When the doors and drawer fronts fall off more than once, or they have water damage, or are somehow falling apart.
You have GOOD cabinets. Mine didn't even last ten years before they first started falling apart. They are thirteen years old.

If you still like them, keep them, I think.

If you are happy with the layout and they are in good shape, there is no reason to change them.

I currently have Woodmode cabinets from 1961. We've had to paint them and replace a couple of hinges over the years, but they are still just fine. I'm changing them out only because I need more storage space. Similarly, my mom has good cherry cupboards from 1981. Nothing wrong with them, and she has no plans to change them. If you still like yours and they work for you, keep them. Good cupboards should last a long, long time. Congratulations!

The principal reason to replace would be irreparable damage. Next would be poor functionality, including need to change layout. Poor function also includes (in my definitions) inaccessible blind corners and/or messy lower cabs instead of drawer banks. I would never replace or even repaint simply because the otherwise sound orig finish is currently "unfashionable."

"Nuff SAID!"

Beyond time!!!

Good cabinets (or even average ones) can last quite a long time. When we remodeled, our cabinets were about 30 years old. They were plywood construction (a rather average grade of plywood as there were very noticeable voids when we took them apart) with veneered plywood faces, doors and drawers (the door and drawer style was slab so veneered plywood is fairly common). The drawer guides were not as good as the Blum ones.

We had replaced a set of drawer glides or two over the years and the veneer on some of the most used drawers had a couple of chips. Other than that, they were as structurally sound and usable as new.

We considered refacing them since we generally liked the overall layout. Three considerations drove the decision to replace instead:

Small layout changes meant that we would have to replace at least some of them - i.e. the wall oven cabinet was for a 24" and we wanted a 30", the refrigerator opening was smaller than most modern refrigerators in both height and width.

We were buying an expensive granite and didn't want to put it on the old cabinets and then decide later that we wanted to change out the cabinets.

We were taking out the upper cabinets over the island to open things up and the new cabinets gave us some opportunities to make up for the loss of that storage space - going slightly longer on one side of the L, frameless instead of framed, putting in useable space instead of dead space in the back side of our island and cabinets to the ceiling on the L instead of a soffit.

We still have the old cabinets in our bar, bathrooms, laundry room and pantry and they are doing fine - 35 years old. I see no reason that they shouldn't last 100 years. We might reface them someday because I'm not crazy about the color.

I was in HD looking at flooring for our upcoming reno (not our home), and a salesperson asked if I needed cabinets. I said no. She asked what about at our "home". I said no, we remodeled 9 years ago. She looked at me agast and said "Your cabinets are 9 years old?".

She would be really shocked if she knew the kitchen we are renovating is getting 20 year old used cabinets. They are solid wood, in great condition, and best of all they were only $500 for the whole kitchen.

Mine are original to the house (1927) although we did just restore and rebuild them. Anyone got cabinets older than that? (sorry don't mean to hijack)?

Our cabinets are now 40 years old and in great shape. I'm only considering changing them out because I hope we can better use the space. If we take them down we'll donate so they can be used again elsewhere.

If they smell so bad you can only store canned good in them, it's time to at least think about painting the insides....

Well...I have broken drawers, a broken cabinet door and the paint is chipping off from the update we gave them a decade ago. The layout also needs to change. We haven't ruled out moving them to the shop... lol

and, I am so pleased celtinNE checked in! I just loved the 'kitchen in revolt, starting reno without you' thread. I can't wait to see your new kitchen!

The responses from so many people who have gotten great life out of cabinets is SO reassuring! This has really helped set my mind at ease.

I had the same response at a kitchen store as barbcollins at HD--saleswoman said our 21 year old cabinets wouldn't last much longer! Of course she is in the business of selling cabinets. Ours look better than some of the models in the store that get a lot of traffic.

If we were to change out the cabinets, we would keep the same layout (works well for us, space is maximized), probably choose a similar cabinet; don't know if I would change from oak to cherry, but I'm happy with what we have. Might be nice to have self-closing drawers, just doesn't seem like enough to justify the huge extra expenditure.

celtinNE, loved the pics!

The stories of "old" cabinets has been so helpful. Keep them coming! Have to stop listening to the cabinet salespeople.

In our remodel 3 years ago, we installed used cherry cabinets from someone else's kitchen, made in 1994. So they are 17 years old, still going strong and we fully expect them to last at least another 10 - 15 years if not more. They're custom cabinets from Heritage, very solidly made, look and function as good as new, and we love them all the more for the incredible deal we got on them at Habitat for Humanity.

We commissioned cabs from a local company in 1976. Although when we ripped them out during kitchen add-on last year they were in dire need of a sanding and new coats of urethane, they also only needed some new drawer runners and a few roll-outs in order to continue to be functional. They will eventually be remounted in basement for a sewing room with built-in sink. Not sure if I'll splurge on new laminate.

Ours were 30-year old solid oak front cabinets which were builder-original to the house. We replaced them as we wanted more drawers as opposed to the standard lower cabinets with fixed half shelves, there were problems with the slider system, and in the end we decided on a significantly different kitchen layout. We also donated the old cabinets, to a friend who was refurbishing a country studio.

That is a very personal decision. For me it would be when I cannot stand the look of them anymore and I could afford to replace them. Just because they still work doesn't mean they should still be in your house. Mine are 10 years old, I cannot stand the raised breakfast bar, the granite or the dark backsplash. Problem is if I spent $12,000 on Cambria countertops (waterfall), new under mount sink, new lighting, and new backsplash we are close to $20,000. That's a lot of money just to spruce up a kitchen I don't love in the first place. I am having a hard time deciding.

This would be time to replace. As I am.

I want to report that my Quakermade used cabinets did have two failures of the hinges in the wood from years of use in my now 33 year-old cabinets. My carpenter fixed them for me.