Refresh or Replace Your Kitchen Cabinets?

Kitchen cabinets must be strong and large enough to hold plates, cutlery, pots and other kitchen utensils. It must also withstand the free movement of the kitchen and splashes of sauces, spills, bumps and scratches from dirty hands in the kitchen. The surface of the cabinets should be easy to clean with all of the above. And should look great after wiping with a simple cloth.

This sounds easy enough, right? Not so much.

Finding kitchen cabinets that meet all of these requirements and are relatively affordable can be difficult. A 2017 study found that most people budget and spend between $25,000 and $50,000 on kitchen renovations. When you consider how quickly kitchen design styles change, you may be spending a lot of money on something that will go out of style next year.

So the ultimate question here is…

Replace or Refresh Your Kitchen Cabinets?

When it’s time to update your kitchen, whether for functional or aesthetic purposes, you have to decide: Will you refinish or replace your kitchen cabinets?

Kitchen Cabinets Refinished

If your kitchen cabinets are structurally sound and you are happy with their basic design, you may want to consider refinishing them rather than replacing all your kitchen cabinets.

If you don’t want to change the set-up of your cabinets, refinishing them can give a dated dark color or stain a fresh new, bright look without costing you a fortune or putting you and your family through a full-scale kitchen renovation.

High-quality wood cabinets are solid candidates for refinishing. “Replacing your cabinets is a huge cost that is not completely necessary if the cabinets are less than ten years old and made from a high-quality wood like cherry, maple, ash, hickory, or oak,” Amy Ballard, professional interior designer says.

Refinishing your wood cabinets, instead of replacing them, can be a quick, easy fix that totally gives your kitchen a new look.

Opting to refinish, rather than replace, kitchen cabinets is more cost-effective, too; Ballard says it can save you up to $5k. Of course, if your cabinets aren’t wood, refinishing may not be an option. Lacquer cabinets are more contemporary and look a little more high-end, but they’re not candidates for refinishing or even repainting, often.

Kitchen Cabinets Replaced

Kitchen cabinets with significant damage must be replaced or repaired. Full stop. Covering up warping, water damage, mold, or other issues that impact the quality of the material is only a temporary solution. “Warping, ‘cabinet soft spots,’ and mold are all considered excessive damage and warrant immediate repair,” Ballard says.

And, of course, you should replace your kitchen cabinets if the layout of the space doesn’t work for you. If your biggest complaint with your kitchen is that the cabinets all seem to be in the wrong spots (or there aren’t enough of them), and not that they’re out-of-date or your least favorite color, the only solution is to replace them with a more thoughtful layout.

If you have structural or layout problems with your cabinets, it can be a good investment to go ahead and update them. This can be a great selling point and add to your bottom line when you decide to see your home.

But no matter which option you choose, you can count on CertaPro Painters of Portland to help you get your project accomplished. We’re here to help you plan out the project with zero stress and a beautiful end result.

When you are ready to start a kitchen cabinet painting project call CertaPro Painters of Portland at or call 503-610-4700  or schedule an appointment online today.