Cabinet Refacing Basics In Less Than 5 Minutes

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Updated December 10, 2014.

Cabinet refacing has become big business in the last decade. After all, it does make sense. Why replace the entire cabinet. when it s only the surface you would like to replace?  Refacing is both cheaper and greener than the usual cabinet demo-and-replace techniques.

Do it yourself cabinet refacing is tough. You would be able to replace the cabinet doors and drawer fronts, but veneering is a skill that has quite a steep learning curve. It s not something you pick up in a day or two.

Cabinet refacing is a misnomer. It actually involved both refacing and replacing of certain elements.

• Cabinet doors are removed and replaced.
• Drawer front are removed and replaced.
• The front portion of the cabinet boxes (we will call them boxes from here on) are veneered either with wood veneer or RTF (Rigid Thermofoil ), a melamine-based product.

Most of the popular hardwood species are available, such as birch, maple, ash, oak, hickory, walnut, and so on.

Hardwood the thickness of cabinet boxes would be astronomically expensive to purchase.

Wood veneer is between 1/40 and 1/90 thick. meaning that from a single inch-thick sheet of hardwood you can slice off anywhere between 40 to 90 sheets of veneer.

RTF stands up to heavy abuse from pets, children, etc. It s easily cleanable, too.

While this depends on the company doing the refacing and on the size of your kitchen, most refacing can be done in 2-4 days. A schedule might be something like this:

• Day One: Remove hardware, doors, and drawer fronts. Begin veneering. Pick up and clean at end of day.
• Day Two: Continue veneering. Pick up and clean at end of day.
• Day Three: Finish veneering. Install new doors and drawer fronts. Install hardware. Make final adjustments. Final pickup and clean.

Veneer correctly installed should last for many years.  If it peels, it was not installed correctly.

Despite the bad connotations associated with the word veneer. it is not inherently inclined to peeling.  Veneering is not a modern technique. It has been used successfully for hundreds of years.