Cabinet Refinishing vs Refacing vs Replacing – Renovation Guide
Cabinet Refinishing vs Refacing vs Replacing – Renovation Guide
N-Hance of Southern Kent County: (616) 726-7368
If you’re planning a kitchen renovation, you should consider Cabinet Refinishing as your first choice. Very few people are aware of the fact that cabinet refinishing methods have changed significantly over the years. Consequently, many homeowners end up discarding cabinets that could have otherwise been restored through to their original beauty.
Considerable advancements in cabinet refinishing technology have occurred over the last few years. Once, refinishing cabinets was a laborious, messy, and time consuming task. It required the removal, sanding, and then reinstallation of cabinets.
As a result, cabinet refinishing was a relatively unpopular choice back then. Things are different now. Given the necessary expertise and modern methodology, professionals can carry out efficient cabinet refinishing services that leave no mess behind.
Modern cabinet refinishing processes take place in your home. Your cabinets do not need to be removed from your kitchen. A cabinet refinishing service can be completed within days and costs much less than any cabinet replacement or refacing process.
Let us go over what replacing, refacing, and refinishing your cabinets mean.
Replacing cabinets:
As you can imagine, replacing your cabinets involve removing your current cabinets before installing new ones in their place.
A cabinet replacement is a large scale renovation project that requires a huge budget for completion and/or success.
As mentioned, this process involves the removal of your old kitchen cabinets. This will give you the opportunity to carry out other kitchen renovations.
Some homeowners decide to make changes to their kitchen sink and dishwasher locations which usually requires additional plumbing or electrical work… Perhaps it is time for you to consider new tiles, backsplashes, or countertops. You might even want some new paint for your kitchen.
More importantly, you will have the chance to install cabinets with different functional qualities and/or aesthetic designs. During a cabinet replacement, you can significantly change your kitchen layout, alter the number of cabinets you have, and change the amount of available counter space in your kitchen. You are faced with many exciting new possibilities, but you will also have to deal with the cost of a cabinet replacement, which is the most expensive kitchen renovation option.
2016 market trends suggest that a standard full kitchen renovation begins with a price tag of $50,000, which then increases depending on various factors. For instance, you can expect to pay more for if you have a larger kitchen. Different types of retrofittings carry different costs, as do different types and amounts of finishes.
Also, cabinet replacements often end up going beyond their initial scopes and exceeding their planned budgets. Without careful planning, a kitchen renovation can easily go over projections and in many larger homes, kitchen renovations often end up costing you more than $100,000.
You can optimize your budget through scrupulous attention to detail and being prepared for any issues that might likely emerge.
Cabinet Refacing
In a cabinet refacing, you or your hired craftsmen will upgrade every finished surface on your kitchen cabinets. This is the ideal choice for homeowners who want to change the shape and/or design of their cabinet door fronts butare not concerned with any modifications to the layout of the kitchen.
Cabinet refacing can be carried out in several different ways. Lower-end options for cabinet refacing typically involve the application of laminates to cabinet surfaces. This usually results in cabinets that look good in photographs but otherwise have a very cheap and fake appearance. Laminates also feature a texture and feel far inferior to that of the wooden doors and panels they cover.
20 to 30 years ago, most cabinets were built using superior materials and construction methods, especially compared to modern-day ones. These old cabinets had very sturdy boxes, and their doors, boxes, and styles were more frequently made of real hardwood.
Using laminates to reface your cabinets will certainly cost you much less upfront. However, laminates don’t last very long. They fall apart very quickly from daily wear and tear. Moreover, laminated surfaces are very difficult and expensive to repair when they inevitably get damaged. Laminates are also susceptible to chipping and warping. Water exposure will also cause laminates to swell.
Moreover, delamination occurs more frequently than you would like. It is a process in which the glue connecting the laminate to its applied surface loses its adhesiveness.
Kitchen refacing processes that cost less than $5,000 typically use laminates. They will also usually use low quality products for cabinet doors, gable ends, boxes, styles, etc. Using laminates to reface your cabinets often compromise their durability and reduces their life span.
