A fast, economical way to overhaul dated kitchen cabinets.
Q. I am starting to think about updating our kitchen. I have lots of cupboard space but the cabinets are from the ’80s — white laminate with lots of oak pulls and trim. I have recently heard about cabinet re-facing and it sounds like an economical way to update a kitchen. could you tell me much more about it and whether this would work for my kind of cabinet doors?
— S.W., Langley, BC
A. cabinet re-facing is an economical way to give your kitchen a makeover. The process can take as little as a few days to complete and isn’t as messy as a complete kitchen cabinet overhaul.
Start by identifying what type of new finish you would like and then contact a cabinet re-facing service for an in-home estimate (there may not be any such companies located in Langley but Vancouver has a couple noted in the city’s Yellow Pages).
The process involves having all the old doors and drawer fronts removed. any repair work to the existing cabinets ought to then be completed. The cabinet frames, door and drawer fronts are re-surfaced with the new finish of your choice and all hardware, including new pulls and knobs, is installed. because you’re saving on cabinets, consider splurging on high-quality hardware with a resilient finish.
This is also a good time to address your kitchen’s organization and have functional hardware installed such as sliding or tilting trays, drawer dividers, lazy susans as well as under-cabinet task lighting.