$25,000 is a considerable amount for most people, especially for just refacing...the living in a trailer suggestion was quite rude.

20k and you still have your old cabinets... I don't see any justifying value when you only face glue laminate and replace doors and drawer fronts.

Interesting comments. We were pitched reconditioning at $5,500 and keeping existing counters; $57,500 complete cabinet take out and reinstall with new; and $16,500 from Home Depot for refacing and quartz counters with new sink and faucets. HD warranties their work for as long as we are in the house. We actually paid just over $15,000 because the actual costs were less than the bid and HD credited us the difference. Waited about 2 months before the work took place. The guys that did the work completed the job in 4 days.

There is NO WAY I could have provided the skills or the equipment to compare with the work the guys did from HD. Incidentally, they worked under HD license and weren't outside contractors, all they do is HD refacing. The countertop guys were the same.

We are very happy with our refacing. I normally don't comment on these sites but the other comments were misleading and biased. Home Depot did our kitchen and if we have any problems all we have to do is call. If I did it myself I couldn't call anyone. If we had a local company there is no guarantee they'll be in business when we move. We got what we paid for and we are quite pleased and impressed with Home Depot.

Sometimes old cabinet boxes are solid wood and you are trading them out for particle board - if the layout is good and the result is updated, refacing can be a good choice.

After the high price of $14,000 from Home Depot for a 10X10 kitchen without an island refacing and limited choices we cancelled the order the next day to their dismay and decided to shop around. We found a local professional cabinet refacer with excellent reviews and he was $4,000 cheaper. Then my contractor suggested we go to a local kitchen place since he said the cabinet boxes were not in the best shape and we found the most beautiful cherry wood kitchen with full face cabinets and cabinets to ceiling. Cabinet refacing has become very popular as a low cost solution but it isn't so low cost there's a huge mark up in the installation and I was definitely convinced by all the sales pitches at Home Depot and others that's the way to go but it really is not and if I was a young man in need of a trade I would definitely go into cabinet refacing because it has to be highly profitable.

Cabinet refacing was never at low cost even when they just started doing that in the late 80s I believe. I remember my buddy git his first home it was a small bi-level with a typical small kitchen. He called a cabinet refacing company and after all the discounts it came out to be $3,400. I called around and the new oak cabinets were priced at $1,200 including Formica countertops and at that time finish carpenters were installing kitchens for $300-500.

Today is the same thing, they are way overpriced and you get the face of cabinets laminated and you still end up with an old kitchen and there is a good chance it will start to get delaminated down the road... I see this all the time.

I have the same dilemma, have a 34 feet kitchen, HD quoted 14k + sink and slab removal for reface and countertops, online research saya between 5 to 7 k ?? completely new to this so dont want to be ripped off

I was just quoted $12,500 for 31 linear feet. Seems way too much!!

Refacing is a waste of money, every professional will tell you that. Every house I been to where the kitchen was refaced had the same issue the laminate was peeling.

Jay just do the math, $14,000/34' you paying over $400 per foot and you left with your old cabinets. It makes no sense, not to mention the laminate will start peeling the day your warranty is up, that's usually always the case.

Good luck

Gut it. Or keep it as is. Refacing is a waste of money. It’s like putting all new makeup on top of someone who hasn’t showered, and still had last night’s makeup on underneath. It doesn’t address the more important functional issues.

Thanks all!! I really appreciate the advice (a single comment has gone missing for some reason ) so we decided to keep the old hardwood cabinets, change the hardware and sand them and stain them for a darker natural look. No sticking no peeling involved and I still get a decent kitchen. I went with a local “cabinet expert” for a third of the cost too. Never going to HD again!

Get a quote on new cabinets. Refacing prices are about 80% of what new boxes would cost. Remember, HD and Lowe's use installation/labor as a profit center. Independent cabinet companies sell installation in order to sell cabinets so installation is priced much lower. And finding a good installation program at any big box stores is hit or miss. Maybe they subcontract with a good installer, maybe they don't.

If you’re getting quoted 1/3 of the cost, you’re not dealing with someone who knows what they are doing. “Refinishing” Cabinets is WAY more expensive than even refacing. You have to sand all the way to bare wood and start over. Someone who isn’t quoting thst level, isn’t doing it properly.

