Cost of refacing brand new cabinets

12 years ago

Hello! In an effort to save money on a new construction home, my husband & I were thinking of just going with the builder grade cabinets and then hiring a cabinet maker or contracter to reface them. The builder grade cabs are a basic Merillat, 42 inch cabinet (ceilings are 9ft).

I was just curious to see if any of you had experience in refacing brand new cabs and what the cost (approximately)we should anticipate to be? BTW...the builder charges $3,500 to upgrade to any shaker-style cabinet (which we like) but they wont do the stacked crown molding (they will do the basic crown but not from the top of the cabs to the ceiling kind).

Do you think we would save any kind of decent money by just refacing them to a shaker-style after we close on the house or is $3,500 not that bad to pay to upgrade the cabs?

Thank you so much for any advice or info ;=)

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Comments (7)

ratrem
12 years ago
I would do the upgrade just so I did not have to live threw a remodel.
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desertsteph
12 years ago
from what I've read here on the cost of refacing it'll probably be well worth the 3,500 upgrade. then you'll just have to have someone do the crown moulding you want done.

someone who's actually done it or at least priced it will probably post better info for you.
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I had this done recently. I got a very expensive quote from Home Depot and then got a local craftman to give me a second quote. He came in over 3K cheaper for better doors. He was also willing to replace 2 wharped shelves that Home Depot wouldn't touch. Of course I checked him out carefully and am very pleased with how my kitchen looks. He also replaced all the drawers and put in full extention glides on them.
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thanks for the responses. Lyfia, interesting idea about doing open shelves instead of uppers in order to get the bank appraisal. I will ponder this. Trebuchet, the builder actually worked with us and the bank throughout the loan process. They get their draws directly from the bank. They know we need the appraisal, unfortunately. Aloha2009, in our state (Florida), the buyer comes up with the difference. We just had friends who bought an existing home and the appraisal came in less than the sales price. The seller wouldn't lower it at all. Our friends really wanted it, so they had to come up with an extra $15,000 to cover the difference. The seller was under no obligation to lower the price. According to our bank, if the appraisal comes in low, we must cover the difference to get to the purchase price. If we can't, then the loan would fall through and we would lose the house to the bank. Crissyb, we couldn't get someone to install a different kitchen before the appraisal because as weissman said, we do not own the house yet and the builder is under no obligation to let any other trades in to their work site. I also do not like the thought of the waste of tearing out the builder's kitchen after move in, which is why I was considering still using the boxes and just replacing the doors and professionally painting them. SparklingWater, thank you for your pricing comparison. Did you have upgrades like dovetail drawers, soft close hinges, plywood,ect? Our current quote includes none of those things. Weissman, The mortgage was already approved, but with new construction there is another step at the end where a second appraisal ensures that what was specified in the contract is what was actually built, which protects the bank. We cannot walk away from the deal at this point.
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Katie, Many on this forum dismiss refacing, saying that it can cost nearly as much as replacing cabinets. But I think in certain scenarios it makes sense. Particularly in your case if you are not looking to change out the counters, it seems like refacing might give you the nicer-looking cabinets you're interested in. We did a combination of new cabinets (to replace an existing L-shaped island and some uppers around our new range hood) and refacing. I didn't want painted cabinets, and our cabinet guy suggested we could reface with quarter inch plywood veneer on the cabinet boxes, stained to match the new cabinet doors (our old cabinets were maple). We're very pleased with the result. In this picture, the right-most upper cabinet is a brand new cabinet (narrower than the one that was there previously). The two other uppers are the original cabinet boxes, but refaced. In the photo you see new solid wood full overlay cabinet doors, matching trim, and a side panel (next to the sink). All the lowers visible are our original cabinets, with new doors/drawers. In this closeup picture, you can see how the quarter inch plywood veneer was applied to the front of the cabinet face frames and stained to match the new doors. If you look at the cabinets this closely, you can see that the veneer has been applied. But, it is not noticeable if you aren't looking for it. I can't give any specifics on cost because our cabinetry work involved both new and refaced cabinets, and I don't have a breakdown. But, refacing a portion of our cabinets was less expensive than the cost of completely replacing. It sounds like in your situation it would definitely be worth looking into.
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@elizht - Here is my opinion. First, your cabinets. Your cabinet frames, drawer fronts, doors and drawer boxes seem to be good quality, ignore anyone saying otherwise. Your cabinets are obviously older and the joints all look fine. Various quality indicators are used to to determine whether cabinets will hold up well over their life, they should not be applied to older cabinets. Older cabinets are good quality when they have held up well and yours apparently have. They have a pretty crappy paint job on them, but that looks like a previous owner changing the color on a budget. This doesn't mean the drawer glides are good quality, they should be replaced and that is likely something that you could DIY if you want with a good drawer slide jig (just take your time). While your cabinets may be good quality they don't necessarily function efficiently. Whether the layout is good and drawers vs. doors is another matter altogether. If you are considering replacement to get more functionality, then great. However, if you are just trying to achieve better quality then don't. ---- Next, my 2 cents on the refacing industry. I am not a fan. Refacing products and processes are relatively simple and rather inexpensive but customers are charged a premium because their other options are so expensive and disruptive. So your cabinet refacer is probably charging you a lot. I suspect that a handyman or cabinet installer can replace your drawer slides much cheaper than $225 per drawer. ---- "how difficult would it be for the refacer to match the finish of the IKEA boxes to the new doors if I were to suggest that route?" IKEA boxes are not matched, they are covered. The fronts are covered by the drawers and doors so only filler strips and side panels need to match and those can be ordered to match the doors.
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lascatx
12 years ago
I would do the upgrade and then face only changing tee crown. You should be able to have the crown carefully removed, add the piece or pieces you want to stack it on and then replace the existing crown at the top -- as long as the size works with your plan.

You might ask the builder to order the extra pieces of trim at the same time as the cabinets so you don't have any concerns about matching stain lots. Once you have it, you've probably got a 50/50 shot the cabinet guys would put it up if they knew what to do with it (if you are there and can communicate with them -- sometimes requires a second language -- and have some cash to say thanks). Chances are your builder doesn't know what to do with it and you could tell him that if he orders it you can show him another popular upgrade to offer folks. He should do it at his cost for ordering the trim for you and then can make money on others down the road. Doesn't hurt to ask anyway.
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Jumpilotmdm
12 years ago
You're considering buying cheap cabinets and then having them re-faced? very strange...
Have you done the math? Why wouldn't you just but what you want in the first place?
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fran1523
12 years ago
Refacing isn't cheap. Pay for the upgrade.
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chloe.chloe
Original Author
12 years ago
I obviously totally underestimated what the cost of refacing the cabs would be. Thanks for your comments!Looks like we will upgrade!
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chris11895
12 years ago
We had our cabinets quoted for refacing a while back and it was around 5K, so definitely do the upgrade. As for the trim, maybe you could find a finish carpenter to do that part for you? I wouldn't bother putting something up that I know I don't like and if you change it later you're doing it and paying for the work, twice. Good luck!
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Cost of refacing brand new cabinets

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Cost of refacing brand new cabinets

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ratrem

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