.
If all three are true, refacing gets you a new-looking kitchen with less disruption.
When refacing costs more than it saves
When homeowners come to us after getting refacing quotes, refacing is often 70 to 80 percent of the price of new custom cabinets. New doors and drawer fronts are a large share of what any cabinet costs, and refacing pays for them in full. What the remaining 20 to 30 percent buys you is the part that wears out:
- The boxes. Many kitchens from the 1980s and 1990s were built in particle board. It swells where water reaches it and loses its grip on screws. A new veneer on the outside does nothing for that.
- The drawers. Refacing keeps the old drawer boxes and usually the old glides, so the drawer you open twenty times a day still sticks.
- The layout. A corner that wastes space, an island you wish you had, or a fridge that blocks a walkway all stay exactly where they are.
Is there an in-between option?
Sometimes. If the boxes are sound and you like the doors, replacing only the cabinets that frustrate you can be worth more than refacing the whole kitchen. The most common example is swapping a door-and-shelf base for a bank of drawers next to the range, where pots and pans live. Every pull-out drawer you add is one less shelf you have to kneel down to reach into.
The catch is matching. New doors and drawer fronts have to match the old ones in profile, colour and wear, and a finish that has aged for twenty years is hard to copy. Done in one or two places, like an island or a cooktop run, the difference can read as a deliberate accent. Done piecemeal across the room, it usually looks like a repair.
Signs your kitchen needs new cabinets
- The sink base is stained, swollen or soft.
- Shelves sag, or hinges have pulled out of the box sides.
- Drawers are stapled boxes that rack or come apart.
- You are already replacing the countertops, flooring or appliances.
- The kitchen does not work the way you cook, and you know it.
If two or more are true, the money spent refacing is money spent keeping the problem.
What new cabinets give you that refacing can’t
Every Crafted kitchen is built new in our Concord shop. That means plywood boxes, full-extension dovetail drawers and soft-close hinges as standard, every box cut to your measurements, and a layout drawn for your room. It arrives fully assembled, with a fixed-price quote agreed before production starts. We don’t reface or paint existing cabinets, which is why we’d rather tell you plainly when refacing makes more sense.
How to compare the quotes
- Get a refacing quote and a new-cabinet quote for the same kitchen, and compare the totals, not the per-door price.
- Check what the refacing quote leaves out: drawer boxes, glides, interior shelves, the sink base.
- Ask whether the new-cabinet quote includes the layout changes you actually want.
- If the two are within a quarter of each other, new cabinets usually win.
Our cost guide shows where a new custom kitchen starts, and you can see finished projects on our kitchens page.
Frequently asked questions
Is refacing cheaper than new cabinets?
Yes, but often by less than people expect. Refacing pays in full for new doors and drawer fronts, which are a large part of any cabinet’s cost. Homeowners who bring us refacing quotes often find it is 70 to 80 percent of the price of new custom cabinets.
Can you reface particle board cabinets?
You can, but the veneer only covers the outside. Particle board that has swollen from water or lost its hold on hinge screws will keep failing behind the new doors.
Does refacing change the layout of the kitchen?
No. Refacing keeps the existing boxes where they are. Moving a sink, adding an island or rethinking a corner needs new cabinets.
Does Crafted Cabinetry reface or paint existing cabinets?
No. We build new custom cabinets in our Concord shop, with plywood boxes, dovetail drawers and soft-close hinges as standard, delivered fully assembled.
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