For higher end cabinet refacing services, your cabinets’ old doors are replaced by solid wood doors. Wood veneer finishing is also used. These will yield much better and more long lasting results.
Replacement doors come in a wide variety of sizes, styles, and finishes. Their use does not necessitate any major changes to your kitchen’s layout.
Also, cabinet refacing processes carried out in this way typically produce high quality finishes. Nevertheless, the veneer used on gable ends, cabinet boxes, and styles can give rise to some issues. Wood veneer is used to for all exposed cabinet surfaces not covered by doors. It imitates the appearance of solid wood but is not as durable. Also, its quality suffers when it is applied or glued to cabinet surfaces in a home environment as opposed to strict manufacturing/factory conditions. Thus, wood veneer is vulnerable to warping and chipping like laminates. It can also swell upon being exposed to water.
Refaced cabinets with replacement doors and wood veneer might also end up with an inconsistent appearance. The same phenomenon appears frequently in natural maple cabinets.
Natural maple turns yellow over time, which means that maple cabinets also turn yellow over time. However, maple cabinets are made of different components, each of which turn yellow at different rates. Hence, what frequently happens is that a cabinets’ doors turn yellow more slowly or quickly than its boxes or its raised panel segments. Eventually, maple cabinets end up covered with a pastiche of different yellow shades.
Cabinet refacings feature the use of different types of wood, finishes, and finish applications, thanks to the involvement of different manufacturers. Thus, refaced cabinets also end up with mismatched wood tones across their individual components.
This makes them look like faded maple cabinets. Regardless of the quality of work or materials, you cannot expect any refacing process to make your cabinets look like they have undergone a custom onsite finish.
Cabinet refacings that feature the use of solid wooden doors and veneers typically cost somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000. Your final cost may vary depending on your kitchen’s dimensions and your selected options.
Cabinet refinishing is a completely different process that costs much less than a cabinet replacement or refacing.
Cabinet refinishing involves restoring or replacing the existing finish on your cabinets.
This can be done in several different ways, but they largely revolve around the same general premise.
A cabinet refinishing begins with a complete cleansing and degreasing of your cabinets’ wooden surfaces. After that, craftsmen will repair any damaged areas. Once this has been done, you have the choice of restoring your cabinets’ original finish or refinishing them in a different color.
Once, interior wood refinishing was time consuming and expensive. It also generated a huge mess. The labor and tedium was similar to that entailed by sanding a hardwood floor or stripping the finish from a piece of furniture.
Now, this is only true for traditional and DIY wood refinishing processes. Such processes require the removal of your cabinets, whereupon they would be sanded down to bare wood. Doing so takes a long time, as does applying the finish to your cabinets’ wooden surfaces after completing all the preparatory work. As a result, there is a high chance that such methods end up costing as much as cabinet replacements or refacings.
You should not give cabinet painting much serious consideration as well, even with the help of professional painters. Before any of your cabinets can be painted, they must first be removed and sanded. This makes cabinet painting as tedious and inefficient as, if not more so than, any traditional or DIY cabinet refinishing.
Paint jobs that have not been properly prepared will start peeling and breaking away within days. Still, despite the arduous nature of the preparatory work, even the most flawless cabinet painting won’t last long either. Most paint products have not been made to withstand constant contact with hands and fingers. They also don’t do well when put through the repetitive motions of closing and opening cabinet doors. On top of that, kitchen environments are filled with moisture and grease on a regular basis. Such substances are extremely detrimental to most paint products.
All paint jobs are far more short lived than a factory finish or any of NHance’s cabinet refinishing projects.
NHance’s cabinet refinishing process is one-of- a-kind. Our products and methodologies have been made specifically for the rigors kitchen cabinets will face. Our ingenious research and development have given us preparation methods that ensure maximum effectiveness, efficiency, and durability for all our projects.
NHance’s Cabinet Refinishing is unlike any other form of traditional cabinet refinishing.
NHance’s craftsmen use a patented ‘sandless’ technique that allows them to clean, degrease, and restore the existing finish of your cabinets without leaving any mess or odors behind.
The refinishing process unfolds largely in your home since there is no need to remove your cabinets. NHance’s Color & Custom Color Change services are the exception. For these, our craftsmen will need to remove your cabinet doors and front for servicing.
Thanks to the developments we have made in refinishing technology, we are able to combine advanced methods with High Performance, Low VOC polyurethane products. This enables us to give our clients durable, factory-style finishes or refinishings in an efficient and economical fashion.
As a result, our services are far less expensive than any cabinet replacement or refacing.
There are four different types of refinishing services available with NHance.
Basic Cabinet Renewal, Cabinet Color Shift, Color Change, Custom Color Options.
The NHance Basic Cabinet Renewal
NHance’s Basic or Classic Cabinet Renewal is our most economical refinishing service. This service seeks to restore your cabinets to their original condition without changing their color.
During a Basic Cabinet Renewal, our craftsmen will start by cleaning and degreasing your cabinets. Next, they will make repairs to any faded or missing finish. Their work will revitalize any dried out wooden surfaces and cover them with a top coat finish that is as durable as the original finish on your cabinets. By the time our craftsmen have completed their work, your cabinets will look better than they originally were.
Click here learn more about the Basic Renewal Process.
The NHance Cabinet Color Shift
NHance’s Cabinet Color Shift shares many similarities with the Basic Cabinet Renewal. However, the Color Shift process also entails the application of several coats of color to your cabinets’ wooden surfaces by hand. These coats of color will shift your cabinets to a slightly darker hue.
Some examples follow below. Since this service is applied by hand, it is an excellent choice for for homeowners who want their furniture to have a unique, customized look.
Our Color Shift page has more information about this process.
The NHance Color Change
For NHance’s Color Change & Custom Color options, our expert craftsmen will spray a custom finish on your cabinets’ surfaces. This will give you a lot of freedom and variety in deciding how to customize the color and appearance of your cabinets.
The Color Change service can also make the tone of your cabinets darker. This effect works very well for natural maple cabinets or cabinets featuring a Honey Oak Finish. NHance offers a wide variety of translucent color options for you to choose from. Any of these translucent colors would highlight the true elegance of your cabinets’ natural wooden texture.
As you can imagine, there is no better choice than NHance’s Color Change service to update outdated natural, honey, or golden tones into darker, more elegant ones.
The NHance Custom Color Option
With NHance’s Custom Color option, you will have access to thousands of different custom opaque colors. If you choose this service, our craftsmen will apply to your cabinets a solid color that dramatically changes their appearance. In fact, many of our clients had trouble recognizing their cabinets after receiving this service.
Before getting a custom opaque color, their cabinets were old-fashioned and outdated. After, their cabinets had an elegant, trendy color that breathed fresh life into their kitchen.
This service allows NHance to customize your kitchen at a much lower price than that of a fully custom-built kitchen renovation. Our opaque custom colors can give your kitchen a total visual remake and a fresh, energetic look.
Here are a few photos of our Custom Color change options. Much more detailed information is available on our Custom Color and Color Change.
What types of cabinets are suitable for refinishing?
NHance’s refinishing process works very well with almost every type of kitchen surface. Our products have no issue adhering fully with wood, veneer, and most kinds of laminate.
We have a lot of experience working with kitchens that are more than 20 years old. The cabinets in such kitchens usually have very battered and worn out surfaces and doors. However, thanks to their superior materials and construction methods, they are still very durable and sturdy. This makes them prime choices for restoration, for which our Basic Cabinet Renewal is ideal.
Even so, these cabinets will still retain their old-fashioned look. If this does not suit your tastes, our Custom Color Change service can easily update their appearance into a trendier, fresher one.
Cabinets in need of repair fall into our area of expertise as well. NHance offers or outsources cabinet modifications necessary or desirable for your cabinet restoration or update. We can also provide or outsource various hardware, hinges, rollouts, crown molding, and other add-ons.
With NHance on your side, you can make much more optimal use of your budget. We will do everything we can to give you your ideal kitchen in a much more economical fashion that cabinet replacements or refacings.
The efficiency, effectiveness, and economy of NHance’s services are undeniable.
