Cabinet repair, and knowing what is worth repairing

What is cabinet repair?

Cabinet repair covers the mechanical and structural faults in cabinets you intend to keep: doors that will not sit straight, drawers that drag or drop, bowed shelves, screw holes that no longer hold, and boxes damaged by water. The decision underneath almost all of them is the same. If the carcase is sound, repair is nearly always right and usually small. If the carcase has failed, everything you fix is attached to something still failing.

Signs you need cabinet repair

• Doors hanging visibly out of line with their neighbours, or catching on the frame as they close
• A drawer that drags, tips forward when opened, or has dropped its bottom panel
• Hinge screws that spin freely and will no longer tighten
• Veneer lifting at a door edge or a box corner near the dishwasher
• Shelves that have taken a permanent bow under crockery or tinned food
• A soft, swollen or crumbling cabinet floor under the sink, or a dark line along the base of the kick

Seeing something not on this list? Browse cabinets problems by symptom →

How cabinet repair actually works

1. 1

   Separate a mechanism fault from a carcase fault

   A door out of line is either a hinge needing adjustment, a hinge whose fixing has failed, or a box that has racked out of square. The three look identical from across the room and cost radically different amounts. The check is to open the door and look at where it is attached, not at the door.

   Watch forRepeated adjustment on a door that keeps drifting back. A door that will not hold its setting is reporting a fixing or a box problem.

2. 2

   Test the sink base and the dishwasher run before agreeing to anything else

   These are the two places cabinets die, and the failure is slow and quiet. A floor that gives under hand pressure, a swollen front edge or a dark stain at the base of an end panel all mean water has been present long enough to matter.

   Watch forRepairing cosmetic damage while the leak is still live. A weeping supply or a failed sink seal is a plumber's job and comes first.

3. 3

   Rebuild failed fixings rather than moving them

   Blown-out hinge and slide screw holes are the most common repair in an older kitchen. The competent fix restores material to the hole so a fastener has something to bite into. The lazy fix is a longer screw, which enlarges the failure.

   Watch forA repair that relocates the hardware. Once a hinge plate moves, the door's position moves with it, and the reveals across the whole run stop lining up.

4. 4

   Deal with drawers as a running-gear question

   A dragging drawer is a runner problem, a levelling problem or a box that has racked. Old side-mounted and bare timber runners can often take modern slides, but the box width and the cabinet opening have to suit - which is where a repair becomes a new drawer box.

   Watch forA quote to convert to undermount slides with nobody having measured the boxes. Undermount hardware needs specific box dimensions and a groove or notch; on an old drawer that often means building it again.

5. 5

   Address shelves as a span-and-load problem

   A bowed shelf is not defective; it is under-specified for the span. The durable answers are a thicker shelf, a stiffening front edge, a mid-span support, or less weight.

   Watch forReplacing a bowed shelf with an identical one. Same material, same span, same load, same result.

What does cabinet repair cost?

Cabinet repair is normally charged as a call-out plus time, or per door and drawer, and small faults are worth batching into one visit. Water-damaged carcases and finish repairs are the two things that escalate a small job. The cabinets cost guide sets repair against refacing and replacement.

See the full cabinet repair cost guide - by material, size and region →

If the number is the problem, here are the ways people pay for it →