Why You Shouldn't Reface Your Kitchen Cabinets

Every month, at least one homeowner walks into our Saint Charles showroom carrying a quote from a refacing company. Glossy pictures, "save thousands vs. replacement," finance offer plastered across the top. They ask us whether they should take the deal.

Our honest answer, after delivering 400+ kitchens across Saint Louis: almost never. Cabinet refacing looks cheap on paper. By the time you add up what you actually get, what you are stuck with, and what it costs when it fails, replacement is the smarter move 9 out of 10 times.

Here is the real math.

What refacing actually is

Refacing is when a company glues new door and drawer fronts on your existing cabinet boxes and covers the exposed sides with matching veneer sheets. The guts of your kitchen (the boxes, the shelves, the drawer slides, the layout) stay exactly the same.

They sell it as "like new cabinets for half the price." What you actually get is your old cabinets wearing a Halloween costume.

What stays the same after refacing

Before you sign anything, understand what a refacing job does not touch:

• Your cabinet box. The particle board, MDF, or old plywood carcass stays. If it was sagging before, it sags after. If the shelves were pinned at the original height, that is where they stay.
• Your drawer slides. If they squeal or fall off the track, they still do.
• Your drawer boxes. Stapled plywood sides with a stapled bottom panel? Same.
• The layout. Bad dead corner? Wasted 6 inches next to the range? Your refacer cannot fix it.
• The height. Cabinets only go 42 inches tall on an 8-foot wall? That is what you keep.

You paid for doors. The kitchen underneath them is still the old kitchen.

The real cost comparison

We priced a 12x14 Chesterfield kitchen three ways. Same layout, same finish direction, same homeowner.

Option	Cost	What you get
Reface (national chain quote)	$17,500	New doors and veneer, original boxes
Reface (local painter + new doors)	$9,800	New doors, painted old boxes
Replace with STL Cabinetry	$12,500	All new solid wood cabinets, plywood box, soft close
Replace with big-box builder grade	$8,200	New cabinets but particle board box, MDF doors

The refacing chain quote is more expensive than all-new cabinets from us. That is not a typo. The "save thousands" pitch assumes you are comparing their $17,500 to a $22,000 custom cabinet shop, not a dealer that sells real solid wood cabinets at a fair price.

Why refacing fails faster than you think

A few things we see inside refaced kitchens 5 to 8 years after the job:

1. Veneer peeling at high-wear corners. The veneer that covers the exposed box sides is a thin paper-and-glue sheet. Steam from a dishwasher or heat from a range loosens it. By year 5 the corners are curling.
2. Painted bases chipping. If the refacer painted the box, dish towels, pot handles, and toe kicks chip the paint within 2-3 years.
3. Original drawer slides failing. They were 20 years old when you refaced. Now they are 25. They were never replaced.
4. Cabinet boxes sagging. Old particle board under the weight of heavy dishes keeps sagging. New doors do nothing to stop it.
5. The color fading faster than expected. Refacing paints are a different formula than factory-applied finishes. UV exposure in a bright kitchen can fade a painted reface job noticeably in 4-6 years.

By year 8 you are looking at another kitchen project. On new cabinets from us, year 8 is when the finish still looks showroom.

The layout problem nobody talks about

Walk into a 1985 kitchen and you will see:

• A tiny corner cabinet with a broken lazy Susan
• A dead 6-inch filler next to the range because the old refrigerator was narrower
• A sink base with no drawers because 1985 did not think you needed them
• A spice cabinet 7 feet off the ground nobody can reach

Refacing keeps all of that. New cabinets let you redesign. For the same budget, you get:

• A proper corner pullout or lazy Susan that actually works
• Drawer bases instead of door bases under your counters (way more useful)
• Full-height cabinets that use all 96 inches of wall
• A trash pullout where the dead filler used to be
• Soft-close drawers stocked with organizers that fit 2026 plates

That is not a style upgrade. That is a functional kitchen upgrade you physically cannot get by painting doors.

When refacing might make sense

We are not going to tell you it never works. Here are the rare cases where refacing is legitimately the right call:

• You are selling in under 12 months. Spend the minimum, flip the house, move on.
• Your boxes are actual solid wood or high-grade plywood and still tight. Pre-1970 custom cabinets sometimes qualify. Post-1980 builder cabinets almost never do.
• The layout already works perfectly. Rare. Check the dead corner and the drawer count before you believe this.
• Your budget is genuinely under $9,000 and replacement is off the table. In that case, a local painter with new door fronts beats a chain reface by $8,000.

For everyone else, replacement wins on cost, on function, and on lifespan.

What we sell

Every kitchen that leaves our Saint Charles shop is:

• Solid wood doors and drawer fronts, not MDF or veneer
• Plywood box, not particle board
• Dovetail solid wood drawer boxes, not stapled plywood
• Soft-close hinges and undermount soft-close drawer slides standard
• Preassembled in our Saint Louis shop, not flat-packed
• Hand delivered by our team, not dumped on a freight truck

Priced at $450-$850 per linear foot depending on size and accessories. The same quality from a custom shop runs $1,500-$2,500 per linear foot. The same quality from Home Depot does not exist.

A Chesterfield kitchen with new STL cabinets, new quartz counters at our dealer cost, and new LVP flooring at our dealer cost typically lands between $14,000 and $28,000 installed. Cheaper than almost any reface quote you will get for the same space.

Ready to price replacement

Start your free quote →. Takes 10 minutes. Full price back in 24 hours. No sales calls, no showroom visits required.

If you want to bring in your current kitchen's measurements for a real side-by-side, we are at 1618 Country Club Plaza Drive in Saint Charles. Drop in, no appointment needed.

Or call us at (314) 441-5620 and we will talk it through.

Frequently asked

Q: My refacing quote is $8,000. New cabinets are $12,000. Why would I pay more? You are not paying more. You are paying $4,000 more up front for a kitchen that will last 20+ years instead of 5-8. Spread over lifespan, new cabinets are cheaper per year.

Q: What if I just paint my cabinets myself? Painting is fine if your boxes and doors are solid wood and tight. If they are MDF or particle board, paint will not save them. The best-case result is a 3-year facelift before you are back where you started.

Q: Can you just replace the doors and keep my boxes? Technically yes. We will sell you door fronts only if you insist. But we will also tell you that if your boxes are more than 15 years old, you are better off replacing the whole thing. Labor to mix and match doors to old boxes takes more time than installing new cabinets.

Q: How long does a full cabinet replacement take? From order to delivery: 2-4 weeks. Install for a typical Saint Louis kitchen: 7-14 business days. You are without a functional kitchen for 2-3 weeks, same as a reface.

Q: Do you install, or do I need a contractor? We sell cabinets. Install is separate. We can recommend trusted Saint Louis contractors we have worked with for years. Many of them buy their cabinets from us at our dealer price and pass that through to you.