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..

I am the unofficial resident expert on this problem :-( First of all, take out all of your dishes and weigh the drawer. Our 42 inch drawer weighed 30 lbs and the pegboard another 8 lbs. - I had exactly 75 lbs of dishes in the drawer - oops - crack - the side of the cabinet fractured. Once the dishes are out of the drawer and the drawer weighed - weigh your dishes. I took one of each size dish and then multiplied times number of sets to get my total. Now take the drawer out and look at how many screws are holding the drawer - you need extra reinforcement screws for the heavy drawers and not just the standard 3 screws -it doesn't matter if you have MDF, particle, or plywood - the weight is too much for the box without extra reinforcements. If you can, I would put in anchors. I have learned a lot since then and have been working with the KD and Brookhaven on the issue. BH would replace the cabinet - but getting in place could be a problem and we decided not to risk cracking the counter, messing up the tile, etc... The KD claims she did not realize the weight included the drawer weight - our drawer still closed and the glide did not break, but I felt that KD should have this knowledge and BH should have red flagged as a problem. So, we are going to stay with the big drawer but have a smaller inset drawer inside the frame (still waiting for it to come) - look at my Recipe for Disaster thread and michoumonster concept will be used for us. We are also changing the hinges to the 150lb Blum as an extra precaution. Take time to go through my post - lots of ideas from everyone. Recipe for disaster. http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg1020404519236.html Good luck

I'd check eBay and other outlets for discounted swing up hinges, if at all possible. Otherwise, how about a toy box hinge? They're weight-rated so you can check if the size of your door will work: Here is a link that might be useful: Soft-Close Toy Box lid support

Shims and/or a chisel, or bending a hinge.... good finish carpenters have lots of professional tricks, but setting the door correctly initially with a well built home is the best prevention of future adjustments. Sure, but I would not really accept shims or bent hinges on a newly hung door; I would want any adjustment to be between the jamb and the framing, under the trim, and if that's right you should be able to use the hinges above. I don't really like adjustable hinges. They get out of adjustment. My manufactured cabinets had hinges that regularly got out of adjustment or needed to be replaced over a relatively short period of time. The stick built cabinets in the house I grew up in that had a hundred + fixed, non-adjustable, screwed in, partial overlay or inset hinges throughout the house. One cabinet door, under the kitchen sink, got out of whack enough that the hinges needed to be replaced and the face frame fixed. In the 46 years my parents owned the house. (And I think that is because one of my parents lost their balance and put their weight on the open door.) Multi adjustable, soft close, all that stuff, no matter how expensive, tends to be overcomplicated, overwrought, over engineered and impossible to replace with the same at some point when they inevitably need to be. This is a ridiculous piece of equipment compared to this: