Should I Reface Or Replace? Here you are asking yourself the age old question when updating your kitchen or bath when it comes to your cabinets.
Should I reface or replace? The answer seems simple or is it? The main reason you would want to reface rather than replace would be due to the cost.
But how much do you really save at the expense of living with poorly operating drawers and interiors.
Not to mention the poor work flow design of your current kitchen, and if we are talking about bathrooms the low height of old standard vanities that put the back strain on us taller people.
Well the truth is you're only going to save about one third when refacing cabinets.
Don't believe the people that tell you 50% savings as they are most likely installing factory cabinets that have a large markup of 100% or more.
And you will save even less if you decide to rework some of the existing cabinets and or add new drawers, slides, and possibly pull outs inside.
If you go the minimal route and only update the exteriors well you are left with non adjustable shelves, poor sliding drawers while possibly losing quite a bit of functional space if dealing with face frame cabinets as apposed to newer European style cabinetry.
Plus if you decide to put your home on the market you will get the most return from your investment when going with new cabinets as apposed to refacing.
Being someone who has done many refaces and new installs I can tell you that you will definitely get more wear from new compared to a reface.
A reface is just how it sounds a reface.
And if you are like most people who reface, we seem to wait way too long to reface the cabinets.
Some of these cabinets having glue failing on the face frames or just failing in general construction all together.
Look at it this way you can paint a old car with mechanical problems and failures but it still has the internal problems.
So in conclusion when pondering the age old question "should I reface or replace?", remember you are only saving one third or less.
But you are stuck with the same old headaches and problems you always had with your old kitchen.
Seems the choice is obvious unless of course you are not going to be using the kitchen yourself (in the case of a rental).
But wouldn't you want to get a little more by giving a little more to your tenants.
Should I reface or replace? The answer seems simple or is it? The main reason you would want to reface rather than replace would be due to the cost.
But how much do you really save at the expense of living with poorly operating drawers and interiors.
Not to mention the poor work flow design of your current kitchen, and if we are talking about bathrooms the low height of old standard vanities that put the back strain on us taller people.
Well the truth is you're only going to save about one third when refacing cabinets.
Don't believe the people that tell you 50% savings as they are most likely installing factory cabinets that have a large markup of 100% or more.
And you will save even less if you decide to rework some of the existing cabinets and or add new drawers, slides, and possibly pull outs inside.
If you go the minimal route and only update the exteriors well you are left with non adjustable shelves, poor sliding drawers while possibly losing quite a bit of functional space if dealing with face frame cabinets as apposed to newer European style cabinetry.
Plus if you decide to put your home on the market you will get the most return from your investment when going with new cabinets as apposed to refacing.
Being someone who has done many refaces and new installs I can tell you that you will definitely get more wear from new compared to a reface.
A reface is just how it sounds a reface.
And if you are like most people who reface, we seem to wait way too long to reface the cabinets.
Some of these cabinets having glue failing on the face frames or just failing in general construction all together.
Look at it this way you can paint a old car with mechanical problems and failures but it still has the internal problems.
So in conclusion when pondering the age old question "should I reface or replace?", remember you are only saving one third or less.
But you are stuck with the same old headaches and problems you always had with your old kitchen.
Seems the choice is obvious unless of course you are not going to be using the kitchen yourself (in the case of a rental).
But wouldn't you want to get a little more by giving a little more to your tenants.
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