Cabinets are usually the largest line on a kitchen estimate, which makes "reface or replace" the most expensive question in the project. It is also one you can mostly answer yourself in about ten minutes.
Here is the test we walk homeowners through, what each option actually gets you, and why old Allentown housing stock changes the answer.
Check your boxes in ten minutes
Refacing keeps your existing cabinet boxes and replaces the doors, drawer fronts, hardware and the visible veneer on the box faces. It costs far less than new cabinets and usually finishes in days rather than weeks. It is also the wrong choice for plenty of kitchens.
- Open a door and look at the shelf. A little bow is fine. A shelf separating at the edges means particleboard that has absorbed moisture.
- Look under the sink. This is where kitchens die. Soft, swollen, crumbling or discoloured means that box has been wet a long time.
- Pull a drawer all the way out. Tight corners are good; a box racking side to side is not, and several of them is a bad sign.
- Push on a side panel. Solid plywood feels dead. Failing particleboard feels spongy and flakes at the edges.
- Look at the face frames. Cracks, splits or gaps where frame meets box mean the structure is moving.
If most of that checks out clean, you are a refacing candidate. If several fail, especially under the sink, refacing is money spent on a bad foundation.
The question people skip
Refacing keeps your cabinets exactly where they are. If the real complaint is that there is no counter beside the range, or that the corner cabinet swallows everything you put in it, refacing will not fix any of that. You end up with a better-looking version of a kitchen that still annoys you.
So: do you dislike how the kitchen looks, or how it works? Refacing solves the first. Only new cabinets and a new plan solve the second.
Refacing, stock, semi-custom, custom
- Refacing
- New doors and drawer fronts in your choice of style and finish, matching veneer over the exposed box faces, new hinges, slides, pulls and knobs. Soft-close is an upgrade worth taking.
- Stock
- Standard widths off a production line. In a newer home with square walls and standard ceiling heights, stock can look every bit as good as custom for noticeably less.
- Semi-custom
- Stock construction with far more door styles, finishes and modifications available. The middle ground most kitchens land in.
- Full custom
- Built to the room's actual dimensions. In an Allentown rowhome or West End twin with out-of-square walls, this is where it earns its price: dead corners and filler strips become usable storage instead of trim.
Installing cabinets in an old Allentown house
Walls here are rarely square and floors are rarely flat. Cabinets get shimmed to a level line and the toe kick gets scribed to the floor so the gap does not show. Countertops sit on level cabinets, never on the floor, which is how the counter comes out flat in a house that is not.
That scribing and shimming is most of the difference between a kitchen that looks custom and one that looks installed. It is also why a cabinet quote from someone who has not seen the room is not worth much.
Ordering and the schedule
Custom and semi-custom cabinets are ordered weeks ahead, so we order early enough that they land the week the schedule needs them rather than becoming the reason it slips.
One dependency worth knowing before you plan around a date: countertops cannot be templated until the cabinets are set, and template to install is typically 7 to 10 days. Pick appliances before the cabinet plan is final, too. A 36 inch range and a 30 inch range are two different layouts.
Common questions
Is refacing cheaper than new kitchen cabinets?
Yes, substantially, and it usually finishes in days instead of weeks. It only makes sense if the boxes are sound and the layout already works. Check under the sink first. That is where cabinet boxes fail.
Do I need custom cabinets in an older Allentown home?
Often it is worth it. In a rowhome or twin with out-of-square walls and an odd-shaped room, custom turns dead corners and filler strips into real storage. In a newer home with square walls, stock or semi-custom can look just as good for less.
Can you install cabinets I buy myself?
Talk to us at the walkthrough. What matters is that the cabinet plan matches the room and the appliances before anything is ordered. The expensive mistakes happen at ordering, not at installation.
How long does a cabinet job take?
Cabinets and counters with the layout unchanged is typically 1 to 2 weeks, plus the 7 to 10 day gap between countertop template and install. Refacing is faster.
Do you do the countertops too?
Yes. Cabinets, countertops, backsplash, tile, flooring, lighting and appliance hookup are all part of what we do, so one contractor runs the whole kitchen.