Refacing, Refinishing, or Replacing?

Three different jobs

What each one costs

All three figures below come from our own published cost datasets — the same numbers behind the refinishing, refacing, and cabinet installation calculators, so this guide and those calculators cannot disagree. Refinishing and replacement are published as whole-kitchen totals; refacing is published per linear foot of cabinet run, so the kitchen figure for it is that per-foot band applied to an average-size kitchen. The arithmetic is spelled out under the table.

*Refacing is quoted by the linear foot, not by the kitchen. Our refacing dataset's headline is $150–$450 per linear foot, typical project (all materials), verified 2026-08-06. The kitchen figure above is that band applied to 25 linear feet of cabinet run, the average-kitchen length the estimator below uses — work it through by hand and you get 25 × $150 = $3,750 at the low end and 25 × $450 = $11,250 at the high end. Door material spreads it wider than the headline band: laminate / rigid thermofoil (rtf) $80–$125, wood veneer $100–$250, solid wood $200–$500, per linear foot — those are the tiers the estimator prices from. The headline and the material bands answer different questions, so they do not multiply out to the same total. At the 25 linear feet this calculator treats as an average kitchen, the $150–$450 typical-project rate gives $3,750–$11,250 — which is where both published project totals land: $5,000–$13,000 all-in for a 100–200 sq ft kitchen (HomeGuide), and $4,483–$10,586 with an average of $7,232 (Angi). The same 25 feet at the wood-veneer band of $100–$250 gives $2,500–$6,250, roughly half, because that band is one material's refacing rate before box repairs and before hardware, hinges, crown molding or lighting. Use the material band when you know the material and want the line item; use the headline when you want the shape of the whole quote. Laminate starts near $80/linear ft and solid wood reaches $500/linear ft, so the headline sits inside a wider material spread. Refacing only makes sense when the boxes are structurally sound — replacing cabinets outright runs $4,500–$15,000+.

Measuring linear feet yourself is straightforward: measure the width of each cabinet run along the wall — not the height, not the depth — and add the runs together. A 10-foot run of lower cabinets plus an 8-foot run of uppers is 18 linear feet. Measure every run in the kitchen this way, total them, and multiply by the per-foot range above to get a rough number for your own kitchen.

Price your own refinish or replacement with our cabinet refinishing calculator, cabinet installation calculator or the dedicated cabinet refacing cost calculator. The estimator below prices refacing and refinishing side by side on the same kitchen, which is the comparison this page exists to make.

What the door material actually does over time

“Laminate,” “thermofoil,” and “solid wood” are not interchangeable marketing terms — they behave differently in a kitchen, and the difference shows up years after installation rather than on the showroom sample.

Rigid thermofoil (RTF) is a PVC film heat-formed over an MDF core — the cheapest option and the one most sensitive to heat. American Woodmark's own specification for its Duraform thermofoil line caps continuous exposure at 174°F and directs installers to fit a heat-shield kit whenever a thermofoil door or drawer front sits next to an oven or range; the manufacturer's own guidance is also to avoid mounting small appliances like toasters or coffee makers directly beneath thermofoil wall cabinets. Past that threshold the adhesive bond softens and the film delaminates or bubbles — a failure mode a stain-grade wood door does not have. Wood veneer sits in between: a thin layer of real wood over a substrate, which handles heat far better than PVC film but can still be damaged by standing water at a sink edge. Solid wood costs the most and handles heat and moisture best, but moves seasonally with humidity, which is why a solid door on a box built to slightly looser tolerances is more likely to develop a visible reveal gap over the years.

The box substrate matters too, whichever door you choose. Hardwood plywood used in cabinet boxes and veneered surfaces is graded under the American National Standard for Hardwood and Decorative Plywood (ANSI/HPVA HP-1), published by the Decorative Hardwoods Association — the standard that sets veneer grade, adhesive, and formaldehyde-emission requirements manufacturers cite when they say a box meets it. Composite panels — particleboard and MDF, the substrate under most thermofoil and laminate doors — sold or used in cabinets in California must additionally meet the California Air Resources Board's Composite Wood Products regulation, which sets formaldehyde emission limits for exactly this material category; check for a compliance label if indoor air quality is a concern.

Assessing your boxes before you commit to refacing

Refacing only makes sense if the boxes underneath are sound, and the industry's own performance standard tells you what “sound” is actually being tested against. The ANSI/KCMA A161.1 standard, maintained by the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association, certifies new cabinets by cycling doors through 25,000 open-close cycles and drawers through 25,000 cycles under load, loading shelves at 15 lbs/sq ft for seven days, loading a wall-mounted box to 600 lbs, and stress-testing base joints at 200–250 lbs — all checking for “no excessive deflection and no visible sign of joint separation or failure.” You cannot run that test on an existing kitchen, but its criteria translate directly into a walkthrough: open every door and drawer and feel for looseness at the hinge, push on each wall cabinet to check it is still secure to the studs, and look at the front face frame joints for separation or racking. A box that fails any of those checks needs structural repair or replacement, not a new face.

One more condition rules refacing and refinishing out entirely, regardless of box condition: if your home was built before 1978 and the existing cabinet finish may contain lead paint, EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule requires any paid contractor who disturbs that painted surface — sanding for refinishing counts — to be lead-safe certified and to follow lead-safe work practices. Ask directly whether your contractor holds that certification before work that sands or removes old cabinet finish begins in a pre-1978 home.

Which one does your kitchen need?

• Boxes and doors are sound, you just want a new color. Refinish — the cheapest fix that keeps everything.
• Boxes are sound, but you want a real style change — new door profile, different material look. Reface — you get new doors and a new surface without tearing out the boxes.
• Boxes are damaged, warped, or you're changing the layout. Replace. Neither refinishing nor refacing fixes a structural problem or moves a wall.

A quick structural check settles most of this: open a few doors, check the boxes for water damage or sag, and confirm the layout you have is the layout you want to keep. If both check out, refacing or refinishing gets you most of the visual change of a full remodel at a fraction of the cost and disruption.