Thinking of refacing cabinets! - Page 3

Lipstickdiva · ‎03-10-2010

@CAcableGirl2 wrote:
I decided that once I got granite installed, I hated the old "honey oak" cabinets. They were in great shape and solid wood, but I was tired of the color and figured that I would give refinishing the cabinets a try since new cabinets would be $10,000+. After looking at the before and after pictures on line at the home improvement websites, I gave Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations a try. If you look it up, check out the customer before and after pictures. It took me a couple of months to complete the entire kitchen, since I was doing it myself some evenings and some weekends. They turned out so good, they look brand new and each kit is only about $79 so for only about $160 I completely changed the look of my kitchen. It cost me 3x the cost of the paint kits to update the hardware. My kitchen is huge, with 27 doors and 11 drawers and I used less than 2 kits! Looks fabulous so if you have the time and are willing to do the work, you can save a lot of money. There was no sanding involved, just a de-glosser, 3 coats of paint that was included (I used black and wanted it super dark, but you can customize it for any color), one coat of glaze, and one top coat. It did take some time, but was well worth the efforts. If I can find my old pics, I'll post some before and after tomorrow.

My SIL did this. I will say that I was very, very skeptical and I was sure it was going to look awful.

I am one that wouldn't dream of painting my kitchen cabinets because they always look like painted cabinets and that paint chips off and then you start again with the painting.

But much to my surprise, her cabinets look fantastic. You would never know she did it so economically.

Lipstickdiva · ‎03-10-2010

@ID2 wrote:
Wow I never knew refacing cabinets was so expensive!! For that price, I'd go to IKEA and replace. We did the studio apt in our carriage house (living quarters about the garage). The kitchenette we put in were IKEA and it is so very pretty! Easy too! I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

I guess it depends on the quality you want.

My currentl cabinets are all solid wood, including the shelves inside. For us to replace them with the exact same quality would be astronomical because we looked.

We have no interest in pulling them out to put some lesser quality junk in. That wouldn't make sense. We looked into refacing and it was expensive but much, much less expensive than replacing with quality cabinets.

bichon mom · ‎04-18-2011

Thank you all for your responses! I really appreciate the feedback!

Respectlife, your before cabinets are just about exactly what I have now! Love your "after". That is what I want, something not screaming 80's! I have always had oak and I am tired of it.

I have thought of painting my cabinets. That was my original plan. Painted my bathroom vanities to test myself out! LOL! Just not sure I can do it alone! My hairdresser redid hers with the Nuvo. I will look at the Rustoleum site, too! Just thought refacing might look better but not sure now. Depends on price.

Today, I saw cabinets that I absolutely loved! However, they would be between $35,000-$50,000 depending on size of my kitchen. She said they were high end. They were a primitive look which I love! Anyway, I cannot afford new cabinets!

I guess it comes down to paint them or reface depending on cost. My cousin refaced hers a few years back and said hers were falling apart. Now she is painting them.

Lots to think about. Thanks again for feedback!