Kitchen Cabinets?
My Kitchen is about 10 x 12 ft with 13 wood cabinets in a dark walnut color. My wife wants to swtich to a much lighter natural color. I see the house as a starter house and don’t plan to stay there permanently. I’m also leery investing too much as the next owners may have different taste and just gut it out all together. If my budget is around $2,000 what is my best option.
A. Buy new cabinets (figure this would be closer to 4-6K)
B. Reface the existing, new doors and the like (figure around 2K)
C. Sand and stain the existing (figure around $500 – 1K for the labor)
First of all is your countertop budgeted in this estimate? That will take a little out as well. The easiest thing to do is to sand and stain or paint. It will be a pain but if the cabinets are in good shape and you are planning to sell in the NEAR future, then that is the way to go.
If you are set on pulling out the existing and putting new ones in, then you can run into problems especially if it is an old home that needs to be brought up to code. Not to mention hiring a plumber to do sink hookups, etc. You can actually purchase stock boxed cabinets from Lowe’s, Home Depot, etc for relatively inexpensive. They even have unfinished ones that, yes, they are a lower grade, but all you have to say is the cabinets were replaced 2 years ago and it gives your home a boost. (We got our cabinets for under $800 and stained them.)
If you happen to want to replace the cabinets, be wary of all the other projects you may find. Flooring, lighting, sink, appliances and so on. It’s pretty ugly to see fresh cabinetry will dull and drab appliances, flooring and worn down plumbing fixtures.
Techno Kitchen Refacing – Home Renovation and Remodelling