Refacing is not cost effective unless you do it yourself. And it is not a simple task, either. We did our own kitchen refacing, saved probably $8,000 in labor so it was worth it. But it was a lot of work, and applying the veneers took some practice and skill. I think what I would do is buy the new doors and new drawer fronts from Barker, they are very reasonable and they'll bore the hinge holes for you. Their website can give you a quote as soon as you enter the size, type of wood, etc. I'd paint the cabinet boxes, new doors and drawers (a bit of work, but hey, if you want to keep the cabinets...) Get the new soft close drawer glides if you must have them, (Rockler sells them I think) and either paint or line those drawers with something to cover the not so pretty inside bottoms. Add the new knobs or pulls, hang the doors, install the drawer fronts (this is not too difficult), and call it done. Shouldn't cost too much at all, and will update and refresh the cabinets. I agree with you, those older cabinets are solid, meant to last and I'd hate to rip them out too..

Matching is not part of insurance. They don't have to pay to match the undamaged uppers. And if they do, then they're going above an beyond their obligations. Whoever came up with that idea obviously doesn't read anything before signing and thinks life should just work they way they want it to simply because they think it should. It is common for people to think insurance is a big safety blanket to scoop them up and take care of everything whenever they have any kind of problem. When you have damage to your home, its nobody's problem to deal with but your own. You bought the house and said you were ready to handle the responsibility and that means even if there was no help to be had. Insurance is not a savings account, its a subscription service. The whole purpose of insurance is so that under certain circumstances, they will provide financial help so that you can deal with your problem. Most policies say something along the lines of "repair or replace with similar construction and for the same use". They have the option to repair if it can be repaired. It doesn't matter what you think insurance is supposed to pay for, because what they're required to pay for is in black and white in the contract that you signed and agreed to. The boxes and doors being 'one and the same' is irrelevant, there's no 'totaling' of anything, its not car insurance. 'Making you whole' is not in the policy, neither is your contractor's guarantee/warranty, nor anything regarding putting new materials with old materials, and certainly there is no requirement to pay for anything that is not directly damaged. You're not being cheated, its not absurd or preposterous. And furthermore, nobody is demanding that you have to make any repairs the way they're estimating for it to be done. What they are saying, is that the repairs can be done in such a way that meets their obligations under the contract and they can get it done for $X amount of dollars and that's as far as they're obligated to assist you financially with your loss. Its not 'short-cutting' or 'low balling' and its not relevant if everyone in the world thinks is 'not worth the trouble'; its called holding up their end of the contract to the letter. If you don't want it fixed that way, fine, its on you to make arrangements to take it further. Nobody forced you to buy a house with old cabinets. There's no law that says you have to have insurance on your home. This is how insurance works, you don't have to buy it if you don't like it; you're more than welcome to deal with everything on your own 100% out of pocket. I am an homeowner and an adjuster of 10+ years. But make no mistake, I am not a fan of big corporations in general and I'm not defending insurance companies, and I'm certainly not a 'company man'. But it does get under my skin in any area of life when people think they're entitled to something their not. I know exactly what I signed up for when I bought my property and I have no illusions of what our insurance will pay for if something goes wrong. Same as you guys, I am responsible for repairing and maintaining my own home in the manner I prefer it to be done. Just because you don't like the way something works doesn't mean you've been wronged, it just means you didn't know what you were talking about.

I used wood veneer tape on my frameless cabinets. You just iron it on and stain like therest of the cabinet. You can see it on the left side of the drawer. If you have frames on the cabinets, many places online will do frames for cheap Or they make this same veneer in sheets that you just cut to fit.

You could probably get an off the shelf or delivered vanity sooner than custom doors. Is the reason for the update to sell the house by any chance? I think you could get a nice update by just adding hardware to the doors and drawer and by installing a new faucet.