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Replace or paint bathroom base cabinets?

Decorating Ditz

last year

last modified: last year

I have 90" of oak builder grade cabinets in my primary bath: two 36" base cabinets with an 18" base cabinet between them. Since there's 0.5 inch trim on either side, the countertop measures 91".

The original plan was to have my painter put a fresh coat of white paint on the outdated oak, then replace the ugly laminate countertop. My contractor said it would be difficult for me to find a 91" premade countertop, so we decided to template for quartz.

But I can't wrap my brain around spending $2K on a countertop to cover builder-grade cabinets. (I must say that, although the cabinets are cheap, they are solid wood.)

What would you do?

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Comments (3)

Rho Dodendron
last year
Use a less expensive material with builder grade solid wood cabinets or upgrade everything.
Decorating Ditz thanked Rho Dodendron
zuleikad
last year
We did exactly what you're proposing on a vanity the same size and the result was a huge improvement. Our cabinets are old, but very sturdy and with lots of drawers. They'd already been painted when we bought the place. We swapped out the 40 year old laminate for a simple quartz, undermount sinks & new faucets., but left the white painted cabinets.

We spent $2k-ish on the counters, but for us it wasn't worth it to spend another $4k on new cabinets (not $8–12k!). They're fine. Not designer-showroom amazing, but like most people we don't have the money for something that fancy anyway.

Our RE agent raved and said if we'd been thinking about selling then, we'd make our money back. He agreed the cabinets were fine.
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What has been said already..the stain works with the existing tile, the cabs look being in a good condition, upper cabinet adds storage. If to paint something-I'd pick something warmer for the walls but it might be very well that my monitor distorts the current color I think buyers want to see clean and functional, and you've got that. Leave them space for their decisions about colors, stains, mirrors, etc..if this mirror never bothered you beforehand-most likely it wont't bother the buyers, not when they decide in general whether it's a house for them or not. I'd style it all nicely, add a plant, nice towels (which I'm sure are already in your plan), call it a day. Many people are like me-they need it lovable and livable..if they'd rather have something changed they'd like to do it themselves when they have time and money (except for when it's something very not interesting but much needed like insulation and stuff..all the hidden mechanics of the house) Now, you can also know that you plan to list soon but in fact will take some time..that's something different then. That's how we ended up living with better bathroom tiles for three years..:) were going to list and then it happened differently. And it was very nice living with new better tiles. So if that's your situation-then just do what pleases you. In choosing the colors for vanity etc-always mind your floor..whatever color you choose it should be earthier, warmer, muddier version of it. So that your white will become cream or almond for example..etcetera
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Sue Wiliams
last year
I’m in agreement with zuleikad. I just did the same in our master bath and guest bath. Our cabinets are 91” long with two sinks. It had light colored Carrera marble top and oak cabinets. The cabinets are 21 years old. I had someone stain them a dark expresso (looks beautiful but wouldn’t do it again-I now want light color cabs lol) I went to a fabrication shop where I was referred to and found a very nice quartz piece. I couldn’t believe he had over 100 pieces of stone to choose from. Someone needed a small piece to finish their kitchen so they had to buy a whole slab and I bought the remnant which was almost a full slab! And for $700! It was enough to do both my guest and master bath as well as my laundry room around the sink. Win-win! I bought all new hardware to set off the cabinets and tie in the new quartz top. I then tore down our 90” mirror that’s the builder grade type very long mirror. I bought 2 new mirrors, new vanity lights, new dark bowl type sinks with more contemporary bathroom sink hardware. It turned out fantastic, lots of compliments and wow looks! Oh, I did have a company who does roll outs make each cabinet have two rollouts on each side. I despise having to bend over and dig to find things in my bathroom and kitchen cabinets. So I have roll outs in every cabinet in our home. Well worth the money spent!

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