Refacing costs as much as replacing. Put your money to the floors and lighting first.

live_wire_oak,

Thanks. We will be replacing lighting first. But we are keeping our floors.

Years ago I had a kitchen refaced and it worked out great. It cost 10k back then - Included new sink and countertop and backsplash. It really was quite reasonable. When I bought my current home and got estimates for both refacing and replacing the cabinets and it was virtually the same price. I couldn't believe the price they were asking for refacing. My niece also got estimates for both and went with new because there was such a little price difference.

I am on a very tight budget, so I have decided to reface the boxes myself and buy new door and drawer fronts or paint. Refacing yourself is an economical choice and is not all that hard to do if you are handy.

I would also recommend recoloring your grout.

Housegal200

The other wood we were considering is a rift cut oak. Which is not as busy as mine, also I could just replace doors an drawers keeping the stain same color as my cabinets.

That's a dark kitchen. New lighting will help a lot, but adding in cherry cabinets won't. You should also look into replacing vs refacing. They're often pretty similar in price. A lighter wood would be a good option.

HOWEVER, the issue you are going to run into is that you're updating 90% of your kitchen, aka everything but the tile floor. That is only going to make the old tile stick out even more, and not in a good way.

Thanks Sina,

We really love our granite so we can not replace cabinets without damaging granite. Also our floor has a warm butterscotch color which we really like. Unfortunately the floor doesn’t look as good in the picture as it does in real life.

Edit to my post.

We will be also installing under cabinet lighting.

thanks

Start with the lighting, overhead and under cabinets. You can't make good color choices when the lighting is so poor. Once you've installed lighting, post new pix and let's see where you can go with the project. Would butterscotch cabinets work for you?

Butterscotch Kitchen · More Info

Have you considered painting your cabinets a cream color instead? I think it would make your beautiful granite the star, make your floor less prominent and brighten the space. Oak cabinets can be more difficult to paint due to the graining than other woods but if done properly it can be done beautifully (been there done it).

I believe this is your granite but looks like it has more brown in it than black like yours but it may give you a feel what cream would look like and how it makes the granite the eye catcher.

Sensa Orinoco granite | Granite countertops kitchen, Granite countertops colors, · More Info

That's dark. Hopefully granite is also on the list. Replace the cabs. Eliminate the fake cabs over the range hood. Note sure what you've got on the ceiling, but I would suggest pot lights and undercabinet lighting.

Your granite is gorgeous. There have been a lot of posts with oak cabinets lately, and I’m starting to love the look. I would start with lighting, for sure. Add hardware. I mean it’s a nice kitchen, really.

modern lighting and pulls?

lighten things up with a backsplash?

I also saw this idea...thought it was creative.

go for a two-tone look?

And I agree about losing the cabinets above your range hood, if possible.

newer, white oak is much better looking than that old 80's-90's oak

Refacing does not cost as much as replacing. I just had my cabs painted and chose to reface the doors and drawer fronts. It was only 2K more. (on top of the painting. I got solid wood doors/drawers w/mdf center panels on the doors)

I think your cabs would look great painted in a soft white . absolutely do the new doors.

Here's what a nice white would look like w/shaker style doors and your granite:

If you like the two tone, paint the granite in a black or a charcoal gray if you go w/the white.

or, do the island in dark wood stain, and the other cabs in the white.

Since you also have the granite up the back, I think the white would really help to lighten up the kitchen. (look into under cabinet lighting too) And of course once you remove that horrible florescent lighting, the new lighting will make a huge difference.

Any way you could raise the ceiling while you're at it?

there was a poster on here who had Cosmos granite and went w/Amish built quarter sawn white oak cabs. (I think all of her cabs were in the 10K range) they are beautiful and well made

This is not the same oak that's on your cabs. if you want to reface them, go w/something like this and have the bases stained to match

If you want to stay w/the wood, then do this. Do not do cherry. Cherry wood has a very red undertone and I don't think it will look good w/your granite.

I'd stick w/the oak or even Hickory or Walnut. Yes, reface them. Do not go w/Lowes or HD, they will cost you double what you could procure on your own.

contact a local cabinet maker.

similar granite to yours. I like how they did glass in some of the uppers. also like the black subway tile w/the white grout. Notice the under cabinet lighting.

your granite with more of a traditional style white cab

If you want to paint them, you could get solid maple doors like I did and have those painted along w/your skeleton base cabinets.

this wood is knotty alder w/a dark walnut stain

and another one w/red oak cabs with a lighter stain. the doors are shaker and the drawers are a slab-front. The granite is leathered.

if you did a cherry, it would look something like these.

