Cabinets · Service

New doors on the boxes you already have

The cheapest way to change a kitchen — if the new doors will hang on your existing cabinets, and if you have a plan for the box faces that are staying. Both are worth checking first.

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In short

What is cabinet door replacement?

Replacing cabinet doors means ordering new fronts to fit your existing openings and hanging them on the boxes you already own, leaving the box faces as they are. It is the least expensive and least disruptive way to change how a kitchen looks. Two things decide whether it works: whether the new doors are compatible with your hinges and overlay, and whether you can live with new fronts sitting against old face frames — which is exactly the gap that refacing exists to close.

Triggers

Signs you need cabinet door replacement

Boxes that are sound and a layout that works, with fronts that are damaged, warped or simply dated
A handful of doors ruined by water, heat or a knock, on a kitchen otherwise in good condition
Painted or laminate box faces in good condition, where only the doors are visually failing
You want to change door style — slab for shaker, or a glass front in one bay — without touching anything else
Doors that no longer close properly because the fronts themselves have warped rather than the hinges being out
A budget that rules out refacing but where painting will not fix the problem, because the doors are physically damaged

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The job

How cabinet door replacement actually works

Establish your overlay before measuring anything

Overlay is how much of the frame the door covers. Full overlay doors sit almost edge to edge with a small reveal; partial overlay leaves frame visible; inset doors sit flush inside the opening. Which you have determines every measurement that follows.

Watch for: Doors ordered by measuring the old ones. If any existing door is not the correct size for its opening — and in older kitchens some rarely are — you reproduce the error permanently.
Measure each opening, not each door

Openings are measured individually to the sixteenth, and each is recorded against its position. Door size is then derived from the opening plus the overlay. Pairs of doors on a wide opening need the centre reveal allowed for.

Watch for: A single measurement applied to a run of nominally identical cabinets. Older kitchens routinely have openings that vary by a few millimetres, and the variation only shows once doors are hanging next to each other.
Check hinge type and boring compatibility

This is where door-only replacement most often goes wrong. Concealed European hinges need a bored cup at a specific diameter and setback; older face-frame kitchens may use surface-mount, semi-concealed or wrap-around hinges instead. New doors have to be bored to match — or the hinges have to change, which may mean modifying the cabinet.

Watch for: Doors ordered unbored on the assumption they can be drilled on site. Cup boring needs a jig and a forstner bit and it is unforgiving; a misplaced cup is a wasted door.
Decide honestly what happens to the box faces

The face frames, end panels and the edges of the boxes are staying, and next to new doors they will look their age. The realistic answers are to accept it, to paint them to match, or to accept that skinning them is refacing and priced accordingly.

Watch for: Assuming a new door colour will read as a whole new kitchen. The contrast against an old face frame is the most common regret with door-only replacement, and it is entirely predictable in advance.
Hang, adjust and set the reveals

Doors go on with the hinges adjusted in three directions until the gaps between them are even along the run. Drawer fronts are set to align with the doors below. Handles are drilled to a jig so the spacing is identical throughout.

Watch for: Doors hung and left. Reveals that are not set are the difference between a kitchen that looks refitted and one that looks patched, and it is the last hour of work on the job.

Money

What does cabinet door replacement cost?

Doors are priced individually by size, material and style, so the total is driven by door count more than by kitchen size. Fitting is usually a day or two of labour, and hinges and handles are separate. It is the least expensive of the keep-the-boxes options — see the cabinets cost guide.

See the full cabinet door replacement cost guide — by material, size and region →

Straight answer

When cabinet door replacement is the wrong call

Everyone else ranking for this is paid when you say yes. Here's when you shouldn't.

