What is cabinet refacing?

Refacing replaces your cabinet doors and drawer fronts with brand-new ones in the style you choose, while keeping your existing cabinet boxes in place. We then finish those boxes to match, so you get a completely new-looking kitchen without tearing out the cabinetry or redoing the layout. If your boxes are solid but the look is dated, refacing transforms the kitchen for far less disruption than a full remodel.

How much does cabinet refacing cost in Chicago?

Refacing typically runs $250 to $450 per door and drawer front. To put that in perspective, a full kitchen remodel often starts around $400 per square foot, so a 15-by-15 kitchen can climb to $75,000 to $100,000. Refacing gets you a brand-new look for a fraction of that. Where you land depends on the door style and detail, your materials, one color or two-tone, and the condition and construction of your existing boxes. For a full breakdown, see our cost guide.

Cabinet refacing vs. replacing or remodeling: which is better?

It comes down to your boxes. If your cabinet boxes are solid and your layout works, refacing gives you the new look you want with far less cost, demolition, and downtime than ripping everything out. A full remodel only makes sense when the boxes are failing or you're changing the footprint of the kitchen. Most kitchens we see are perfect refacing candidates that don't need a teardown.

Is cabinet refacing worth it?

For the right kitchen, absolutely. You keep the good bones, skip the demolition, and walk away with cabinetry that looks brand new in a style you actually chose, usually in well under two weeks. The value is highest when your boxes are sound and it's only the doors, fronts, and finish that have aged out of style.

How long does cabinet refacing take?

A typical reface runs about 5 to 10 working days. We finish your existing boxes on-site, build and finish the new doors and drawer fronts at our shop, then come back to hang and adjust everything. The install side takes a little longer than a paint job, because dialing in all-new doors and fronts so they sit square and even is precise work.

Am I a good candidate for cabinet refacing?

The simplest test: if you like how your kitchen functions but not how it looks, you're a strong candidate. Refacing keeps your existing boxes, the good bones, and replaces the doors and fronts, so you get a new-looking kitchen without redoing the whole thing. Most kitchens we reface are honey-oak or golden-oak, arch-top cabinets from the early-to-mid 2000s, dated and aged out of style, where the finish has faded and the hardware is wearing.

What door styles do you offer?

Seven curated styles: Shaker, Artesia (a Shaker with a 45-degree beveled inside edge, our most popular), Mini Shaker, Flat Panel, Adobe, Asher, and Connecticut. Together they cover everything from clean and modern to warm and traditional. They're all the same price, so you choose on the look you love, not on budget.

What are the most common types of cabinet doors?

The most common cabinet door styles are Shaker (a flat recessed center panel in a square frame), flat panel or slab (a single smooth front), and Artesia (a Shaker with a 45-degree beveled inside edge that reads more custom). There's also the Mini Shaker, sometimes called a slim shaker, which narrows the frame for a tighter, more modern look. We offer seven curated styles built around these profiles.

What's the difference between inset and overlay cabinet doors?

It's about how the door sits on the cabinet box. Overlay doors rest on top of the frame and cover most or all of it, which is what nearly every modern kitchen uses. Inset doors sit flush inside the frame, like fine furniture, for a more traditional, built-in look that costs more and requires precise fitting. Our refacing uses overlay doors.

Do different door styles cost more than others?

No. All seven door styles are priced the same. What changes the price is the wood you choose, not the style. We offer paint grade, Select maple, and white oak (plain sawn, quarter sawn, or rift sawn) as our top three, plus other species on request. You pick your style on looks and your wood on budget and grain, and they price independently.

Do you finish the cabinet boxes to match the new doors?

Yes, and we do it in-house. After your new doors and drawer fronts are made, we finish your existing boxes to match them, painted or stained, so the whole kitchen reads as one cohesive, new piece rather than new doors on old-looking boxes. That matched, in-house finish is a big part of why a Fulton reface looks built-in, not bolted-on.

How long do refaced cabinets last?

A long time. Your new doors and drawer fronts are solid, new construction in real wood, and a quality kitchen cabinet has a working life of around 20 years or more. Because we keep your existing boxes and only replace and refinish what you see and touch, you get that fresh, new-cabinet lifespan without the cost and demolition of a full replacement.

What's the difference between refacing and refinishing?

Refacing replaces your doors and drawer fronts with brand-new ones in any style you choose, then finishes your boxes to match, so you can completely change the look. Refinishing keeps your existing real-wood doors, restoring them at our shop and the boxes in place, sanding back the old finish and applying new stain and clear coats so the natural grain still shows. Reface to change the style, refinish to bring back the wood you already have.

