Cabinets are the largest single piece of most kitchen remodels, and there are three ways to change them. Which one fits depends less on taste than on the condition of the boxes and on whether the layout is staying.
Refacing: new faces on the old boxes
The cabinet boxes stay where they are. The doors and drawer fronts are replaced, and the visible face frames and end panels are covered with a matching veneer or laminate. New hinges, pulls and often new drawer boxes go in at the same time.
Refacing makes sense when:
- the boxes are solid, square and dry;
- you like where everything is: the sink, the range, the corners;
- the cabinets reach the ceiling or the soffit the way you want.
It does not fix a layout, add storage that is not there, or repair a box that has swollen from a leak.
Painting: same doors, new finish
The doors come off, the surfaces are cleaned of kitchen grease, sanded, primed and painted, and the doors go back on. It changes the color, not the style: a raised-panel door stays a raised-panel door.
In a house built before 1978, sanding painted cabinets can disturb lead paint. Paid work of that kind has to be done by a firm certified for lead-safe renovation. See Lead-safe remodeling.
Replacing: new boxes
New cabinets are the choice when the boxes are damaged, when the layout changes, or when the kitchen needs storage the old run cannot give: deep drawers instead of shelves, a pantry cabinet, an island.
A sink base that has sat over a slow leak is the box most often too far gone. If the floor of that cabinet is swollen or crumbling, that box at least has to be replaced; see After water damage.
Questions that settle it
- Are the boxes dry, solid and square, with no swollen panels? If not, replace at least those boxes.
- Is the layout staying? If not, replacement is the only option for the run that moves.
- Do you want a different door style, or only a different color? Style means refacing or replacing; color alone can be paint.
- Will the countertop be replaced too? A new stone or quartz top is heavy; the person who measures will check that the old boxes can carry it. See New tops on old cabinets.
Who does the work
Refacing companies, cabinet painters, cabinet shops and remodelers all do this work. In Florida, cities and counties may not require a license for cabinetry work that includes no task the state licenses. Elsewhere, ask what license or registration the company holds and look it up; see Checking a contractor.
Updated 2026-10-12.