Painting vs. replacing kitchen cabinet doors?

[PeterM]

I'm faced with some old and ugly kitchen cabinet doors in a place in Edmonton. I know that I can paint them to dress them up (assuming they are in good enough shape). However, I'm wondering about the cost of replacing the doors instead. Does anyone have any experience or references for ordering custom size cabinet doors & drawer fronts in Edmonton? I don't need fancy natural wooden doors, just some basic white (e.g. MDF) doors.



thanks,

Peter

 

[RussellWestcott]

Peter you will be very surprised at how nice a good painter can make your cabinets look... plus add new hardware to the cabinets, they almost look brand new. Pending on the condition of the cabinets of course.



My first response is with paint and new hardware for my cabinets on my rental properties.

 

[kfort]

In general, refacing is about half the cost of complete cabinets. Sometimes even less. However, aside from time, painting is cheaper for sure. A bucket of primer and paint is what,... $50-$75? some brushes etc... You could probably paint them all, re-hardware, and do a pretty decent job for $200 or less easily. I'm in a similar position however one cabinet door is missing so I will have to re-face as it is 20+ years old and very hard to find a match.

 

[dplummer]

I had some cabinets refaced approx. $75.00 per door. Painting & new hardware is less expensive.



Doug

 

[kfort]

Just a quick tip that i forgot to mention before, if you happen to know a teacher who owes you a favour, recruit them. Go to the school, borrow the router from the shop teacher. Get your MDF in 5/8", maybe 1/2" if you like. Do a simple 1 or 2 stage bevel on the edges and paint them. I decided to go this route and I estimate cost at about $100 for paint/primer and refacing.



Kris