For the most part, the kitchens in today’s homes feature modular kitchen cabinets. That is if you do not have custom made cabinets with millwork. The benefit of having modular cabinets is that generally, they come easily to assemble and disassemble in the event that you need to do any type of refinishing.

The boxes are generally constructed of solid wood material with either a real wood veneer or solid wood fronts and doors. This particular setup would make it really easy to refinish all of the solid wood surfaces. The solid wood box construction is a huge plus in that makes it much more likely that they would be able to support the refinishing without the possibility of compromising the overall structural condition of the cabinets.

Upgrade to a More Modern Look

One reason why you might consider refinishing your kitchen cabinets instead of simply ripping the old ones down and replacing all of them with brand new cabinets in the style, color, and finish that you were looking for is that new ones cost so much money. However, if you not lucky enough to have won the lottery recently, you are not likely going to be able to just rip out the out old and replace them with brand new cabinets.

The alternative would be to invest about $200 to $600 in materials, supplies, and tools then do all of the cabinet refinishing yourself. While it may take you more time than it would if you were to hire a professional painter to do all the work, you would be saving thousands of dollars over having to pay someone else to do all of the labor.

How to Refinish Your Cabinets

If you decide that you are in fact going to refinish your kitchen cabinets on your own then you need to be ready to do a lot of work. There will be a number of different decisions that you will need to consider before you can even get started. A big part of your refinishing budget will be spent on the paint, but that really depends on the quality of paint that you decide to go with. While you might be tempted to skimp on the paint, just remember that the cheaper the quality of paint the poorer your results will be in the end.

You will also want to realize that the more effort you put into the preparation the better the final result will be as well. You can truly extend life by at least several years of the kitchen cabinets by repainting instead of just ripping out the old ones. A fresh coat of lighter or darker paint on all of the exterior surfaces of the cabinets could save you thousands of dollars of a total gut job in the kitchen.

The ultimate decision on whether or not to replace or refinish all of the cabinets in the kitchen probably comes down to what your remodeling budget looks like.