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I don't have any local experience, but I can offer you some perspective. While you can save a significant amount by refacing, it's not cheap.
I redid my kitchen 3 years ago. I bought the doors and drawer fronts online at Barker Door. The style I chose with beadboard panels and a fairly simple frame cost about $100 per piece on average. Add to that new hinges and knobs. Hinges are cheap at $3-5/pair, knobs run from $1 to the sky's the limit.
Careful measuring can be time consuming, unless you're replacing everything exactly as-is. Figure in removal of the old fronts and installation of the new (which can be fussy).
If you're installing new drawer boxes, those can run $50-100 each. New drawer slides are $10 for the cheap exposed type up to $40 for hidden soft-close slides, per drawer.
Depending on you quantity of cabinets, it's easy to spend $4000 just for materials.
Has anyone painted their kitchen cabinet doors? Our cabinets are in great condition but the dark wood makes our kitchen look too dark. I was think of painting them white to improve the look. I'm thinking you must have to use a specific kind of paint. Might need to hire someone to do this. Any advice city- friends?
Thanks folks. Some interesting raised panels on the Barker Doors website -- I saw just what I'm looking for. I would not attempt to install these myself. I would like someone with more experience to do that part of the job. I understand the "soft-close" hinges are now pretty much standard.
Patti....my DW painted our bathroom vanity. There is a special paint....it's a two step process with a primer over the existing finish and then a final color coat. Your dark cabinets may need two coats of final color. I think she got the whole kit at Lowe's.
I remodeled a mid 70's duplex in West Ashley in which the lower cabinets were shot but the uppers were in good condition. I replaced the lowers and painted the uppers. I used Sherwin Williams "Pre-catalyzed epoxy" and while I thought it painted nicely, the jury is still out on durability. I've read enough now that I'd probably choose something else next time.
In the past, I've used Ben Moore Dulamel which is an oil based paint. Durable with a great finish and I'd suggest looking into that.
This is a picture of the cabs though it's just a phone shot and not a great pic. The interior of the uppers are painted a coral for fun and the lowers are an "Espresso" cabinet. I'll add for the OP that there are places around to get cabinets that are full plywood boxes with soft close drawers/doors, etc that are pretty low priced. I think the set in this pic cost something like $1,100 and if I had replaced the uppers it would have totaled $2,500 or so.
Definitely do the soft close hinges. The cost difference is negligible; the user friendliness improvement is dramatic.
I've had my Barker doors installed for 3 years and they're holding up very nicely. I chose a painted finish and there are a few tiny chips on the edges, but overall I'm really pleased with them. The quality is outstanding.
If you're thinking about painting them, I'd recommend spraying rather than brushing. And since you'll want to take off the doors to spray, go ahead and change out the hinges and knobs.
Jonah --
If you don't mind my asking, who installed your Barker doors ??
When DW painted the vanity, she used a product called Zinser for primer, and Sherman Williams for the color coat. I wouldn't be opposed to using the same method on the Kitchen side panels -- but I want good doors, installed correctly.
I did them myself, but I make furniture as a hobby so I knew what I was getting into. Hanging them isn't that hard, getting them aligned correctly takes some skill and finesse.
My mom did replacing the doors and drawers on her very solid 1959 kitchen cabinets. My BIL did the I installing, he is pretty handy. They did have the door and drawers made by a cabinet maker. The drawers were fully replaced. They had to strip and Re-stained the cabinets themselves. Re-stained with same color as it was.
One thing BIL learned. They did replace the formica counter also but was done before the drawers came back. He had a heck of a time installing the drawer and new drawer hardware/slides with the counter top place. He said he would make sure drawers were done with counter top off if there were ever done again.
I have no idea what it cost mom never said except a lot.
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