If you are thinking of replacing countertops, then getting RTA (Ready to assemble cabinets) is an economical solution. Get painted cabinets with wood or solid MDF doors. Try local cabinet companies. They often will assemble for you. They are approximately 35% less than Lowes & Home Depot. Get extra touch up paint to do touch ups. The factory painted cabinets finish is more durable then a paint job. That's what my rental clients use.

You are not a good candidate for refacing. I went through hell with a reface job on my old kitchen and am now replacing the whole thing. if your cabinets arent functional, replace. you could do a beautiful ikea kitchen for less than refacing.

I think a more modern look is more of an overlay. We are also refacing and when the architect came to do measurements he asked if I wanted the new doors to be a bit larger so the frame underneath shows less. I went for it!

Labor is the biggest portion of any job. That’s a job that’s almost all labor. And knowing which products to order. I supervised the regional refacing through Home Depot. I have seen a Kitchen quoted for 22K that I had sold the previous owner the cabinets for 11K 2 years before. I personally quoted a job at 38K and knew darn well that they could replace the import quality RTA cabinets in that kitchen for 1/4 that. Just go on any flat pack site if you don’t believe me. I’s a highly inflated costs scamorama, and just one of the reasons I don’t do that anymore. Another prominent “bath redo” company that I worked for *started* at $600 a door to field estimate the costs. Even the local cabinet maker that did this will not do it anymore. The cost difference between his budget product and a reface was under 1K. Even a professional grade paint job for older cabinets runs 5-7K for a smaller space. You can buy stock off the shelf new for half that. Just refinishing the boxes of the old, and buying new doors, adds several more thousands for that. A typically larger sized Houzz kitchen would easily be 12-15K for that. Add in a veneered box service instead of a psinted look, and the costs go up again. But, I know where I can buy new doors, and am not scared of sandpaper and a spray gun. If someone is willing to do sweat equity, they can DIY everything for under 4K. Big difference between that and 22K. Buy you can still buy off the shelf Diamond Now at Lowe’s cheaper than that. The bottom end is really low. Doing ANYTHING to old cabinets, means the cabinets have to be good enough quality to justify that labor expense. Because the flat pack import junk is really cheap. It’s why flippers replace old cabinets with that, rather than going through the time and expense of a week’s job with a pro paint job. 2 days of demo and install, and done. Ready for the prefab stone getting cut in the yard by a “carpenter” and a worm drive saw.