What Cabinet Refacing Is
Cabinet refacing keeps your existing cabinet boxes and replaces everything you see: doors, drawer fronts, hinges, handles, and the visible outer surfaces of the boxes. We cover the box exteriors with matching wood veneer or laminate, then hang brand-new doors and drawer fronts built in our shop. When we leave, the kitchen looks completely new, but the layout, the plumbing, and the walls never changed.
Refacing is the right choice when your cabinet boxes are solid and you like your kitchen's layout. If the boxes are damaged, the layout needs to change, or you want all-new storage inside, full custom kitchen cabinets are the better path. Our reface vs. replace guide walks through the decision in detail.
When Refacing Makes Sense
- Boxes are solid: The frames are square, sturdy, and free of water damage. Most well-built cabinets from the 1990s and 2000s qualify.
- You like the layout: The sink, stove, and fridge stay where they are. Refacing does not move plumbing or walls.
- You want less disruption: No demolition, no dumpster, and your kitchen stays usable most days during the project.
- Budget matters: Refacing typically costs much less than full replacement because the boxes, the most labor-intensive part, stay put.
- Timeline is tight: Most refacing projects finish in three to five days, not weeks.
When Replacement Is the Better Call
Refacing cannot fix bad bones. If the boxes are swollen from a leak, the shelves are sagging, or the layout wastes space, new doors on old problems just hide them for a while. We inspect every box before quoting a refacing project. If we find water damage, mold, or structural issues, we will tell you honestly that replacement is the smarter spend, even though it costs more.
Orlando homes with original 1980s particle-board cabinets often fall in this category. Florida humidity is hard on particle board, and forty years of it can leave boxes too weak to hold new doors properly. We check, we show you what we find, and you decide with real information.
Our Refacing Process
Inspection and Measurement
We visit your kitchen, open every cabinet, and check each box for squareness, water damage, and hinge condition. We measure every opening so the new doors and drawer fronts fit exactly. This step decides whether refacing is right for your kitchen, and we do it before you spend anything.
Door and Finish Selection
You choose the door style, wood, and finish from the same options as our full custom kitchens: shaker, flat-panel, or raised-panel doors in maple, oak, cherry, or other hardwoods, painted or stained. The veneer applied to your box exteriors is matched to the new doors so everything looks like one piece.
Shop Building
We build your new doors and drawer fronts in our shop with the same joinery as our custom cabinets: mortise-and-tenon or cope-and-stick door frames, and dovetail drawer boxes if you are upgrading drawers too. Finishes are sprayed and cured in the shop, not in your kitchen.
Installation
On install day we remove the old doors and drawer fronts, prep and veneer the box exteriors, hang the new doors, install soft-close hinges and new handles, and align everything. Most kitchens finish in three to five days. We also offer drawer box upgrades, pull-out shelves, and new interior hardware during the same project, since the cabinets are already empty.
Style Options for Refaced Kitchens
Refacing is not limited to one look. Going from golden oak to white shaker is the most common transformation we do in Orlando, and it changes the whole feel of an open floor plan. Dark stained cherry to light gray, flat-panel oak to modern slab, traditional raised panel to clean shaker: all are possible as long as the boxes are sound. New hardware finishes the change. Brushed nickel, matte black, and champagne bronze are the current favorites, and we help you match them to your faucet and lighting.
Finishes That Handle Florida Kitchens
Refaced doors get the same shop-sprayed conversion varnish or catalyzed lacquer as our new cabinets, so they resist steam, grease, and humidity the same way. The veneer on the box exteriors is sealed with the same system. Because everything is finished in the shop before install day, there are no fumes or drying doors in your home.
What About the Inside of the Cabinets?
Refacing transforms the outside, but the inside matters too. During a refacing project we can upgrade interiors so the cabinets work as good as they look. Worn shelves get replaced with new plywood shelves in a wipeable finish. Fixed deep shelves become pull-out shelves that bring pots, pans, and small appliances to you instead of making you dig.
We also replace tired drawer boxes with new dovetail drawers on soft-close slides, add tray dividers and spice pull-outs beside the range, and install under-cabinet lighting that makes the new doors and counters glow. These upgrades cost far less during refacing than as a separate project later, because the cabinets are already empty and our crew is already there.
One honest note: refacing does not change the box sizes or the layout. If your lower cabinets are shallow or the corner cabinet is a black hole, new interiors improve things but cannot fix the geometry. That is the line where full replacement earns its keep.
What Cabinet Refacing Costs
Cabinet refacing in the Orlando area commonly ranges from $6,000 to $18,000, depending on kitchen size, door style, wood choice, and add-ons like new drawer boxes or pull-out shelves. A small kitchen with painted shaker doors sits near the lower end; a large kitchen with stained hardwood doors, new dovetail drawers, and upgraded storage hardware sits near the upper end. Every project differs, so these are starting points. The written quote after we inspect your cabinets is the real number. Compare both paths in our reface vs. replace guide above and see full pricing context in our Orlando cabinet cost guide.
Want to know if your cabinets are good candidates for refacing? Contact us for a free inspection and quote. We check the boxes, show you the options, and you decide from there.