How do you define “Reface a kitchen”?

[Packard]

Note:  I see that my post has gotten long-winded.  Scroll down to the bold-faced question below.  That sums it up nicely.

I am in the process of refacing my kitchen.  I am building all new cabinet doors and drawer fronts.  Also new end panels.  I am painting the face frames and toe kicks only (no interior painting).

I’m about half way done.  Doing a few cabinets each week.  My 74 year old back complains about working on my hands and knees for the base cabinets and also for working off a ladder for the uppers.  So that is the limiting factor.

However, the other day I was reading an “Apartment Therapy” e-magazine and they defined refacing as “new cabinet doors and drawers”.

Question:  Is it conventional to replace the drawers as well as the drawer fronts when refacing a kitchen?  I was not planning on that. 

Also, I am switching from 1/2” overlay to 1” overlay for a more contemporary look.  Because of that, I am replacing all the standard close hinges with soft close hinges. 

I was not planning on soft close drawers, however. 

All this in anticipation of selling my house in about 5 years. 

I have read that refacing kitchens has a high R.O.I. (Return On Investment).  Are soft close drawers also a high R.O.I.?  My back would not be happy doing that work.  (Making new drawers would be easy, however.)

 

[afish]

depends on your market but in mine yes buyers like good hardware but in the end all all comes down to price.

 

[squall_line]

Personally, I don't mind closing a soft-close drawer, but it annoys the heck out of me to open them.  Maybe not all soft close drawers "stick" closed, but the ones I have experience with do.  The overall smoothness of opening and closing the drawer is more important to me, but because I also like old houses, I don't really like some of the more modern trends in kitchens.

 

[afish]

Personally, I don't mind closing a soft-close drawer, but it annoys the heck out of me to open them.  Maybe not all soft close drawers "stick" closed, but the ones I have experience with do.  The overall smoothness of opening and closing the drawer is more important to me, but because I also like old houses, I don't really like some of the more modern trends in kitchens.

yep, thats why I said it can vary by market. Rural Wyoming im sure is much different than SE Florida. Here in S FL everything is modern. Here buyers want 2 things 1. The best of everything 2. They want it for free 

 

[4nthony]

This is how I defined refacing a kitchen. It was a bit more than a reface because in addition to a visual update, I needed improved storage and functionality. In order to get the look I wanted, I had to replace the drawers.

So, my answer to...

Question:  Is it conventional to replace the drawers as well as the drawer fronts when refacing a kitchen?  I was not planning on that.

...would be, "it depends". If the goal of your reface can't be achieved with the currently installed drawers, then yes. If you're happy with your drawers, and can leave them, then no.

I like soft-close drawers. The little bit of tension (stick) when opening them doesn't bother me when the drawer sits on Blum under mount slides.

Though, in a couple of my drawers, I did a "drawer inside a drawer" with side-mount soft close slides. The stick when opening these interior drawers is much greater and I'm tempted to swap them out with slides that are not soft close. My only concern is they might shift around when the main drawer is opened.

 

[Packard]

I am adding small cabinets to go above the wall cabinets and bring them to the ceiling.  And new countertops.

I am not ripping out the old boxes.  The end panels I am making and spraying in the shop and the face frames I am brush painting in situ.  By changing from 1/2” overlay to 1” overlay, not much of the face frame remains exposed.  (A good thing, since the original was “golden oak”, and even with the grain filler, a little of the grain still telegraphs through.)

 

[Crazyraceguy]

To me it generally means that the layout is unchanged and the doors, drawer fronts, and often the counter top get replaced. Almost always this also includes hardware like hinges and pulls.
Actually replacing the drawer boxes would be a bit more intense. It could happen, but really only if they no-longer work because of a drawer slide change, or replaced for wear/damage.
Here in the US, most kitchens have faceframes, especially likely for one old enough to need a refresh. That is an added complication and depends entirely on the intended goal. Refinishing or painting (re-painting) in place is common, but I have also seen veneer added.

 

[peter halle]

To me it generally means that the layout is unchanged and the doors, drawer fronts, and often the counter top get replaced. Almost always this also includes hardware like hinges and pulls.
Actually replacing the drawer boxes would be a bit more intense. It could happen, but really only if they no-longer work because of a drawer slide change, or replaced for wear/damage.
Here in the US, most kitchens have faceframes, especially likely for one old enough to need a refresh. That is an added complication and depends entirely on the intended goal. Refinishing or painting (re-painting) in place is common, but I have also seen veneer added.

This is what I have done for reface jobs.

Peter

 

[tjbnwi]

I read the quote “new doors and drawers” to mean the drawer faces, not the drawer boxes.

I believe the line should read- “new doors and drawer faces”.