It’s way more work than refacing. If you are getting a too good to be true cheaper price for more work, then it is too good to be true. TANSTAAFL There’s a scam there somewhere. You don’t get more work for less money anywhere.

Replacing will be cheaper.

Refacing (not repainting) with lacquered doors and quartz countertop is usually cost around 70-80% of what a new kitchen would cost. So if refacing costs $15.000 a new kitchen would cost around $18k-19k.

Regarding solid wood cabinets, well, actually they are not solid wood but plywood which is completely different. And that plywood in RTA cabinets is low-density plywood. It is not as strong as regular melamine. That is why most Italian and German kitchen cabinets are made of particleboard (melamine).

They may have solid wood frame though.

After Cabinet refacing

Cabinet refacing includes all new doors and drawers and overs the cabinet boxes. There should be a cost savings, but if you have perfectly good cabinet boxes, then why replace them? Also, cabinet refacing is a skill; the installer is laminating the existing cabinet box in the new color and material (wood or laminate). There are cheap ways to do this and if you are using a reputable company--a professional way to do this.

There should be a cost savings over replacement cabinets, but if you have perfectly good cabinet boxes, then why replace them? You do get what you pay for. Quality materials, quality installation and all new doors & drawers. Plus a warranty on the work. See video:

https://www.kitchenmagic.com/cabinet-refacing

Yes, installation is very important, for refacing in particular, coz it is not an easy job (when done properly). If a client pay attention to detail - she or he won`t be satisfied by cheap installers.

https://www.devixkitchens.ca/kitchen-remodeling-projects-toronto

old thread but wanted to update, i hired a local guy, came with recommendations, took a ridiculously long time and about $4500 but final result was sanded and painted white cabinets with new hardware and soft close drawers, they changed the look completely!! pretty happy with the transformation as this is more of a transitional property.

hre s the new vs old. thoughts?

I am very displeased with my remodel. The work and material are shoddy, and not holding up well. The moldings on the bottom cabinets are splitting. and the laminate is separating. The design was apparently poor, creating a cabinet door so long that the hinges split the wood right from the get-go, and the cabinet continues to sag. They have come out multiple times to fix this, but the door begins to sag a few days after the fixit visit. On the last visit, which was on the tail end of the warranty, a cabinet door was not ordered, and the work could not be done. As I am now out of warranty, they want to charge me a considerable sum for those repairs. It is my contention that: a) The warranty was active when these repairs were ordered, and B) These issues have not been right since the very beginning, and I think Home Depot should stand by their work, and right this wrong. If everything had been done correctly in the first place, there would not have been a need for the multiple visits that were required. In addition, one of the countertops was placed incorrectly, and there is a gap between it and the cabinet. I am told that was my fault because I signed off on it initially. Sadly, I did not notice it the time, so I am just out of luck on that one. However, I feel that the cabinet door was poorly designed, and it cannot bear its own weight. This should have been addressed and squared away early on. I strongly suggest that anyone interested in a remodel go elsewhere. I selected Home Depot for this work, even though it was priced much higher than other companies. In the past, I have purchased all my home needs from them, including, but not limited to kitchen appliances, gift certificates, paint, plants, and garden supplies. As it happens, I am now in the market for a bathroom remodel, but it will not be done by this company. I will never go to Home Depot again, not even for so much as a light bulb. I can't stress enough: Shoddy work and exorbitant prices. Beware!

Interesting thread. We had our kitchen cabinets refaced by Home Depot about 2 years ago. It was a bloody nightmare! After the first project, the facing delaminated in probably 15-20 places, plus we had delamination on a couple of the new doors. On top of that, the contractor was in a hurry and it showed. He left contact cement all over our driveway. We complained and they redid the job, but it was a frigging horror show. It took nearly a year. They came out to our home three times to redo the job, but they never had enough material or even understood what they needed to do. Be wise. Stay away!

January 18, 2018, The Home Depot started our cabinet refacing. The job was supposed to take 5 days. They have installed and reinstalled scratched materials, warped materials, materials that were the wrong color and cabinet doors that were different from the ones we ordered. They have scheduled and not shown up. They have shown up without scheduling. I have been screamed at lied to by the Regional Manager. The list of complaints goes on and on. The last guy showed up to finish things up a month or so ago and he showed up with 2 of the 4 items required and one of the doors was scratched. Today I received a letter via FedEx- The Home Depot will not be completing the project because the warranty expired January 18, 2019. How can a warranty expire when they never finished the original installation? Just like previous comments, they have come out to fix the error over and over again and have managed to forget the same two panels every time. DO NOT USE THE HOME DEPOT.

