To reface or not to reface, this is the question. Perhaps you have gotten one of those little flyer's in the mail that says “We can save you thousands on kitchen remodeling by refacing” The fact is that you may save some money initially but it may hurt you in the long run if the conditions are not quite right for your existing cabinets to be refaced. I will go into that later.

Refacing in some instances can be like painting a car that has 300,000 miles on it. If your existing cabinet carcasses and hardware are in good shape it might be an economically wise desision. Let me give you a description of refacing. “Everything on the outside of your existing cabinets will be skinned and/or replaced”.

These are the areas that you will save money on with refacing.

• The costs of the new casework and drawers

• The costs of removal of your old cabinets,sinks, plumbing and appliances

• the cost of the installation of your new cabinets

• the costs of reinstalling your appliances

Let me ask you a few questions.

• Are you happy with your existing counter tops?

• Are you planning to buy new appliances?

• Is your existing kitchen layout one that you can live with?

• Are the interiors of your your cabinets dark, dingy, damaged by water or smelly?

• Are the drawers sturdy? Are the drawer guides failing?

• Were the existing cabinets just cheap to begin with?

• Do you want some of the convenience features you saw at your friends newly remodeled kitchen?

If you answered even a few of those question yes then you most likely want to avoid refacing. Heres why.

• Many times when you start pulling up the old counter tops the cabinets start pulling apart as well and may cost you money to repair.

• Removing your old cabinets is only a fraction of the cost of your remodel. If your planning new appliances there is a possibility that the models you want wont fit in the current space. Maybe you want to get that microwave off the counter and get it built in, or a little bigger refrigerator. Maybe you have a single basin sink and want a double.

• You can always paint the interiors of the cabinets if you need but the refacing company generally wont do that work.

• If your wanting or needing to replace the drawers and maybe you want some of those fancy self closing drawers the cost of replacing drawers, hardware and retrofitting is going to be costly.

• Its just not a wise investment to put a pretty face on cheap cabinets

• Retrofitting convenience features on old cabinets is labor intensive and costly.

  
  

So is there a good time to reface? The answer is yes.

• If your not going to be doing any other major revisions to the existing kitchen

• If the cabinets, the interiors and the drawers are clean and structurally sound

• If your planning to make your house a little more attractive for a quick sale, however you may not recover the money you invested.

• If your wanting to just make your kitchen a little more livable and will happy with it being just ok, and you don't want to invest the time and energy into a full scale remodel.

• If the refacing company does a quality job for a reasonable price

The most important question to ask before you decide to reface or not is this. Will it be a good investment? Will I be able to recover the costs of a remodel when the time comes to sell? Do you intend to stay in your home and really want to enjoy a kitchen that is well designed and tailored towards your wants and needs? The claims of the money you will save by the advertisers promoting refacing is generally true. You will save 40% or more.

You need to look carefully at how much that 40% is and how important it is to you to save that money now knowing that later you may not recover it when you do decide to sell. I also recommend that you look at a few jobs that the reface company has done in the past and get more than a couple references. I always recommend getting references with any home improvement project. Before you decide to move foward with refacing call a quality cabinet maker to help you assess your situation. Have him give you a quote on what it may cost to replace your cabinetry with exactly what you want. A quality reface can be had but does it suite your purpose?

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