Can I reface my cabinets in a completely different door style than I have now?

Yes, that's the whole appeal. Refacing replaces your doors and drawer fronts entirely, so you can go from dated arch-top oak to a clean Shaker, a sleek Flat Panel, or any of our seven styles, regardless of what you have now. You keep your existing boxes and layout, and the look changes completely.

Will refaced cabinets look custom, or will they look cheap?

Custom, when it's done the way we do it. The difference is in-house finishing: we build real-wood doors and drawer fronts and finish your boxes to match, so the whole kitchen reads as one cohesive, built-in piece rather than new doors stuck on old boxes. That matched finish is what makes a Fulton reface look like it belongs in your home, not bolted on.

Can you reface just part of my kitchen, like only the island or just the uppers?

Yes. Partial refacing works well when only part of your kitchen needs it or you want a design moment, like a contrasting island or just the uppers. The main thing we check is that the new and existing finishes work together intentionally, so it reads as a deliberate design choice rather than a mismatch. We'll guide that at your consultation.

What kind of cabinets are not worth refacing?

We'll always be honest about this. Refacing relies on solid existing boxes, so if your boxes are water-damaged, falling apart, or made of a material that won't hold new fronts well, or if you want to change your kitchen's layout, replacement is the smarter spend. If your boxes are sound and it's only the look that's dated, you're an ideal reface candidate.

Cabinet Refacing in Chicagoland

New doors, drawer fronts, and finished boxes in days — seven door styles, furniture-grade coatings.

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The technical difference

Did your kitchen get left behind?

Your life kept moving. Your kitchen stayed behind. Across Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, we give dated kitchens a brand new look without the demolition. Your layout and boxes stay. The doors, the drawer fronts, the style: all new, all yours.

Here is the simplest test there is. If you like how your kitchen functions but you do not like how it looks, you are a perfect candidate for refacing. That is the whole question. Not the budget, not the age, not the brand on the boxes. Function you love plus a look that has gone out of trend equals reface, not remodel.

Most of the kitchens we reface are either cabinets that were installed between 1995 to 2008. These include some honey-oak or golden-oak, arch-top, raised-panel cabinets and more. Back then a kitchen had about a twenty-year shelf life, and these have hit it. The finish has faded, the hinges and slides are wearing out, a few doors hang a little crooked, and the style is simply showing its time. But the bones are good. The layout is one you still reach for without thinking. There is nothing wrong here that requires tearing your kitchen down to the studs.

Refacing keeps those good boxes in place and replaces everything you see and touch. We take the doors and drawer fronts off, measure every opening and size out your new door fronts to a sixteenth of an inch. Then we get you brand new fronts in the style and material you choose. The exposed end panels can get refaced too to give you a complete custom look. And here is the part that matters most: we apply all of the finishes ourselves, including your existing boxes, so the new fronts and the kept boxes read as one seamless kitchen. No mismatch. No "close enough." One kitchen, brand new, in a fraction of the time and cost of a remodel.

You get your kitchen back to one hundred percent functionality and aesthetics, the layout you already love wearing a look you finally do.

Premium furniture-grade coatingsShop-finished, not on-site

Why we spray

The hardest part of a reface is not the new doors. Anyone can order doors. The hard part is design, making brand new fronts and your existing boxes look like they were always one kitchen, in a style that actually belongs to your home. That is where we start. We offer seven door styles, from a clean Shaker to a Mini Shaker, a flat panel, and a few in between, in the materials and finishes that fit the look you are after. You are not picking from two options and hoping. You are choosing the door that makes the kitchen feel like yours.

And here is the part most people never see coming: the finish is what ties it together. We finish everything ourselves, in-house, including your existing boxes, so the new doors and the kept boxes read as one seamless kitchen. No mismatch. No "close enough." We do not ship your cabinetry off or hope the colors land close. We match them exactly. That is the difference between a kitchen that looks refaced and a kitchen that just looks new.

Shaker

The one everyone pictures. At home in almost any kitchen.

Painted or stained

Artesia

Our most-requested. Reads more custom and wipes clean without trapping dust.

Painted or stained

Mini Shaker

A narrower frame. Clean, architectural lines without going fully flat.

Painted or stained

Flat Panel

Modern, sleek, seamless. Built for contemporary and minimalist kitchens.

Painted or stained

Adobe

A soft cove profile. Warmer than Shaker, for a classic kitchen with character.

Painted or stained

Asher

A stepped picture-frame border. Quiet architectural dimension.

Painted or stained