There is nothing about a 1970s kitchen that would warrant refacing. They used doors instead of drawers and so much has changed such as how drawers close. Then you have all the bulkheads that were so common along with fluorescent lighting. I’d get a bid for replacement from Ikea.

I had Home Depot reface my cabinets and am on my 33rd repair. THEY PEEL! You get what you pay for! Get wood! Never purchase veneers!

It is probably thermofoil (PVC) - not veneers.

I paid HD for cabinet refacing in 2011. Glue showing in multiple locations. Peeling off all over the place. Newest problem is when opening the upper cabinet door falls off hinge at top and have scratched it trying to catch it before it bends the hinges beyond repair. This is a very expensive nightmare. I will be purchasing all new cabinets without the veneers to correct the issue. I was told these would last me for the lifetime of me owning but the problems started within 2 years. Don't do refacing. Save yourself from having to redo.

I am a bit leary of having my kitchen refacing done by home depot. i am getting an estimate tomorrow. its misleading because i was told by a regional manager the ONLY thing they dont contract out is the kitchen cabinet refacing. Ive read terrible reviews about the contractors who they get to do their other things (Crew 2). Ill see what the estimate is tomorrownbut have a feeling ill be going with a different company.

I only have one word to say .... DON'T. Home Depot refaced our cabinets a couple of years ago and it was a total disaster. They had to come back again and again because they never could do the job right. Finally, after about 3 visits over a period of about 8 months, they got it done. BUT now all the cabinet doors are delaminating around the inside edges.

Chiming here to warn anyone off of Home Depot cabinet refacing. DON'T DO IT. We did it because we were putting our house on the market. We had some old contractor grade thermofoil cabinet doors in our kitchen and bathrooms. The frames were all in good shape but the doors looked terrible. I started off with a local cabinet guy who flaked out on me. I didn't want to waste a bunch of time with someone who wasn't reliable, so I went with Home Depot. I was told by both the sales guy and the measurer, 8-10 weeks, which was toward the end of April 2021.

They scheduled install, then rescheduled b/c the installer was running two weeks behind (by this point this was all we were waiting on to list our house). The installer showed up as scheduled and discovered that the doors/drawers for the bathrooms had *never been ordered*. The kitchen materials had apparently been sitting in the warehouse since the first week of April. No one checked to make sure the order was complete. In the process of installing the kitchen, the installer made a huge, huge mess. His crew did things like drop screws from the old cabinets down in the garbage disposal (which we discovered when we ran the disposal). They left mountains of shavings all over the rest of the kitchen. They scratched the floors. He was a nice guy and his work was pretty good but he created a bunch of work for us. During install, he also discovered that a pair of kitchen cabinet doors was mis-measured. He had to cut one door to make it fit, and he took measurements for a replacement pair of doors.

I have to say that if the installer had not given me the numbers of some higher ups to contact about our bathroom materials, I would probably still be stuck in limbo. I started calling and emailing a bunch of executive VPs and regional managers. I was routed to "Complaint Resolution" who contacted me once, then never responded again. I was able to talk to a regional Home Services manager who, to his credit, arranged for a cabinet maker to make a temporary set of doors and drawers for our bathroom so we could list our house. I told him we could NOT wait another eight weeks or whatever to list our house.

After installation of the temporary cabinet doors/drawers (which were the wrong color, but whatever) we were able to list our house and it went under contract quickly. We did finally get the correct bathroom materials installed and they look pretty good. We are still waiting on the pair of kitchen cabinet doors to replace the ones that were mis-measured. We close in two weeks. Will they be installed in time? Who knows.

I have read multiple other reviews of HD refacing and as stressful and time consuming as our experience was, at least our workmanship appears decent. The cabinets look nice. They all work. They were a definite visual improvement over what we had. Lots of other folks appear to be stuck with a terrible result. But I will never, ever use any Home Depot service ever again. I'm not sure I even want to shop there again.