Many of the inquiries directed to us in the Grand Rapids area concern Natural Maple or Honey and Golden Oak cabinets. These were popular choices for new home construction during the last 20 to 30 years.
There have also been other inquiries about the effectiveness of our products with regards to laminate surfaces. Some of clients make requests for cabinet pull replacements alongside a refinishing service. For all these inquiries and more, we strive to answer in the affirmative.
NHance has no issue collaborating with clients or other tradespersons to carry out the most efficient and effective kitchen renovations.
Thanks to our low prices and rapid project completion rates, our clients usually end up with a lot of money left over from their initial budget. These freed-up funds allowed them to get other kitchen renovation options, such as updated countertops or new backsplashes and appliances.
Most kitchen renovations begin with cabinet updates because cabinets are usually a kitchen’s most prominent color element. All other kitchen renovation options work to contrast or complement the cabinets’ color.
So, Is Cabinet Refinishing the right solution for you?
You need to give serious consideration to your budget when you are planning a kitchen renovation. Also, if your kitchen renovation plan is haphazard or unrealistic, you will most likely end up installing, removing, and then reinstalling all sorts of kitchen renovation options. This will make you shoot past your initial budget very quickly.
You should also consider cabinet sales critically. The large discounts on new cabinets might be attractive, but these prices don’t factor in any of the installation costs or additional work and other costs involved in a cabinet replacement.
For example, your kitchen might need more painting or a new backsplash after you have replaced your cabinets. An even more drastic example would be you being compelled to pay for major changes and/or upgrades to your electrical wiring or plumbing due to changes in building codes. It is also possible for your new kitchen layout to expose a portion of the subfloor that was previously covered by an old cabinet. In such an instance, you will need new flooring upgrades, which are hardly inexpensive.
Planning your kitchen renovation carefully allows you to circumvent much of the expense and tedium of such issues unexpectedly cropping up. The minimum price of a cabinet replacement is $20,000, but you can realistically expect to pay more than $50,000 for such a kitchen renovation option.
With a budget ranging between $10,000 and $20,000, you might want to consider a cabinet refacing. It is a very plausible choice if you have no wish to adjust your kitchen layout yet still desire a change to the style of your cabinet doors.
However, if your budget lies beneath $10,000 or you have a large kitchen, or you want to upgrade your kitchen for a much more economical price than a cabinet replacement or refacing, NHance’s cabinet refinishing services are the ideal choice.
Each of our services carries different price tags. However, as a rule, they generally cost a third of the price of a high-end refacing project and less than a fifth of the price of a complete kitchen renovation and cabinet replacement. If you don’t want to make drastic alterations to your kitchen’s layout, there is no better choice than NHance’s cabinet refinishing services.
NHance Revolutionary Wood Renewal, Proudly Serving Grand Rapids and Southern Kent County
Give us a call today to discuss your kitchen renovations and which of the best options might be right for you project. (616) 726-7368
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Clarksville (48815), Lake Odessa (48849), Ada (49301), Alto (49302), Bailey (49303), Belmont (49306), Byron Center (49315), Caledonia, Dutton (49316), Casnovia (49318), Cedar Springs (49319), Comstock Park (49321), Dorr (49323), Kent City (49330), Lowell (49331), Middleville, Yankee Springs (49333), Rockford (49341), Wayland (49348), Allendale (49401), Conklin (49403), Coopersville (49404), Fruitport (49415), Grand Haven (49417), Grandville, Wyoming (49418), Hamilton (49419), Holland )49423), (49424), Holton (49425), Hudsonville (49426), Jenison (49428), Marne (49435), Montague (49437), Muskegon, Roosevelt Park, Norton Shores (49441), Muskegon (49442), (49444), North Muskegon (49445), Nunica (49448), Ravenna (49451), Saugatuck (49453), Zeeland (49464), Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids, Standale (49503), (49504), (49505), (49506), (495078), Kentwood, Wyoming ((49508), (49509), (49512), (49519), Plainfield (49525), Walker (49534), (49544), Cascade (49546), (49578) Michigan