Buying guide
Refacing vs. replacing cabinets: the honest math
Refacing gets marketed as the budget-friendly shortcut. In our experience across Southern New Hampshire, it often costs as much as — or more than — brand-new cabinets, while giving you less. Here's the comparison nobody puts in the brochure.
What refacing actually is.
Your existing cabinet boxes stay on the wall. A crew applies matching veneer or laminate to the visible box faces, then hangs new doors and drawer fronts and swaps the hardware. Done well, the kitchen looks brand new from the front — because everything behind the doors is the same kitchen you already had.
The price surprise.
Here's the part that catches people: refacing can be just as expensive as replacing — sometimes more. Doors and drawer fronts are the most costly parts of any cabinet, and you're buying all of them anyway. Add veneer materials and the painstaking, labor-heavy work of applying finishes to boxes that are already installed, and quotes routinely come in at 60–80% of new cabinetry. On larger or fussy kitchens, refacing quotes can top the price of new semi-custom cabinets outright.
What you keep when you reface.
Everything you didn't like about the kitchen's function. The drawer boxes are still the old ones. The corner cabinet still swallows pots. There's still no pull-out pantry, no soft-close hardware, no deep drawers for pots and pans. If your frustration with the kitchen is about storage or layout, refacing repaints the problem.
What new cabinets buy you instead.
A layout reworked around how you cook. Full-extension soft-close drawers, organizers built into the order, taller uppers, an island if the room allows it. New plywood boxes with a factory finish — warranted and consistent. Because we measure and design first, you're not guessing whether the money fixed the right thing.
When refacing is genuinely the right call.
If your boxes are quality plywood in good shape, the layout already works, and you purely want a new look — refacing is fast and sensible. We tell people this when it's true. It's a cosmetic refresh, and sometimes a cosmetic refresh is exactly what a house needs before selling, for example.
When replacing wins clearly.
Particleboard or water-damaged boxes, a layout that fights you, a kitchen from the 70s or 80s with shallow drawers and 30-inch uppers, or any plan that includes moving appliances or adding an island. In those kitchens, refacing spends real money preserving the problem.
How to compare quotes fairly.
Put a refacing quote and a new-cabinet quote side by side and ask: what does each one leave unchanged? Then divide by years of use. When refacing comes in at three-quarters of the price of new — which we see constantly in Nashua, Hollis and Bedford — the new kitchen usually wins on value before you count the layout gains.
Our short version.
If someone quotes you refacing, get a replacement quote too before you decide. The numbers surprise people — and we're happy to measure and price both so you can see the real comparison for your own kitchen.
A full replacement in Hollis, NH
Frequently asked questions
Is refacing cabinets cheaper than replacing them?
Not usually. By the time you pay for new doors, drawer fronts, veneer, hardware and the skilled labor to apply it all, refacing commonly lands at 60–80% of the cost of new semi-custom cabinets — and can exceed it. You keep your old boxes either way, so the savings are smaller than the name suggests.
When does cabinet refacing actually make sense?
When your existing boxes are high-quality plywood, the layout already works, you want a new door style and finish, and you need the kitchen back fast. It is a cosmetic upgrade, not a remodel.
What are the downsides of refacing?
The layout, storage and interior condition stay exactly as they are. Worn drawer boxes, no soft-close hardware, a bad corner cabinet — all still there. You also can't change cabinet heights or add an island through refacing.
How long do refaced cabinets last compared to new ones?
The doors and veneer can look great for years, but the boxes and interiors are still as old as the original kitchen. New semi-custom cabinets come with new boxes, full-extension soft-close hardware and factory finishes — the whole cabinet resets, not just the face.
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