Your box faces are in poor condition. New doors against scuffed, dated or discoloured face frames highlight the frames rather than hiding them. If the whole visible surface needs to change, that is refacing, and pretending otherwise produces a half-finished-looking kitchen.
The boxes are particleboard and swollen at the sink. Hinges need something to hold. Doors hung on degraded carcase material sag, and adjusting them repeatedly does not fix a fixing problem.
You are changing to inset doors. Inset is a construction style, not a door option — it needs the frame and the stops built for it. It cannot be retrofitted to cabinets designed for overlay doors.
Only one or two doors are damaged and your kitchen is old. Matching a single new door to an aged finish is very difficult and usually looks worse than the damage did. Either repair the original or replace the run.
You want new drawers as well as new drawer fronts. A front is cosmetic; the drawer box and the runners are the thing that makes a drawer pleasant to use. If the drawers themselves are the complaint, fronts will not address it.
Nobody has checked your hinge boring. This is the practical show-stopper. If the boring pattern cannot be matched and the cabinets cannot take a different hinge, door-only replacement is not available to you at any price.

Your options

Types of cabinet door replacement

Door styles

Shaker, slab, raised panel, beadboard and glass front — the whole visual decision.

Door materials

Solid wood, MDF, thermofoil and laminate, and how each behaves at a sink or a range.

Refacing versus replacement

The comparison that puts door-only replacement in context.

Compare cabinets options side by side →

Before you sign

What to check when hiring for cabinet door replacement

What overlay and hinge type do I currently have?

Both must be established before anything is ordered. A supplier who cannot answer has not looked at your cabinets.
Will the doors arrive bored for hinges, and to my pattern?

Boring on site needs a jig and is unforgiving. Factory boring to your measured pattern removes the single biggest source of wasted doors.
Was every opening measured separately?

Older kitchens have openings that vary slightly. One measurement applied to a run produces visibly uneven reveals.
What is the plan for the face frames and end panels?

They are staying and they will be next to brand new doors. Deciding this in advance is what separates a good result from an obvious one.
Are new hinges and handles included, and are the old handle holes an issue?

Existing holes rarely line up with a new handle. Filling and re-drilling on a painted door is easy; on a stained one it is visible.
What happens if a door arrives wrong or damaged?

Doors are made to order and a single wrong item can hold up the whole fit. Ask who chases the replacement and whether the fitter returns.

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Local pros

Cabinet Door Replacement near you

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Related work

Often done at the same time

Cabinet Refacing

The same doors, plus the box faces

Cabinet Painting

How most people handle the face frames that stay

Cabinet Repair

Sometimes the original door is worth saving

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FAQ

Cabinet Door Replacement — questions people ask

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Can I replace just the cabinet doors?

Usually yes, and it is the cheapest meaningful change you can make to a kitchen. The two conditions are compatibility and appearance. Compatibility means your hinges and overlay can accept the new doors, or that the cabinets can take a different hinge. Appearance means being honest about how a brand new front will look next to a face frame that has been there for decades — that contrast is the reason refacing exists as a product.

How do I measure for replacement cabinet doors?

Measure the opening rather than the existing door, individually for every cabinet, and record each against its position. The door size is then the opening plus your overlay allowance. Measuring the old doors seems easier and copies any error already present, which in older kitchens is common. If a run has doors in pairs, the reveal between them has to be allowed for as well.

What is cabinet door overlay?

It is how much of the cabinet frame the closed door covers. Full overlay doors cover nearly all of it and sit close together with a small, even gap. Partial overlay leaves a visible band of frame between doors, which is what most older face-frame kitchens have. Inset doors sit flush within the opening and require cabinets built for them. You cannot freely swap between these — the boxes decide.

Will new doors fit my existing hinges?

Only if the boring pattern matches. Concealed hinges need a cup bored at a specific diameter and set back a specific distance from the door edge, and those vary between manufacturers and eras. Older face-frame cabinets may use surface-mount or wrap-around hinges that a modern door is not made for. Establish this before ordering — it is the one issue that can make door-only replacement impossible rather than merely awkward.

Is replacing doors cheaper than refacing?

Yes, meaningfully, because refacing includes the same new doors and adds skinning the face frames and end panels — which is both material and a good deal of careful labour. The difference between them is exactly the box faces. If those are in good condition or you intend to paint them yourself, door replacement captures most of the visual benefit. If they are the thing that looks dated, the saving is false.