Refacing costs less. That part is easy. The harder and more useful question is whether refacing will actually solve your problem, because a reface applied to the wrong kitchen is money spent twice.
The cost difference
| Refacing | Replacing | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per linear foot | $100 to $250 | $500 to $1,200 (custom) |
| Typical project total | $4,000 to $9,500 | $12,000 to $30,000 |
| Time on site | 3 to 5 days | 1 to 3 weeks |
| Kitchen usable during build | Yes, until install week | No |
| Can change door style | Yes | Yes |
| Can change layout | No | Yes |
| Needs sound boxes | Yes | No |
Independent cost guides place refacing at roughly 30 to 50 percent less than replacing comparable custom or semi-custom cabinetry, commonly quoted at $100 to $250 per linear foot depending on materials. On a mid sized Clovis kitchen that is frequently a $10,000 difference.
What refacing actually replaces
A proper reface is not a paint job. Every surface you see is replaced: new doors and drawer fronts built to your existing openings, matching wood veneer or rigid laminate applied over the exposed face frames and end panels, and all new hinges, glides, and pulls. When it is done, the only original parts left are the carcasses nobody sees.
What refacing does not do is move anything. Your sink stays where it is. Your layout stays as it is. If the thing that frustrates you is that two people cannot pass each other in the kitchen, no reface will fix that.
The twenty minute test
This is the assessment that decides the whole project, and you can do most of it yourself tonight:
- Empty the cabinet under the sink and look at the deck. Not the front edge, the actual bottom panel. Is it flat and dry, or is it swollen, soft, or delaminating? This is where most kitchens fail
- Push on a face frame. Does it feel solid, or does it flex away from the carcass?
- Check a drawer. Do the corners still hold, or has the box separated?
- Open and close a door. Does it sit square in its opening, or has the cabinet racked?
- Try a screw. Does the frame still hold a fastener, or does it strip?
If everything passes, reface. If the sink base has gone, replace, because a reface bonded to a failing box is a callback waiting to happen.
A Central Valley specific warning. Slow leaks under a sink are harder to spot here than in most climates. Summer air in Clovis is extremely dry, so surface moisture evaporates fast while a particleboard core keeps wicking. The usual warning signs never appear, and the first symptom is the deck giving way. Check under every wet location before committing to a reface.
Reface if
- The boxes are plywood, or particleboard that is still flat, dry, and square
- Your layout works and only the appearance is dated
- You cannot lose the kitchen for weeks
- You want a different door style, not just a different colour
Replace if
- Box bottoms are swollen or delaminating, especially under the sink
- Face frames are pulling away or no longer hold fasteners
- You want a soffit removed and uppers taken to the ceiling
- The layout itself is the problem
- The cabinets are a non standard depth that fights modern appliances
The third option people forget
If your door style is fine and only the colour is dated, refinishing costs less than either. Your existing doors are stripped, primed, and sprayed in a controlled shop, and the boxes are finished on site. It is the cheapest of the three and the only one that cannot change your door profile. Our painted versus stained guide covers that decision.
The full ordering, cheapest first: refinish, then reface, then replace.
Getting an honest answer
Refacing is the cheaper job, which is exactly why it gets oversold. Any shop that quotes a reface without opening your sink cabinet is guessing. Ask whoever you call to check the boxes before they price the work.
Our cabinet refacing page covers the process and what is included, and the custom kitchen cabinets page covers replacement. If the boxes are gone, we will tell you rather than sell you the cheaper job twice.
The hidden trade off of refacing
Refacing keeps your existing boxes, which means it also keeps their dimensions and layout. That has consequences worth understanding before you commit.
Your cabinet openings stay exactly where they are, so the awkward blind corner stays awkward. If your base cabinets are a non standard depth, which happens in some older Clovis housing, they stay that depth and will keep fighting modern appliances. And if there is a soffit above your uppers, it stays, because removing it would leave an open gap above boxes built to the old height.
Refacing also cannot convert a base cabinet from doors to drawers, which is the single highest value storage upgrade available in a small kitchen. You can add roll out shelves inside the existing box, which helps, but it is not the same thing.
None of this is an argument against refacing. It is an argument for being clear about what your actual complaint is. If it is "this looks dated", reface. If it is "this does not work", the boxes are the problem and refacing preserves the problem.
Which one makes more sense before selling
If you are preparing a house for market, the calculation changes. Remodeling's 2025 Cost vs. Value research found a minor kitchen remodel in the Pacific region recouped 129 percent of cost, on an average project cost of $29,728. But that is a full minor remodel, not a reface.
For a straight resale play, refacing is usually the stronger move per dollar. A buyer walking through sees doors, finishes, and hardware. Very few open the cabinet and evaluate the carcass. You get most of the visual improvement for roughly a third of the cost, and you free the difference for the other things buyers notice.
If you are staying ten years or more, that logic reverses. You are the one living with the layout and the storage, and those are exactly what refacing cannot change.
Clovis Custom Cabinets builds custom cabinetry to order in Clovis, California, for homes and businesses across the greater Fresno area. For a free measure and a written quote, call (559) 314-3498.
