When your existing cabinets are worth keeping
We look at four things. Are the carcasses solid, or is the sink base particleboard that has swollen and softened from a slow leak. Are they square and plumb enough that new doors will sit with consistent gaps. Is the layout one you want to keep, because refacing cannot move a cabinet. And do you want features the existing boxes cannot take, such as deep pot drawers or soft-close full-extension slides, which need box depth and stile arrangements that older cabinetry often does not have. If all four answers favour keeping them, refacing gives the strongest return in a kitchen. If the sink base is gone or the layout is the actual problem, refacing is money spent on a kitchen you will still want to replace, and we will say so.
