Kitchen cabinet doors
New Doors on Your Existing Kitchen Cabinets
Sometimes the boxes in your kitchen are fine. The layout works, the cabinets are solid, and what has gone tired is the front: dated doors, a colour that dates the room, hinges that sag. Replacing the doors and drawer fronts, the job most people call refacing, costs a fraction of a full kitchen and takes days instead of weeks.
We have done exactly this job twice. The most recent was in July. We took the existing doors off, kept the client’s cabinet boxes, and built and hung new fronts throughout. That project quoted between $12,900 and $15,100 before any discount.
Is this the same thing as refacing?
Mostly, yes, and it is worth being precise because the word covers two very different jobs.
When people say refacing they sometimes mean new doors and drawer fronts on the existing boxes, with the exposed cabinet sides skinned to match. That is what we build, in the same shop and from the same materials as a full custom kitchen.
Other times refacing means painting what is already there. We do not do that, and we will tell you so on the phone rather than after we have taken a deposit. Painting a cabinet is a different trade with different skills, and a painted-over laminate door will show its history within a few years.
When new doors are the right call
Three things have to be true, and a designer can check all of them in one visit.
The boxes have to be sound. Open a cabinet and look at the shelf above the dishes. If it is bowed in the middle, the box is particleboard and it is already failing, and new doors on a failing box is money spent on the wrong half of the problem.
The layout has to work for you. New doors change how a kitchen looks, not where anything is. If you are working around a cramped aisle or a corner cabinet that swallows everything you put in it, the fix is a new layout, and doors alone will leave you annoyed in the same places.
The boxes have to be square. Older cabinets settle. We measure every opening rather than assuming they match, because a door built to the drawing instead of the opening is how you end up with uneven gaps down a run.
What you can change, and what you cannot
You can change the door style, the colour, the hardware and the hinges. Ours come with undermount soft-close as standard rather than as an upsell. You can change the drawer fronts, and in most cases we can replace the drawer boxes themselves with metal-sided boxes on full-extension runners, which is usually the upgrade people notice most day to day.
You cannot change the size of an opening, the position of the sink, or the fact that a 24-inch cabinet holds what a 24-inch cabinet holds. If any of that is what is bothering you, say so at the appointment and we will price both paths.
Door styles we build
The same five we build for a full kitchen, in the same materials.
Contemporary TFL is the workhorse: a flat slab in thermally fused laminate, the most durable surface per dollar we sell, and the one most of our kitchens use. DECO adds a routed profile to the same material. Five-piece is a framed door with a separate centre panel, the shaker look most people picture. Painted is the premium tier, sprayed rather than brushed. Real wood is available where you want the grain to be the point.
We build with Tafisa, a Canadian panel product, along with Cleaf, TFL Lifestyle and Finsa. Around sinks and dishwashers we can specify a panel engineered to resist water, which is a different glue rather than a miracle, and it buys you time in the one place kitchens usually fail first.
What it costs
A door and drawer front replacement runs well below a full kitchen because you are paying for fronts and hardware rather than carcasses, delivery and demolition. The July project quoted $12,900 to $15,100 for a whole kitchen of new fronts. A smaller galley with fewer doors lands lower.
We price by component after measuring, so a number before a designer has seen the room would be a guess. If you want to see how we break a price down, the cost guide walks through it on the closet side and the logic is the same here.
How it goes
A designer comes to your home, measures every opening, and brings door samples and the colour range so you see the finishes in your own light rather than under showroom lighting. You get a drawing and a firm price. When you approve it we build the fronts at our shop at 73 Saunders Road in Barrie, then book an install date. Most door jobs are on and off in a day or two, because nothing is being torn out.
Everything we build is covered by the Homeowners Lifetime Warranty. Water damage is the exception, and it is the one thing that voids it, which is worth knowing before you put a dishwasher against an unsealed panel.
Call 705-315-9169 or book a design appointment and we will tell you honestly whether your boxes are worth keeping.
Questions people ask before they book
Is cabinet refacing the same as replacing the doors?
Partly. Refacing covers two different jobs and it is worth knowing which one you are being sold. One is new doors and drawer fronts on your existing boxes, with the exposed cabinet ends skinned to match, and that is what we build. The other is painting what is already there, which we do not do.
How much does it cost to replace kitchen cabinet doors?
Less than a full kitchen, because you are paying for fronts and hardware instead of carcasses, delivery and demolition. The kitchen we did in July was a whole run of new fronts and quoted between $12,900 and $15,100 before any discount. A small galley with fewer doors lands well below that. We price by component once a designer has measured.
Should I paint my kitchen cabinets instead?
You can, and it is cheaper on the day. A brushed or sprayed finish over an existing laminate door is sitting on a surface that was never meant to hold paint, so it chips at the edges and around the handles, which is exactly where hands go. A new door is a new door. If budget is the deciding factor we would rather tell you that than talk you into the wrong job.
Can you replace the doors without replacing the cabinets?
Yes, when the boxes are sound and square. Open a cabinet and look at the shelf above your dishes. If it is bowed, the box is particleboard and already failing, and new doors on a failing box is money spent on the wrong half of the problem. A designer checks this in the first visit and will tell you if it is not worth doing.
How long does it take?
Most door jobs are on and off in a day or two, because nothing is being torn out. The wait is the build, not the install. We measure every opening rather than assuming they match, then build the fronts at our shop at 73 Saunders Road in Barrie.