Experience with a Kitchen Reface

As I've said previously, I moved into this lovely mid-80's home in Union County. The kitchen had dark cherry cabinets that had certainly seen better days, and all the appliances were shot and ancient. The kitchen is actually quite large, and I knew that new cabinets would cost me an arm and a leg, so I had to find a reasonable alternative.

Essentially the cabinet boxes were solid, but after 2o years, the finishes were just worn down in lots of spots. The previous owners also allowed their yappy Yorkie puppy to gnaw on the edges of a few of the lower cabinets as well. The drawer pulls were a dated gold and the hinges were all on the outside of the doors. Ick!

I started with some research on refacing, and was intrigued. As anyone who has ever had a kitchen gutted knows, you are left without a kitchen for at least 4-8 weeks depending on what you're having done. Now, I've got two little kids, so being kitchen-less would be absolutely impossible. I needed something that could be done in a week, but yield similar results. I immediately discounted Sears as a possibility because their veneers and doors looked cheap to me.

Kevin, my contractor referred me to Carolina Cabinets Refacing, and they were a complete joke. They come in with a whole sales pitch about how they have Amish quality woods. They bring a drawer sample and show me these beautiful dove tails. I told the guy that his drawers were truly lovely, but that I basically didn't own one single piece of furniture that had dovetails like that. I told him I wanted a durable kitchen, not furniture. I still wanted solid wood veneers and doors and a great look, however.

The salesman tells me that his price would be the same as the cheapest cabinets at Home Depot, except I was getting this hoity-toighty Amish wood. Fine. I get it. Gimme the price. The next day these clowns quote me $22,000 for the reface. Now, I'm no idiot, because I do know that the cheapest cabinets at Home Depot aren't going for anywhere near this insane price. I mean, for $22 grand, I better be getting NEW cabinets, not a reface! By then it didn't matter, because I also then find out through my research that they don't even wrap their veneers all around the cabinets, and that you can see their nails in the side panels, etc. Nixed!

More research on the web leads me to Kitchen TuneUp out of Mint Hill. The sales pitch is immediately non-pushy and they have a variety of product levels at different prices. They offer all of the latest finishes, including glazing. I'm told that the whole project will take one week after the cabinets come in (about 10-12 weeks), and the price thankfully comes in to way less than half of the morons at Carolina Cabinet Refacing with more bells and whistles. The guys did a great job of cleaning up every day, and I was still able to use my kitchen in the evenings to make dinner. There were a few hiccups with my order in terms of when things arrived, and I had some missing veneer that had to be reordered--but that bit of aggravation worked out in the end. And best of all, the work exceeded my expectations. I didn't think for a minute that a reface was going to look like brand new cabinetry, but boy does it ever.

If you use them, be sure to tell the owner Tom Taube that you want Danny on your job--the 21 year old kid is a wood whiz and a very methodical worker. He used to do body work on cars, and has been doing cabinets the last few years. He works like he's been on the job for 40 years, and is definitely talented.

There's a number of granite places where you can get your slab in Charlotte, but I ended up going to AGM Importers. Their selection is huge, and I found the varieties of colors to be far more interesting and unique than some of the other granite yards that just seemed to have safe, dull varieties. I was looking for something splashy that I knew wasn't going to be in every builder grade kitchen. I went with Golden Light, which has a lot of movement and veining and totally fit the European look that I was going for. It also doesn't hurt that they're the only place open on Saturdays.

I used Cassano for the fabrication/installation. Tom from Kitchen Tune Up recommended them, as he works with them all the time. They did a great job, and an especially kick-ass job on the single seam. You can barely see it, and you certainly can't feel it. Smooth as ice.

Charlotte Tile & Stone Supply is a favorite of mine, though it's in a icky industrial section of Charlotte. They have an enormous selection with 80% of what you see in stock, so you don't have to wait 12 weeks to wait while your tile shows up from Italy or some other far-flung place. I got some beautiful tuscan looking floor and backsplash tile for the same price you'd get it for at Home Depot. Make sure to chat with Christine Thomas, as she's a wonderful design consultant who will give you awesome ideas absolutely free of charge. Nothing like getting professional help if it doesn't cost you a dime! She even gave me a wonderful sketch and tile samples to take home so I could give my tile guy. I thought she had a great eye for matching colors and even hinted at what would be a great paint color for my walls. She was dead on.

So, overall, I had a positive experience at a reasonable price point, and I hope I've inspired you to tackle your old kitchen.

Happy facelift!