Resurfacing kitchen cabinets can be a less expensive alternative to replacing cabinets and will update your kitchen and give it a whole new look. To resurface your cabinets, means literally to “give them a new surface”. There are a couple of ways to accomplish this – some expensive and some for budgets.
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Typically, refacing or resurfacing kitchen cabinets should be done by a professional. It consists of replacing the cabinet doors and drawer fronts and putting a matching veneer on the cabinet frame. You can get any type of wood or plastic you want so your options are unlimited. It can be quite costly ranging anywhere from $3500 to over $10,000 and takes 2 to 4 days depending on how big the job is.
This type of resurfacing can be a good idea if you like the cabinet layout and your cabinets are in good solid condition (many of the older cabinets are very solid and high quality). If, however, your cabinets are weak or damaged or you want to change the design you will probably want to get replacement cabinets – it might not cost that much more and could add a lot to the usefulness of the room and your homes value.
If you don’t have $3500 in your budget for resurfacing kitchen cabinets, then there are several alternative that are much less costly!
My number 1 choice for changing cabinets is paint. You can make a huge change just by painting them – especially if you are going with a retro look and you are daring enough to use a splashy color like pink, turquoise or orange. For those really brave souls you can even paint designs on the cabinets or use stencils or a faux finish. Wouldn’t a country kitchen look nice with painted cabinets and a nice country stencil on the top? Just add some matching hardware and you’ve got new cabinets for under $300!
Another idea is to remove the doors altogether. This would only suit a few decorating themes but would be great way of resurfacing kitchen cabinets in a cottage kitchen design or even an antique Victorian design. You can line the shelves with lace or doilies that flap over the edge to add to the look. Maybe you could even find old windows that are the right size to use as doors or make up new doors from another type of material that goes with your theme like bamboo or even fabric.
Another idea for resurfacing kitchen cabinets is to wallpaper them or apply contact paper. Of course you’ll want to use something with a plain pattern and that is washable. Just prepare the cabinets the same way you would if you were wallpapering a wall. You don’t need to wallpaper the whole thing, you can cut out shapes or patterns from the contact paper or wallpaper and just paste those on. I don’t think this type of resurfacing would last forever but it might make a nice short-term change.
