Cabinet Refinishing Project

17 years ago

Crossposted from the Woodworking forum where there's not as much action:

We're planning to do a kitchen remodel, with only a minor reconfiguration of our cabinets, but we want to have the current cabinet fronts refinished. They were custom made (for us) 19 years ago, and are red oak with a walnut strip on some of the drawers (top 2) and all of the door fronts. They were finished with an oil-based stain that was mostly clear, with a little bit of color added.

Here's a picture of the current cabinets. The wood countertop edge will be gone in the remodel.

I've done some woodworking (I've even made matching cabinet doors), but I'm not up to refinihsing these myself. We've gotten some wildly varying bids on the job, and wanted to see if anyone here had thoughts on it.

All-in-all there's about 100 sq ft of fronts to refinish. Depending on how the refinishing goes, there's a few that are damaged and might need to be replaced entirely. In addition, we need to have a new 30-inch double oven cabinet made, a new full depth upper cabinet, and one 14-inch full depth cabinet. Some of the existing fronts can be used (some cut down) for the new cabinets. Also, we need to have matching panels made for a SubZero all-refrigerator (BI36R).

We got one bid on the job from an independent cabinet maker. He thought that he could do the whole job by replacing - not refinishing - the fronts for $3,000. Another cabinet maker, working with a general contractor came back with a bid for $12,000. It seems like a realistic estimate would be something in between.

Any thoughts? By the way, we're in the Boulder, CO area. If there's anyone out there interested in this, let me know!

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Comments (5)

clg7067
17 years ago
Looking in the Scherr's price list, some rift cut red oak slab doors run about $29 a sq ft. That would be $2,900 just for the doors without your walnut detail. Sorry, I didn't look through the catalog to see if that includes the catalized varnish.

You should give Scherr's a call and see what they can do for you. I think if you want to pay for the shipping, you can just send your doors there to be duplicated. But, I guess that wouldn't help you with the cabinets frames. Well, it's a thought.

www.scherrs.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Scherrs
plllog
17 years ago
I'm wondering if you might have a better time finding two different craftsmen? One to do the refinishing and modifications as well as the new doors, and someone else to do the cabinet boxes?

From what I've learned here, a lot of cabinetmakers don't do their own doors to start with, and refinishing takes a slightly different skill set.

If there isn't a lot of actual cabinet construction, you might also check for carpenters, or even custom furniture finishers. It's obvious you need a craftsman, and one who has experience both in refinishing and building casegoods. Or one craftsman for each.

Keep looking around. Ask a lot of questions. Get a lot of cards. You have a unique project. The right people will be excited to work on it, not upcharging for "nuisance".
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hestia_flames
17 years ago
From what I have heard on this board, Scherrs will work with you to create any size box as well, and with the materials you want. I would call and talk with them, as their customer service is also said to be excellent.
rmkitchen
17 years ago
It's me again! We used (Mark) Berkower Woodworks for our cabinets, 303-449-9738. I have no idea if he does refinishing but wanted to share his name. (Mark has an amazing eye for detail and design.)

Some recommendations from my moms' club (I've used none of them but they all received enthusiastic woodworking recommendations):

Bob Hansel
720-841-6141

Husband 4hire
970-576-2140 or 970-576-2081

Bo Esrey
www.esreyfurniture.com

Eddie Bruzdzinski
720-810-1229

Your doors are fabulous -- I love their clean, natural detail.

Good luck!
hgluckman
Original Author
17 years ago
rmkitchen: Thanks for the suggestions! It always helps to have some specific recommendations (even if they're second-hand). Thanks for the compliment on the doors. They were our idea 19 years ago, and we still like them. Other than the finish needing to be redone the cabinets have held quite well and we still really like the look. We could go back to the original cabinet maker (they've gotten much bigger in 19 years), but we had some bad experiences with them during our project, and would rather find someone else. I'm sure we'll find someone good.

hestia_flames: If we aren't able to get someone local, I will definitely check out Scherrs. From their reputation, and what I've seen on their website, they could probably do the work, and I could do the final assembly.

We are going to re-look at the entire project this weekend, and make sure we know exactly (well, as exactly as we know) what we want to do before we start the next round of contractor interviews.

Thanks again!