Our neighbors just had one of their rental units updated by Home Depot. 16 months to do an empty townhouse!! And they said "so many mistakes!" Stay far, far away!!

worst thing we ever did. Stay away from home depot refacing. Installers were fine, nice guys. Worked with what they had. Agreed the laminate peeled away within a couple of months. Door edges are NOT laminated and are left a mess and you need to hire a painter to fix them up. Doors seem to be fine but laminate has a sticky edge that gathers dirt and entire kitchen looks dirty all the time. HOME DEPOT never returns calls, does not provide any "after service". Don't do it - we will eventually have to replace the entire kitchen and do double work.

We signed with HD for cabinet refacing last month. I so wish I had read this first. We were told that we’ll have a life-time of the house warranty. Since I’m reading about warranties ending, I’m confused.

We already are dealing with the issue of them not returning calls. We originally went for pull-out drawers in our pantry until I found out we would lose 5” w of each current shelf. They only gave us a total cost on what we chose to do, no itemization. Were originally told something around $280 for each drawer in the pantry, we need 7. When I called to eliminate the drawers as I want something wider, they only credited us $100 per drawer. have called several times to find out the cost of the drawers and no one will return my calls. I’m so scared now to go ahead with this. We haven’t paid anything as we went with the 1 year 0% interest but plan to pay it off before 1 year is up. Is there any way we can get out of the contract?

@Judy MH, since you "haven't paid anything", just tell them you changed your mind. Even better, put it in writing, and write out the specific reasons you've listed above as bullet points. Send it by certified mail and keep copies and mail receipts as proof.

Any sales contract has a "right of rescission", which is a minimum of 3 business days.

Mary:

"We signed with HD for cabinet refacing last month."

@Joseph Corlett, LLC

"We haven’t paid anything"

So, what do they have to lose if they walk away? Bad credit? Better a hit on your credit, than wasting the money.

Home Depot's "custom" services" are a major ripoff.

Honestly, its the worst thing we ever did. Our old kitchen was a layout we loved but was older, dark wood - the cabinets were oak and solid as rocks. Refacing seemed like a great idea. Our older kitchen is now DESTROYED and we are unable to get any satisfaction from home depot at all. We are trying to get their insurance to file a claim but can't even seem to get that. Had a realtor in the house for an appraisal and was told we would have to either replace the kitchen or offer a rebate on the selling price for new cabinets. Basically home depot came in and destroyed our kitchen .DON"T DO IT - WALK AWAY.

My husband says we signed the contract so it’s either let them do the work and pay the $25K or pay for it and get nothing in return. We have solid custom oak cabinets from 1991. We don’t know what else to do.

Interesting reading about projects that obviously are not refacing projects. Home Depot doesn't even refer to them as refacing. It sounds like either DIY or tear-out projects gone bad. I did research here to see how "bad" Home Depot is. Over the last 10 years they have 14 complaints to the contractors board, all settled, and one was with a contactor. I was told that time frame represents about 8,000 installations from that office. 14 complaints out of 8,000 installs. But then I guess haters gonna hate. And 'gooners' are gonna outthink the professionals.

Have any of you filed with the BBB? Was K&P Remodeling the contractor for HD? We were told the warranty was good for the life of the home. Now I realize the contract says it’s only for 1 year!!!

@John Mills,

Your "no" profile and comments are somewhat suspicious. Only 54 comments total, and all of them seem to be defending Home Depot. Are you a plant?

I've seen other companies that put "plants" on here to defend their products as well. Whenever they are confronted directly, they disappear.

@Judy MH, I don't think BBB is really any help. You might want to see if an attorney would draft a letter to Home Depot on your behalf. I think the part about:

"...Were originally told something around $280 for each drawer in the pantry, we need 7. When I called to eliminate the drawers as I want something wider, they only credited us $100 per drawer. have called several times to find out the cost of the drawers and no one will return my calls.

would already be a sort of "breach of contract".

It might cost $300 to $500, but way better than $25K!

We did the HD cabinet refacing and my advice: DO NOT !

Long story short, even the majority of work is done quite nicely, many issues are still not resolved 6 months after the initial installation, which itself took 4 months to prepare.

We are still waiting to fixes on our edges with moldings, some panels missing, foot kick is missing, the slide out trash bin is bent and damaged.

