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Cabinet services

There are four distinct cabinet services and they differ by an order of magnitude in price. Refinishing paints or restains the doors you have. Refacing puts new doors and new skin on your existing boxes for about $4,000-$9,500. Replacement swaps in new boxes and doors, from roughly $3,200 for a 40-foot stock kitchen to $20,000-$32,000 custom. A custom build is designed and made for your room.

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In short

What cabinet services actually cover

The service you need is decided by the condition of your cabinet boxes, not by how the doors look. Open a door and look at the box: is it square, solid, dry, and does the layout work for how you cook? If yes, refacing or refinishing is the honest answer and will save you many thousands of dollars.

Refinishing keeps the doors and changes the color. It only works on cabinets that can hold a finish - solid wood or a properly prepped surface. Thermofoil and some laminates do not refinish well.

Refacing replaces the doors and drawer fronts and applies new veneer or laminate to the visible box faces. Modernize puts 2026 refacing at $4,000-$9,500, around $6,750 nationally, at $100-$250 per linear foot, and notes it can run as much as 78% less than full replacement.

Replacement is the right call when the boxes are damaged or water-swollen, when you want a different layout, or when you are moving plumbing or appliances. Installed pricing runs about $80-$120 per linear foot for stock, $150-$300 semi-custom and $500-$800 custom, which on a standard 40-foot 10x10 kitchen is $3,200-$4,800, $6,000-$12,000 and $20,000-$32,000 respectively.

How to choose

Picking the right cabinet job

The judgement calls that decide the bill, before anyone quotes you.

  1. Judge the boxes, not the doors

    Sound, square, dry boxes in a layout that works means you are shopping for refacing, not replacement.

  2. Any layout change means replacement

    Refacing cannot move a cabinet, change a run, or add a drawer bank.

  3. Get quotes for both paths

    Ask the same company to price refacing and replacement. The gap is the number you are actually deciding on.

  4. Check the material can be refinished

    Thermofoil and some laminate fronts do not take paint reliably. Ask before committing to a refinish.

  5. Sequence around plumbing and electrical

    If you are moving a sink or adding circuits, that work drives the schedule and often the permit question.

  6. Confirm who does the demo and disposal

    It is a real cost and it is frequently omitted from the headline number.

Two people working through home paperwork at a kitchen table
Illustration, for reference.
Before you call anyone

The wrong service call is the expensive one

Most people booking cabinet work are buying a diagnosis, not a job - and the trade you pick decides what diagnosis you get. Book the wrong specialist and you pay a call-out fee to be told it is somebody else's problem.

  • Describe the symptom What you can observe, and when it started. Not what you think it is.
  • Ask what the visit includes Whether the diagnostic fee is credited against the work is a question with a real answer.
  • Get the scope in writing A number with no line items cannot be compared to a second number.
FAQ

Cabinets services - common questions

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Refinishing keeps your existing doors and changes their finish. Refacing replaces the doors and drawer fronts entirely and covers the visible box faces with new veneer or laminate.
Modernize puts 2026 refacing at $4,000-$9,500 with a national average around $6,750, or $100-$250 per linear foot.
No. Refacing keeps every box exactly where it is. Any change to the layout requires new cabinets.
Many do, some subcontract it, and some do not touch it. Ask up front, because countertop templating happens after cabinet install and can add a week or more to the schedule.
Sources

Where these figures come from

Sources last checked

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Who wrote and checked this

Written by

The HomeMatchup Content Team

Editorial
Reviewed by

Michael Thompson

Senior Home Improvement Reviewer · 20 years

Senior technical reviewer.

Team-written. Second-person reviewed. Sources dated. Report a correction.

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