Tom

 

[RussellS]

My answer is do the drawer boxes need replaced.  If the drawer boxes are OK, not super duper fancy and perfect, but OK, average, fine, good enough.  Then no need to replace the drawer boxes.  But if you do a fine job on the doors and drawer fronts, and the prospective buyer opens the kitchen drawers and sees drawer boxes that obviously look much less good.  Then you need to replace the drawer boxes too.  If you go out to eat at the finest steak joint in your town and get served a finely grilled tasty steak, and on the plate is some instant mashed potatoes and the paper pouch mix up instant brown gravy.  You might think things aren't matching up.  Another analogy.  You make a handcut dovetail box.  Beautiful half or through dovetails.  And decide 40 grit is all the sanding you are going to do.  Why only do half the job good?

As for the soft close doors and drawers, I think its a question of symmetry.  If the doors are soft close, and the drawers are not, wouldn't someone say "why are the doors soft close but the drawers are not"?  If one is soft close, you automatically expect the other to be soft close too.  Or if one is regular hinges, then you expect the other to close the same way.  Its sort of a doing half the job instead of doing the whole job question.  Symmetry comes in here too.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

There is also the possibility that the drawer fronts are integral to the boxes, rather than the more typical false front to a complete box. In that case, replacement is likely to easiest solution.

 

[4nthony]

There is also the possibility that the drawer fronts are integral to the boxes, rather than the more typical false front to a complete box.

I think that's a really good look and a great way to show off joinery, too.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

4nthony, it could if you were building them to have through dovetails in the first place.
What I was referring to though was the 3/8" overlay with half-blind dovetails style. That is far more common in dressers and other furniture, but could be in a kitchen. I suppose you could cut off the overlay portion and add a false front over it, but that's ia little beyond the scope of the original question.

 

[derekcohen]

Note:  I see that my post has gotten long-winded.  Scroll down to the bold-faced question below.  That sums it up nicely.

I am in the process of refacing my kitchen.  I am building all new cabinet doors and drawer fronts.  Also new end panels.  I am painting the face frames and toe kicks only (no interior painting).

I’m about half way done.  Doing a few cabinets each week.  My 74 year old back complains about working on my hands and knees for the base cabinets and also for working off a ladder for the uppers.  So that is the limiting factor.

However, the other day I was reading an “Apartment Therapy” e-magazine and they defined refacing as “new cabinet doors and drawers”.

Question:  Is it conventional to replace the drawers as well as the drawer fronts when refacing a kitchen?  I was not planning on that. 

Also, I am switching from 1/2” overlay to 1” overlay for a more contemporary look.  Because of that, I am replacing all the standard close hinges with soft close hinges. 

I was not planning on soft close drawers, however. 

All this in anticipation of selling my house in about 5 years. 

I have read that refacing kitchens has a high R.O.I. (Return On Investment).  Are soft close drawers also a high R.O.I.?  My back would not be happy doing that work.  (Making new drawers would be easy, however.)

Hi Packard

I have done what you wish to do - replaced all the doors and the drawer fronts on a 35 year-old kitchen (this was done 6 years ago). The old kitchen was oak with rather now-dated raised panels. The new kitchen is curly hard maple in a Shaker style ...

Old kitchen ...

Rebuild ...

At the time of the re-build, I re-used all the old hardware ... hinges and tracks. These were not soft closing. To maximise re-sale, they do need to be. I spent the past two weekends replacing all the door hinges and drawer slides in the kitchen and bathrooms.

Hope this helps your decisions.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Packard]

My kitchen was “honey oak/golden oak” with raised panels.  I considered doing the reface in maple also, but that would have required that all the face frames be banded with veneer.  I thought that would be a lot more work than painting. 

Having painted more than half the cabinets so far, I’m not sure I followed the easier path.  I had to sand, clean, prime, paint first coat; paint second coat. It probably is about the same amount of work.  But the thought of doing all that veneer trimming kneeling was off-putting.  Plus I would have to add a finish to the veneers. 

I used all new hinges, but (so far) have resisted the urge to replace the drawer slides.  That would require squeezing into the cabinets, and all the drawers are framed in face frame so reaching in will be difficult.  I think I will pass on the slides.

Replacing the hinges was pretty much mandatory.  The older style face frame cabinets exposed a lot more of the face frame.  I changed from 1/2” overlay to 1” overlay, which added an inch to the width of the doors, yielding a more modern look. 

Problems with my hips limits the amount of time I spend on this project—but typically 2 -  hours per day.  So slow going. 

I now have a large quantity of Amerock self-closing (but not soft-closing) hinges.  I have not thrown them out figuring they may be useful for some utility cabinets.  They are nicely made, but lack much of the adjustability of the Blum hinges.

 

[derekcohen]

Packard, I built from solid wood. Frame and panel. Panels were solid wood as well. The job was made easier using a Domino.

The build is here:http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/Kitchen Rebuild.html

Regards from Perth

Derek