If you decide to give them a chance, do not pay everything upfront ! Make a deposit and sign the deal only after the job is fully completed. They will push you to pay everything upfront promising to "finish later". They will never do and not much leverage you have.

This thread has been going on for awhile - just wanted to correct a few things for anyone reading this now:

@Mary Elizabeth -

First, I think its very dangerous to provide legal advice on a forum like this. First, providing legal advice without a law license = unauthorized practice of law. I am assuming that you are not an attorney based upon certain statements that you’ve made.

Second, I don’t believe that @Judy MH listed the jurisdication she lives in = impossible to give accurate legal advice. Plus, I wouldn’t be surprised if HD has a ”governing law” provision in that specifically provides which state’s laws apply in the event of legal action related to the contract.

Third, whether or not @Judy MH already paid money has nothing to do with whether she can unilaterally terminate a contract. There are very limited rights of recission related to executed contracts. Fraud would be one. However, it would be higly unlikely that any oral statements/promises not included in the contract - such as the individual cost for each roll out drawer in a pantry - would provide Judy with any such right. Depending upon the wording of the contract + whether HD performs its obligations under the contract = whether Judy will have a breach of contract claim against HD.

Based upon your comment, I could enter into a contract with @Joseph Corlett, LLC to install a new sink, and just because I wasn’t required to give him a down payment, I could decide to end the contract if I wanted to because I’ve decided that I’m unhappy about whatever (might be that I thought he was giving me a lifetime warranty on my new sink, even though our contract expressly provided a five year warranty related to his work). At this point, Joseph probably has turned down several other jobs because he scheduled my job for a specific day. Plus, he’s spent money purchasing the materials to complete the work I contracted for with him.

VERY IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION:

Fourth, regardless of which state’s law governs the contract with HD, there is a widespread misunderstanding about when a “three day right of recission” exists. I’d like to clarify this - there is no blanket right to cancel any contracts as long as such cancellation is done within three days. I have seen this statement repeated over and over - as if it applies to every contract.

This appears to be a commonly misunderstood legal principle - it only applies to certain situations.

There are a few federal laws that allow a right to cancel under specific circumstances - (i) certain mortgage agreements (e.g., home equity loan/home improvement loan/loan that uses your house as security other than the original mortgage), (ii) door - to - door sale contracts exceeding $25 if product or service is for personal, family, or household, (iii) sales contracts over $25 when sold to a customer at a location besides primary business, such as at a tradeshow (there are exceptions including car auctions, art fairs, and when purchasingi surance and securities, and (iv) delayed internet, telephone, or mail orders (tied to whether seller ships item when stated, or if not stated within thirty days).

There are some state consumer protection laws that will allow a right of cancellation or refund of goods within three days after execution of a contract for such contracts as:

1. Health and fitness club memberships

2. Timeshare property purchases

3. Weight loss programs

4. Purchase of hearing aids

5. Dance or gymnastic lessons

6. Dating services

7. Life Insurance

These types of protection laws are commonly known as a ”cooling off” period, and may or may not apply to a specific contract depending upon whether such ”cooling off” law is a federal law (applying to everyone in the U.S.) or is a state law of a particular jurisdiction. In order to know if you have a three day right to cancel a contract (in addition to the federal listed above), you would need to fully understand the co sumer protection laws of your applicable state.

All of the above is being provided for informational purposes only. I just wanted to clarify a commonly misunderstood concept.

@Judy MH - none of the above is meant to judge whether HD has not been honest with you OR whether HD has breached your contract. I am sorry to hear that the salesperson from HD misrepresented the warranty period. HD cannot make fraudulent statements in order to induce you into entering a contract. I am only posting this comment because over the past couple years (I just joined Houzz back in 2020), I have read MANY comments where people (well intentioned I’m sure) provide legal advice - and this really needs to stop. If an OP (or someone else who is reading comments on here) follows faulty legal advice, it could have an extremely disasterous result/effect. I hope things worked out for you with respect to your contract with HD. If not, please contact an attorney in your jurisdiction in order to find out what recourse you have.

Sorry that I haven’t come back to update this. After several conversations, the contracting company agreed to let us out of the contract for $500 - a very cheap price in our estimation. They did state that there are different contracting companies for HD depending on the location. Also, they verified that they (this contractor) provide a lifetime of the home warranty. I am thankful that it worked out the way it did.

