Transformations
To Reface or to Replace - That is the Question.
Every cabinet project starts with the same question:
Do we reface what's there, or start fresh?
The answer isn't always obvious — and it's not always about money. It's about your existing cabinet boxes, your timeline, other components in your kitchen (countertops, backsplash, flooring etc.), and what you're really trying to accomplish. We've done both many times, and we'll always tell you the honest answer. Here's a look at real projects, real decisions, and what the process actually looks like from start to finish.
How We Work
Every shop does things a little differently. Here's how we do it — and why it matters to us.
Every custom cabinet we build — face frame and full overlay — sits on plastic feet with a removable plinth toe kick rather than directly on the floor. It sounds like a small detail. It isn't. When the church in one of the projects below had a baptismal leak bleed into their kitchen, the water soaked into every cabinet box and ruined the whole kitchen. With our system, the boxes never touch the floor. In a flood situation, you replace the plinth — not the entire kitchen. That's the difference between a $500 fix and a $30,000 remodel.
Plastic Feet on Every Custom Build
Construction is messy. That's just the truth. But you shouldn't have to pay the price for it. We take serious precautions to mask and protect your home — floors, countertops, appliances, adjacent rooms — before we ever start work. We've seen what overspray from a previous contractor can do to a kitchen, and we refuse to be that guy. Our goal is simple: leave your home better than we found it.
We Build for Your Real Life
We don't build showroom kitchens. We build kitchens for the way you actually cook, store, and live. That means asking questions about how you use your space — and then building storage that answers those questions. Spice pull outs, pot lid organizers, cookie sheet dividers, trash pull outs, roll out trays — the details that make a kitchen genuinely work are the ones we love most. There is a real joy in organized spaces, and we take that seriously.
We Protect Your Home From Us
Refacing means keeping your existing cabinet boxes and replacing the doors, drawer fronts, and hardware — sometimes adding new crown moulding, and sometimes adding cabinets in specific spots where you need more. It's the right call when:
Your cabinet boxes are solid — no water damage, no rot, no structural breakdown
You love your countertops and backsplash and don't want to touch them
You want a style update without a full gut renovation
Your timeline won't allow for a full replacement
One thing we want to be upfront about: while the cabinet cost of a reface is less than a full replacement, refacing is not free. It's a lot of skilled work — but where you really save is on everything else. When you don't replace cabinets, you don't need new countertops, new backsplash, or the full disruption of a gut remodel. That's where the real savings live.
And here's something most people don't realize: you can actually change your cabinet style during a reface. We can convert old face frame cabinets to a full overlay (Euro) look — tight 1/8" gaps between doors, clean and modern — without rebuilding everything from scratch. New crown moulding and new doors helps complete that transformation.
When Refacing Makes Sense
From Traditional to Modern — A Full Kitchen Transformation
This kitchen had solid bones — good boxes, no damage — but it felt stuck in another era. Raised panel doors, face frame style, an old microwave cabinet taking up space nobody used, and a color that had run its course. The homeowner wanted modern, clean, and green. They also had an awkward gap beside the fridge and a blank wall by the back door just begging to be useful.
Before
Traditional raised panel face frame cabinets with 8010 crown moulding. Solid boxes, dated style. An unused microwave cabinet eating up valuable upper space. A gap beside the refrigerator and a blank wall by the back door — wasted potential on both counts.
During
Microwave cabinet out, matching upper in. Full overlay doors going in with that tight 1/8" Euro gap. Crown swapped to 1x4 flat. Beside the fridge, a shallow 6" open shelf built for a true built-in look. Coffee bar and storage added along the back wall, with roll out trays and a trash pull out. Every surface masked to protect the home.
After
Full overlay doors, 1x4 flat crown, painted green. Modern, clean, and completely cohesive — including the coffee bar and fridge cabinet that look like they were always there. The kitchen gained storage, lost clutter, and finally found its style.
Rescued, Matched, and Made Whole
This one started as a safety issue. The homeowner had attempted their own cabinet reface, but the doors weren't fitting the openings properly and the hinges were failing. The wife was genuinely afraid to open the vent hood cabinet — the door had come close to falling on her more than once. That cabinet had been left deliberately empty just to avoid the risk. Beyond the doors, the drawer boxes were swelling and sticking. The kitchen worked, but barely.
Before
Misfit doors, failing hinges, sticky drawers. One cabinet left deliberately empty because the door was a falling hazard. An off-white creamy color needing an exact match — and cabinets from a previous installation that didn't tie into the rest of the kitchen.
During
New doors built to properly fit every opening. All drawer boxes replaced with dovetail construction and soft close guides. Doors also built to match a previous cabinet installation so the whole kitchen could finally feel like one cohesive space.
