New Kitchen Cabinets

Nothing makes a home look or feel more like new than a new kitchen. New appliances, new floors, new cabinets, new counters - suddenly the whole house feels updated and upgraded. Installing new counter tops is a pretty minor job, usually involving tearing out the old ones and setting in new ones, whether marble, tile, corian, etc. Cabinets are another story though, as they involve many pieces intricately measured and fit just for your kitchen. If you want new kitchen cabinets, you really have two options. The first is a faux cabinet upgrade, namely refacing, where a veneer of wood is applied over your existing cabinet frames. This gives you an outwardly new look without having to totally demolish your kitchen, and it saves you some money (although it is not cheap, as we will see).

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The second option is to entirely replace you cabinets, which also usually means replacing your counters, messing with floors and appliances, etc. Whether you opt for custom of ready-made cabinets is up to you, but any way you do it will cost more than refacing. Below, we will take a look at kitchen cabinet remodel options and costs, and see what is involved in the process.

Kitchen Cabinet Refacing

What does refacing kitchen cabinets entail? Refacing lets you choose custom materials, custom accessories, and custom styles to give your cabinets a like-new appearance. You can also reface bathroom or laundry room cabinets. Refacing laminates are made from real furniture quality hardwoods like birch, alder, maple, oak, cherry, and walnut. You can do flat or raised panels, shaker, shaker plank, beaded finish, or high end mitred doors. The nice thing about refacing a cabinet is that it takes advantage of the your existing cabinet box structure, which is already in place -- no need to remove counter tops, mess up the floor, or anything else. While doing a refacing job it is also easy to hide hinges and/or hide knob or handle hardware. Sears.com is big in the sales and marketing of kitchen refacings. They offer deals like $500 off when you buy a kitchen remodel or refacing job through them. What does refacing entail? Basically, they will come out and measure everything in your kitchen and bring back veneers of your choosing for cabinet doors, drawer fronts, side panels, etc. All the visible surfaces of your cabinetry will be covered with the new veneer facing materials. In most cases, you will simply get new doors and drawer fronts, rather than building on top of your existing cabinets. How much does it cost to reface cabinets? It isn't super cheap - plan on spending 40-60% of the cost of a complete cabinet replacement. How long does it take to reface kitchen cabinets? Once all the measuring and manufacturing is done, the actual process usually takes 4-5 days of install and finish time.

Custom Cabinets for your Kitchen

Real custom cabinets are expensive and built especially to fit your home by a carpenter or cabinet company. More common is built-to-order custom cabinetry, where you select components and sizes from a company's catalog, in effect designing and building a custom kitchen cabinet project. KraftMaid.com is a big name in the custom built cabinet industry. They offer a huge selection of door styles and finishes. Their European styled Venicia line has a clean modern look (if you like that!) in the Lustra, Mirra, and Natura collections. For example the Kraftmaid Mirra collection is known for its modern, highly reflective materials, with dramatic colors and glossy finishes. Those of you looking for more traditional or classic cabinets might well look somewhere else. Kraftmaid started out in Ohio in 1969 as a small cabinet shop, and they were the first in the semi-custom cabinetry market, having since grown to be the biggest cabinet maker in the world. You can see their products at big home retailers like Home Depot and Lowes. If you are planning on replacing all your cabinets, the best advice is to work directly with an experienced kitchen designer and contractor to do the job right. They will handle the measuring, planning, ordering, and installation for you - all you need is the ideas and money to pay for it! If you are looking for discount kitchen cabinets or wholesale kitchen cabinets, check out Kitchen-Cabinets-Design.com where you can get estimates on your project. They also have articles on cleaning cabinets, kitchen flooring and more.

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