I still need my kitchen updated but will find another way and a local contractor for the work. Thanks for the info provided here, especially the reviews of the work.

@Rural Woman, are you also "Judy MH" - either way, so glad they "let you out of the contract"!

I do not like someone being taken advantage of or being "purposely mislead"!

@dani_m08,

My last comment was, "You might want to see if an attorney would draft a letter to Home Depot on your behalf."

How in the world does that constitute "providing legal advice without a law license = unauthorized practice of law."

(I assume you ARE an attorney.)

I hate when someone is being taken advantage of or being "purposely mislead"!

ETA: Comment edited from original.

@Mary Elizabeth -

First, I truly was not trying to be a jerk when I tagged you on my comment - I just wanted to explain the danger of making statements about legal matters - like this one:

This is what I was referring to re: giving legal advice. You made an absolute statement about ANY sales contract having an automatic rt of recission - which simply is not true. Someone might read that - and then enter into a renovation contract (or other type of contract) prior to having the contract reviewed by an attorney because he/she now believes that it can simply be recinded within three business days.

I actually wasn’t going to tag you in my post because I was worried about upsetting you. MANY people think this re: three days to cancel contract. I decided to add your user name only because the post was a couple months old - and I thought it was important for you to know that wasn’t correct. I sincerely apologize if it sounded like I was attacking you - it definitely wasn’t my intent.

I just had read a few posts on Friday (prior to seeing yours) where people provided incorrect ”legal advice”- one such post was on another forum - and the OP was about to follow the advice = serious negative legal consequences - but luckily another attorney read the thread, and provided accurate legal advice. I felt that your above post needed to be corrected in order to prevent potential negaive legal consequences for other readers.

Your assumption that I am an attorney is correct.

HOWEVER - you are extremely wrong about the assumption you’ve made re my experience and/or number clients (or lack thereof). The fact that I spent a tiny bit of time (maybe 5 mins while waiting for my dr appt) typing out my comment has no correlation.

I‘ve been a partner in a national law firm (800+ attorneys) - and have been practicing for over 25 years. I most certainly was not offering to provide legal advice to you! You are also very fortunate to two experienced attorneys in your family who can provide free legal advice - most people here on Houzz aren’t as fortunate. That’s why I try to help at times because engaging an attorney is generally fairly expensive!

I have provided other help to people on Houzz in the form of legal information/clarification many other times - when the subject matter had zero consquence to myself (as have several other Houzz users who are also attorneys).

Most (95% or so) of professionals/non-professionals on Houzz who post comments giving advice/thoughts/criticisms do so on matters where there is little to no consequence to them. Professionals on Houzz are not contributing in order to build their businessses - very few client engagements result from the comments posted on Houzz.

I also have received help from others on Houzz - and providing legal information is what I have to contribute back for the assistance I’ve been given.

Many CKD, interior design professionals/builders/contactors/etc. donate time on Houzz providng advice + addressing issues on Houzz. Do you also assume that all of those other professonals either lack experience and or have very few clients?

@dani_m08,

Your thoughtful clarification is much appreciated.

My comments come from years of experience whereby the "contract" that was signed turns out to be "I will also try to take advantage of you in any way possible".

Case in point - we had 3 bids for new a concrete garage foundation and driveway - signed with one who's work we had viewed & liked. At the end of day, he casually says, "Oh I need X amt more $$ because i forgot to include the rebar in the bid."

You say what? What else did you forget to include in the bid?

And after he finished the job, we find out, he told the local lumber yard he had permission to charge on our account (small town >1K pop). He ran up over a $1K bill. (No, we didn't pay it!)

People know when things start to sound "funny", and the poor lady in this discussion had the right gut feeling. Sometimes, all it takes is a little backbone, and some form of pushback, even after the contract has been signed. Too many stories on Houzz of people not speaking up until after they've paid in full.

(We've done a full remodel on 3 different homes, so I could write a dozen or more of these experiences. We've also had some great contractors that were worth their weight in gold!)

If all illegal legal advice given on the internet was prosecuted, the court system would be overwhelmed immediately. Your chances of even getting a nasty note for same are miniscule. Most practicing-without-a-law prosecutions are handed out to paralegals who overstep. I'll bet they get a good solid finger-wag.

what are the direct supplier you recommend for doors