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Cabinet Refacing Options

admin — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:57:05 +0000

If you want to renew your kitchen, you have several options. The most common but also most expensive one is to replace your complete kitchen furniture by a new one. But if you like your kitchen, you should consider other options like replacing the doors or cabinet refacing. The last option is most probably the most time consuming but it gives you greater flexibility. You can choose the color and the handles exactly in the style you want. The only limitations can be made by your mind or your hands alone. If you decide to replace your doors, you should contact the manufacturer of your kitchen furniture. This guarantees that your new doors and drawers will fit perfectly to your kitchen. If you cannot contact your kitchen manufacturer, you need the exact measurements of all doors and drawers including the position of the hinges and use another options for your kitchen refurbishment.

If you decide to reface your kitchen, you can ask a professional contractor for help or you can perform the repair by your own. In principle, you have two main different options now. Either you want to renew the existing color or your want to change it totally. In the first case you need to remove the finish and renew the color while in the other case you must remove all residues of the color and apply the primer, the new color and the finish. A high quality finish is absolutely required since the kitchen furniture is exposed in many different ways. When you apply a new color, you can either use traditional brushes or a pneumatic system. The pneumatic system guarantees an equally distributed, shiny and glossy result. If you use brushes, you need to remove some of the surface irregularities by fine sand paper. But by working carefully with a brush you can obtain the same incredible result.

After you have repainted your cabinets, you can reassemble the kitchen furniture. If you want, you can change the knobs and holdings for the doors and drawers. You can find a huge collection of handlers and knobs at your local do-it-yourself shop. The only thing you need to bear in mind is that everything you buy has to fit to your home style. The knobs and door handles are usually not very expensive and can be easily installed. Although this repair is less time consuming than a complete refurbishment of your kitchen, you need to plan at least an entire weekend for a complete cabinets refacing. You have to remember that you need to reface many drawers and doors. In addition, some of the steps require some more time, especially drying of the primer and the color applied.

Cabinet Refacing Checklist

admin — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:54:11 +0000

There are many reasons why you might want to reface your kitchen cabinets. Either you want to change the style of your entire house or you feel that your kitchen is overused and that it needs a modern facelift. Most of the times, refacing the kitchen is a better decision than buying new kitchen set. In most of the cases, the whole kitchen is still in good condition only the panels of the cabinets need to be renewed. Before you start refacing your kitchen, you need a checklist to have an overview over all necessary steps. The checklist should contain all items that you need to buy, a time table and all other relevant information. In general, the better you plan your work before, the easier you can finish it.

Since the shopping list is going to be quiet long, it should be divided into several parts. Of course, you need to choose and buy a new color, a primer and a finish. You should take into consideration that the primer depends on the cabinet material and the previous color. For a lacquer color you might need a different primer than for an oil-based color. Your local do-it-yourself shop will help you to make the right choice. The second important part of your checklist should be used for the required tools. Do you have all tools for the removal and re-installation of your kitchen furniture? This includes different screw drivers, hammer, pliers and a drilling machine. Since you are going to paint, you need brushes in different sizes and solvent for cleaning them. Different grades of sand paper probably also will be needed. During the process of painting you should wear a mouthpiece for your own safety.

The last big part of your shopping lists should include the general needed items for the repair. You might need screws in different sizes, nails or glue. If you want to change your cabinet handles, you need to calculate how many of them you need, what size and style. For protecting your floors you might need extra paper or special covering sheets as well. You should also consider buying sandwiches and some drinks, especially if you invited some of your friends and neighbors to help you. Usually, a complete kitchen refacing requires at least two days. On the first day, you need to remove all residues from the doors and apply the primer, while the second day is for painting and finishing the cabinet doors. You should consider that each of these steps requires a certain drying time for the chemicals. Therefore it is better to plan a longer time for your repair.

Selecting a Cabinet Refacing Contractor

admin — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:51:57 +0000

Every kitchen that is used regularly needs a refurbishment from time to time. The kitchen cabinets are heavily exposed to vapor, high temperatures and dirty fingers. So it is no surprise that the kitchen panels get used and dirty look over the years, even if they are cleaned regularly. As a result, every kitchen should be deeply cleaned and refreshed at least once per year. In this case, the owner has several options. The most common but also most expensive option is a complete refurbishment of the room. But there are other cheaper possibilities as well. You can decide to replace only the doors in the kitchen or to perform a complete cabinet refacing. A cabinet refacing gives you the opportunity for a complete change of the design by applying new colors and installing new handlings. The effect is the same as by installing a brand new kitchen furniture.

But refacing is a hard and time consuming job for someone who is not familiar with the entire procedure. If you want to reface your kitchen but you do not want to perform it by yourself, you should contact one of the local cabinet refacing contractors. You can find their addresses on special online directories or in your local yellow pages. Before you make your final decision about any of the contractors, you should get some references or reviews of their work. The internet is a very good source for reviews and opinions of other web users. But you should be also careful about online opinions because there were cases of faked articles and reviews in both good and bad way. After you have chosen your personal contractor, you should call or e-mail him your request.

A good and reliable business partner will ask you about the sizes of your kitchen, the number of doors, the used finish and other important information relative to the repair. Usually, the contractors make appointments since they need to see the place they are going to repair. In this case, you should discuss all necessary details including the time frame, the date and the prize. If you agreed about all the details, you contractor should provide you a short check list for the day. In most cases, he will prepare the doors at his workshop. Depending on your contract, he will either remove all the doors or you are going to do it yourself. As a rule, the removal and installation of the doors should be done by your contractor. The only thing you need to do is to wait until you can enjoy your new beautiful kitchen.