"Refacing doesn't save enough money to be worth it." Sometimes that is right. Refacing puts new doors and drawer fronts on the cabinet boxes you already have. It pays off when the boxes are solid, the layout works, and the granite is staying. It does not when the boxes are swollen particle board or you want to move the sink. You find out by looking. Cori from Cabinet Transformer, a family-owned Dallas crew, comes out for free, opens the doors and checks what the boxes are made of. Then she tells you whether refacing, paint or new cabinets fits, and you get the quote before she leaves. Ring us at (469) 281-7313 to set it up.
The boxes are solid and you like the door shape. You just hate the color. This costs the least and keeps everything you have.
Most orange oak kitchens end up here.
The boxes are solid and the layout works, but the doors are dated, damaged, or a shape you cannot live with. New doors and drawer fronts, same boxes, same granite.
Cathedral arches to flat shaker, for example.
The boxes are swollen, water-damaged or falling apart, or you want to move the sink, the range or a wall. Refacing just reproduces a layout you do not want.
Cabinet Transformer will tell you if you are here.
The refacing company says reface. The cabinet store says replace. The painter says paint. Nobody will tell you which one fits these cabinets.
Cabinet Transformer does painting, refinishing, refacing and custom work, so the answer is not tied to the one thing they sell. Cori tells you what the boxes can take.A salesman spent three hours at your kitchen table, the number felt insanely high, and the discount expired when he walked out the door.
Cori gives you the number at the table and leaves it with you. Nobody's discount expires at nine o'clock.New doors went up, and from across the room you can see the old face frames are a different color.
Ask at the consultation how the frames will be finished. The same crew that finishes the doors paints and refinishes frames every week.
It happens, usually when the boxes were never worth keeping. Refacing makes sense when you keep the boxes, the layout and the countertops, because those are the expensive parts of a new kitchen. So the first thing Cori does is open the doors: is it plywood or particle board, is the sink base swollen, do the drawers still run? If paint or new cabinets would serve you better, she says so at the table, even though it means a smaller job.
The in-home refacing pitch has earned its reputation. Three hours at the table, a price that feels made up, then a discount that expires tonight. Cabinet Transformer is a family business and works differently. Cori measures, you hold real door and color samples against your own cabinets, and she hands you a quote. Then she goes home.
Color mismatch is the refacing complaint that shows up most after the job is done. The fix is finishing the frames and the doors to the same color with the same prep and the same topcoat, and checking the sample against your kitchen light, not the showroom's. Ask to see the sample on your own cabinet before you sign off.
There is no price on this page, on purpose. A range online is how the "quote was one number, the bill was another" story starts. What we can give you is what drives a refacing quote up or down, so you can read any quote you get:
| How many doors and drawer fronts | The biggest driver. A galley kitchen and a kitchen with an island and a pantry wall are different jobs. |
|---|---|
| Door style and material | Flat shaker, raised panel, glass fronts. Each changes the cost of the doors themselves. |
| Frames and exposed sides | Whether the face frames and end panels are painted, refinished or covered, so they match the new doors. |
| Hardware and upgrades | New pulls and hinges, soft-close, shelves converted to drawers. Easy to assume included; ask. |
| Repairs | A swollen sink base or a broken drawer box gets fixed or replaced before the new fronts go on. |
Ask for a line-item quote so you can see what is in and what is extra, and compare bids by scope, not total. The consultation is free, and the quote comes the same day.
The kitchens that reface best in Dallas are the 1980s to 2000s builder kitchens in Plano, Richardson, Carrollton and Far North Dallas: framed cabinets, solid boxes, dark speckled granite you do not want to rip out, and doors that scream 2003. Keep the boxes and the granite, change the doors, and the kitchen looks like a different decade.
The ones that do not: the sink base in a house that had a slow leak for years, or a 1960s Lake Highlands kitchen with a soffit, a short run of uppers and a layout you already hate. Those are replacement conversations, and it is better to have that one before anybody orders doors.
Say what the kitchen looks like and what bothers you about it. (469) 281-7313, or the form on this site.
Free in-home consultation. She opens the doors, checks the boxes, measures, and shows you real color and door samples.
Nobody asks you to sign that day. If paint would do the job, or the boxes are too far gone for either, she tells you.
Doors and hardware come off, everything is degreased, sanded, primed and topcoated, then reassembled and inspected.
Peeling usually means thin veneer or thermofoil over old doors, or a finish that was not sealed properly. Ask what the new doors are made of and how their finish is applied. A door that is painted or finished like furniture does not lift at the edges the way a stuck-on skin does.
Refacing is often chosen precisely so the granite or quartz can stay. The doors come off and go back on; the tops are not touched. If you want new countertops too, say so at the consultation: Cabinet Transformer does not install countertops, so that becomes a separate job you schedule with a fabricator, and the order of the two jobs matters.
True. Refacing changes what you see, not the boxes, drawer slides or shelves. If the drawers stick or the shelves sag, those get fixed or upgraded as part of the job, and some shelves can become drawers. Ask for it on the quote.
Call (469) 281-7313 or send the form. Cabinet Transformer is the only company your details go to, and they call you to set the visit.
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When the boxes are solid, the layout works and the countertops stay, yes: you skip demolition and keep the expensive parts. When the boxes are damaged or you want a different layout, new cabinets are the better spend. If you only dislike the color, painting costs less.
Often yes, if the particle board has not swollen. Painted or refinished veneered sides hold up fine when they are cleaned, sanded and primed properly. Swollen edges, usually at the sink base, need to be repaired or replaced first. Cori checks this at the consultation.
Good, when the frames and the doors get the same prep and the same topcoat in the same color. Ask to see the sample on one of your own frames in your own kitchen light before the job starts.
Solid boxes and doors you like: refinish or paint. Solid boxes and doors you do not like: reface. Damaged boxes or a layout you hate: replace.
It depends on how many doors and drawer fronts, the door style, whether the frames are included, and what upgrades you add. That is why the only fair comparison is a line-item quote. Cabinet Transformer gives one on the spot at the free consultation.
Cori checks the boxes and tells you. If the answer is paint, or new cabinets, you hear that too. The visit costs nothing.