It can become a little disheartening when every time you walk into your kitchen all you see is that it’s in serious need of a remodel but you don’t have the cash to do anything about it.

When it feels like you’ll never have enough to create the kitchen of your dreams, it’s time to tap into a few hacks that will give your kitchen new life without draining life from your wallet.

Replacing cabinet doors and refacing cabinet frames is one of the best ways to give your cabinets a refresh without total replacement. It could save you some serious cash on a remodel or

Replacing Cabinet Doors

One of the easiest things to do to give your cabinets a new face is to change the doors and drawer faces. Unless you have a custom cabinet setup, which will most likely necessitate new custom doors, your kitchen will have standard door and drawer face sizes which are easy to replace.

Many retailers sell doors separately so the possibilities are nearly endless. In terms of cost savings, you would typically save 75% on the cost of a new cabinet by just purchasing a door. You can also use the same door hardware and save even more.

While you’re refacing cabinets, consider adding some design elements that will really make your kitchen feel new. Glass front doors, a wine or plate rack completely change your look but also your kitchen’s functionality.

Refacing Cabinet Frames

Typically, when you are replacing doors and drawers, you will need to reface frames as well. You’ll reface the cabinets to match the doors you selected.

If you currently have stained cabinets and want to change up the stain color, it is best to go for a darker stain. If you want to paint your cabinets, you’ll do some sanding, priming, and finally painting. You may also opt to reface your cabinets with plastic laminate or wood veneer.

Laminate comes in all colors and patterns, and will be able to match your doors 100%. It is fairly easy to install when only refacing cabinets. Wood veneer is the most expensive option, though still much cheaper than replacing the entire cabinet.

Refacing Cabinets Costs

You already know you stand to save up to 75% by replacing doors and refacing your cabinets. So . . . imagine you have a white kitchen, but it seems just a bit too small. In this case, you could try changing out the doors with some new ones with glass inlaid to make the room feel more spacious.

Or imagine your current kitchen is ivory, and it seems not bright enough.  Replacing the doors on the cabinets in your 10-foot by 12-foot (overall average size) kitchen could save you 75% of the cost of replacing cabinets.

Even using RTA cabinets, you would be looking at approximately $4,000 to $5,000, but the cost of doors is more like $1,000. Now imagine you have decided to do it yourself. You spend another maybe $300 on additional materials and tools. Total cost: $1,300. 

Refacing cabinets and replacing cabinet doors yourself cost less than one third of what it would cost to replace the cabinets completely, and your kitchen has had a total facelift.

Your New Old Kitchen

If you have a quality base cabinet and like your kitchen layout, but want a facelift, refacing cabinets is the way to go. With just a bit of time and at a fraction of the cost of a new set of kitchen cabinets (not to mention the costs of countertops, backsplashes, flooring, etc.) you can get that new kitchen you are looking for.

Shop for new doors for your cabinets today and get started on that refresh.