subject: Kitchen Cabinets - New, Old, Refinished [print this page] Kitchen cabinets have historically been the most expensive part of any home remodeling project. Homes have been purchased or ignored because of kitchen cabinets. Entire companies have been built around the manufacture and design of cabinetry.
If you plan on updating your kitchen cabinets, it can change the entire look of the kitchen. Your budget will help you determine what options you should be considering, but these options range from professionally installed brand new units to refinishing the ones you already have and buying new knobs and handles.
Before deciding on new cabinets, think about the possible damage of ripping down the old ones. If you have friends in for a demo party, this could be an expensive mistake. These demo parties were made popular by the recent influx of reality home remodeling TV shows.
Just watch any home improvement TV show and you'll see families with no remodeling experience knocking down cabinets with sledge hammers and even fists, causing what can be almost irreparable damage to walls that didn't need any repair work at all.
If you don't happen to have all sorts of emergency funds available, this is the worst thing to do. New cabinets need to be installed by a professional. If you don't have the expertise, arrange for installation where you buy the items. Many stores provide installation in the sales price.
If new ones really aren't in the budget, you still have viable options that will let you end up with a gorgeous kitchen. Try local lumber yards and outlets. They have all sorts of items that might have scratches that can be fixed, or sizes that are odd. Some have custom orders that were canceled. You never know what you'll find, and the prices are very attractive - frequently pennies on the dollar.
Or you can get what looks like brand new cabinets with only new doors and hardware. Keep in mind that the base for your cabinets are nothing more than place holders for the doors. Unless you are planning on a completely new design and layout for your kitchen, there is little reason to tear down these bases just to have what looks like new cabinetry.
New doors come in every wood, shade, finish, size, imaginable. They can be custom matched to your base units. This option costs about half of what you'd expect to pay for brand new models.
