If your kitchen cabinets are structurally sound but are outdated and worn, refacing your cabinets can revitalize their appearance. First, give the parts you plan to keep the cleaning of their lives. Then decide on your approach to cabinet refacing. Any of these method can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars over buying new cabinets.

Three Approaches to Cabinet Refacing

• Repainting: Whether you do this yourself or hire a contractor, painting can lighten, darken, or create a new color scheme. Remove doors, drawers, and hardware. Clean and sand anything to be painted. The cabinet cases can be left their existing stain or color, and the doors and drawers can be sanded and painted the same or a contrasting color.
• New doors and drawer fronts: A slightly more involved method to refacing kitchen cabinets is to give the cases a good cleaning and then order all new doors, drawer faces, and hardware. This is a terrific way to replace outdated, broken, or cheap-looking cabinets doors.
• Veneers plus new doors: The ultimate way to reface cabinets for an entirely new look is to order new doors and drawer fronts and also to select a matching self-sticking veneer for your cabinet ends and door/drawer facings. Often suppliers for refacing cabinets have such veneers available. You can save money by doing the veneer work yourself or hire your local cabinet shop or remodeling contractor to do the whole job.

The great thing about any of these approaches is that the actual work often takes no more than a weekend, maybe two. If you'll sell your house in the next few years, an up-to-date kitchen is a major selling point for buyers. So why not enjoy the refaced cabinets in the interim.