Hi,

My partner & I are renovating/remodeling our entire kitchen (it was gutted but layout remains the same). The cabinets are particle board with oak facing & doors, estimated to be from the early 90’s. We have no problem refinishing the oak but I can’t find any advice on the particle board boxes. Moving forward, when I say “cabinet”, I’ll be referring only to the boxes. Half of the cabinets are in pretty good condition but need to replace some toe kicks. The cabinets near the sink opening have water damage & also need the toe kicks replaced. The pictures show a lot of damage but one picture shows that for the most part, the particle board is in good condition on some cabinets. My partner likes to learn new skills & we are on a tight budget so we plan to just remove all the damaged particle board pieces & replace them with plywood. If we only replace some, not all, will that be compromising any long term durability? Will we be gaining another 10-20 years by doing this or just adding a couple of years? Again - I couldn’t find any advice on this so I would be very grateful if someone had some experience with this or any suggestions.