After
Every door opens and closes like it should. Every drawer glides. The vent hood cabinet is finally being used. The color match is seamless — it looks like it was always this way. This family liked it so much they came back for an island and built-in fridge surround.
The Clubhouse: Cedar to Sage in a Race Against the Clock
This one had a deadline. A subdivision clubhouse had an event on the calendar and a hard stop date for all construction. They had wanted to replace the cabinets entirely — old cedar that looked more like a rustic hunting cabin than the clean, professional space the community deserved — but time simply didn't allow it. Refacing was the answer, and it delivered something nobody expected: a complete personality change.
Before
Old cedar cabinets — rough, dark, and rustic in a space that needed to feel polished and professional. The cedar grain and natural tar made painting a serious challenge. The style said hunting cabin. The room needed to say clubhouse.
During
Boxes sanded to raw wood and sealed with specialty primer to lock in the cedar tar — skip that step and color bleeds through every coat. New full overlay doors installed. Crown replaced with clean 1x4 flat profile. Two tone color scheme planned: sage green for bases, cream for uppers.
After
Clean, professional, and completely transformed — delivered on time for the event. Sage and cream with a modern door profile. Nobody would guess what was underneath. The homeowners association was thrilled, and the deadline was met with time to spare.
Open shelving enclosed with long doors to create pantry space.
Reskinned and fillers to create clean finished ends
3 bathrooms refaced to match kitchen
When Replacing Makes Sense
Sometimes the boxes themselves are the problem. No amount of new doors will fix a cabinet that's structurally compromised — or a layout that was never designed for the way you actually live. Replacement is the right call when:
Cabinet boxes have water damage, rot, or significant particle board breakdown
The kitchen smells — from years of smoke, moisture, or worse
Face frames are pulling apart or the structure is failing
The layout is working against you — wasted space, wrong sizes, doesn't fit modern appliances
You want to maximize every inch and truly build for your space
This is where we love what we do most. There is a real joy in organized spaces — in knowing that every cabinet, every drawer, every nook is working for you. When your kitchen is built for the way you live, something shifts. You move through it differently. You feel it.
Built for the Space — A Cabin That Finally Works
This old cabin had old cabinets. Built decades ago for smaller appliances, the layout created wasted walls, awkward gaps, and missed opportunities at every turn. A large refrigerator had been brought in at some point and left a dead zone of unused wall space beside it. The bones of the cabin were charming — the cabinets were not.
Before
Old cabinets that never fit the space. Gaps where there should have been storage. A layout designed for appliances that no longer exist. A large refrigerator creating a dead zone of unused wall space. Wasted potential in every corner of the room.
During
Every inch measured and planned before a single cabinet went in. New runs built to maximize the walls — filling the gap beside the refrigerator, fitting the nooks and angles of the cabin layout. Prefab cabinets selected and arranged to make the most of every square foot available.
After
Cabinets that look like they were designed for that exact room — because they were. Storage where there was wasted space. A kitchen that finally works with the cabin instead of against it. Small space, smart layout, big difference.
Cabinets fit this space perfectly with a space for a beverage mini fridge
The Church Kitchen — Built From Loss, Designed for Real Life
A leak in the baptismal seeped into the church kitchen and soaked into every cabinet box. The damage was total — waterlogged particle board, ruined boxes, a kitchen that had to come out completely. It was a hard situation. But it opened a door that doesn't come along very often: the chance to rebuild from scratch, exactly the way you want it. The church ladies knew exactly what they needed. We just had to build it.
Before
Water damage throughout — every cabinet box saturated from the baptismal leak. Complete loss. A kitchen that had faithfully served the congregation for years, gone in one unfortunate afternoon. A hard situation with an unexpected silver lining.
During
Full removal and rebuild on plastic feet with removable plinth — boxes never touch the floor. Layout redesigned around real use: spice pull outs, pot lid organizers, cookie sheet dividers, cutting board dividers, and a spring-loaded hidden tea shelf at the urn station. Every detail chosen by the people who use this kitchen every week.
After
A kitchen the congregation had never had before — built entirely around how they cook and serve. Sage green full overlay cabinets, darker island, no crown. Storage that answered decades of frustration. And if there's ever another leak, it's a plinth replacement — not a remodel.
Pot lid organizer with removable dividers
Push to open tea pitcher shelf
Cookie sheet organizer with removable dividers
Not Sure Which Is Right for You?
That's exactly the conversation we love to have. Every kitchen is different, and the right answer depends on your boxes, your timeline, your countertops, and what you're trying to accomplish. We'll give you an honest assessment — no upsell, no pressure. Just the right answer for your situation.