If the arches on the wall cabinets don't bother you painting oak with it's pores grain is a nice effect. The costliest part of paint will be the preparation which you may want to do yourself. Lacquer is the easiest to apply, least expensive and dries the quickest if you want don't want to throw good money after bad. Save to do it right otherwise.

Red oak cabinets will never look like white oak cabinets. One of the biggest mistakes people make is choosing a wood type and then thinking they are going to stain it to look like another species of wood. You cabinets have yellowed form age and the clear also turning amber. They did not start out looking like that and it will just happen again if redone.

If your cabs are in good shape and you dont want to go through the tear out then refacing would work well. Pick a species of wood you like and put as little color into in in the finishing stage.

I really like your rift oak idea. If you kept the same species, and did not have to reface the frames, it seems like it would save alot of time and expense. Plus it seems like the unfaced boxes/frames would be best for durability.

One question to address "while you are at it" is whether you want to try to run any of the top cabinets up to the ceiling. Maybe at least the pantry cabinet to the left of the doorway?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to the reface/replace question. Even if the price were the same on this particular kitchen, the lowered risk of not pulling and reinstalling the stone must be figured into the cost/benefit analysis.

Would you consider painting your cabinets instead of refacing? One suggestion is to replace some of the solid front upper cabinet doors with doors with glass. THAT seems to do more to add depth to cabinetry than anything else. Good luck!

The cabinet over the dishwasher is a perfect candidate for glass doors, being the one most likely to contain drinking glasses and the other more presentable cabinet contents!

I'd get a cabinetmaker in to see if it's feasible to replace the doors with new ones that are more of a full overlay (which would make things way easier if want to leave most of the cabinet boxes as is and go with new doors in the same species). There will inevitably be some mismatch, due to the changes of wood with age, but if you only see that to any significant degree when you open the doors, that might be just fine. I'd also ask him/her about using the taller doors so the cabinets could go up to the ceiing & what retrofit or faceframe additions would be needed above the current cabinets to do that.

Another "update" you could investigate would be adding the wood box around the fridge that is so popular now, for that "built-in look."

This would allow you to put a (new) deep cabinet over the fridge, which could be a really handy place to store cookies sheets and those other bulky pans. I would definitely run that one up to the ceiling, even if you don't do that with the others, to sort of anchor everything (and yield more storage space!).

I deal with redos like this as the day job, with professionals doing the work. 27 doors, 6 pantry door sections, 1 pantry side, 10 drawers, a 72” back panel for the island, the veneer for the duct cover, moldings, 10 finished sides. That runs 6-8K just to coat what’s there with a KCMA quality opaque, not paint. Add in new unfinished paint grade shaker square doors and drawer faces, leaving the glides and hinges alone, and that adds 4-5K, depending on where you source them. You’re up to 10-13K, and still have all the old insides.

Refacing isn’t painting. It’s getting new factory finished wood or thermofoil doors, plus factory veneers for the sides, faceframes, and exposed backs, plus new insides. It’s not very DIY friendly, because you have to know how to measure exactly to get the right overlay, and you have to have the skills to apply that veneer. You only get one chance. It grabs and holds, and will not let go.

A refaced kitchen of that size, with Thermofoil doors, new standard stapled drawers, and new standard drawer glides, starts at 13K. Same as the new doors plus paint, but with rebuilt insides. And it goes all the way up to 32K, for all the upgraded soft close painted wood doors, with new dovetailed full extension drawers. All the important parts but the boxes themselves would be new. And that’s refacing.

Refacing’s appeal is the no demolition, and keeping the counters and backsplash. Because of course you can get a better layout with more drawers, and usable corner cabinets, and taller uppers. But then you’d have to do demolition, with everything that it entails. Including buying new stone, and a new backsplash. Plus bringing up

the electrical up to date, and all the other things that a new kitchen these days has to have.

Thank you live_wire...that’s great info for All of us.

I recently saw this kitchen refresh. They painted their walls and added hardware. It looks light and bright and cute for dated oak. I really think lighting, hardware, wall paint, and maybe a few glass paneled upper doors would transform what you have here until you’re ready for a full kitchen overhaul.