Cabinet Refacing in St. George, UT

Wood veneer refacing covers the face frames and visible cabinet sides in a thin sheet of real wood, then hangs new doors to match. HomeGuide describes veneer as a thin layer sliced from the log in a peeling motion. It puts veneer refacing at $100 to $250 per linear foot, or $2,500 to $8,000 for an average kitchen, and says solid wood veneer costs two to four times as much as laminate but is more durable and scratch-resistant. Species choice works the same way as on new cabinets, so oak, maple, cherry and walnut are all on the table. One thing to ask: when a door's front is solid wood and the frame around it is veneer, will the two be finished in the same pass so the color matches? Wood darkens or lightens with light over the years, and a mismatch shows most on a sunny wall.

Thermofoil and laminate are the budget end. HomeGuide prices them at $80 to $125 per linear foot, $2,000 to $4,000 for an average kitchen. Laminate is water-resistant and comes in solid colors and wood looks, but it can chip on impact. Thermofoil is a PVC vinyl film heat- and vacuum-pressed over an MDF door, which gives a smooth face with no joints that looks painted. It only comes as a one-piece door, so true five-piece construction isn't an option. Its weak point is heat. Deslaurier, a cabinet manufacturer, warns that heavy steam or heat can make thermofoil melt, peel or blister, and that heat shields beside an oven reduce the damage without preventing it. Once a thermofoil skin lifts, it can't be pressed back, so the door gets replaced. Keep it away from the oven and the dishwasher's steam vent.

The lightest version of the job replaces only the doors and drawer fronts and leaves the frames alone. HomeGuide puts it at $180 to $330 per door installed, or $2,200 to $6,600 for a kitchen. It works when the frames are in good shape and the new doors are painted or close in color to them. The hinges often change too. If your current doors are partial overlay, moving to full-overlay doors means concealed hinges, which HomeGuide says that style requires. New pulls are cheapest when they match the old hole spacing, HomeGuide says, but a new door has no holes yet, so this is the moment to pick hardware freely. Ask whether the drawer boxes and slides stay. Old drawer boxes behind new fronts are fine if they run smoothly; soft-close slides can be added at the same time.

Painted MDF shaker doors turn an oak kitchen into a painted one without stripping the old finish off every door. MDF machines cleanly and takes paint smoothly, which is why the USDA Wood Handbook lists it as a stand-in for solid wood in furniture and door skins. A one-piece MDF shaker door, routed from a single panel, has no joints to crack open in dry air, unlike a five-piece painted wood door. Shaker doors run $60 to $80 apiece in materials on HomeGuide's list, before finishing and hanging. The risk is water. MDF swells when it gets wet and doesn't fully recover, per the Composite Panel Association, so a chip in the paint at the sink base or beside the dishwasher can let a door edge swell. Ask for a sprayed, catalyzed finish on all six faces, including the back and edges.