Refacing Kitchen Cabinets Advice

[Peter Keen]

So I'll be taking a break from the Black Ash End Tables project for a few weeks, while I remodel an apartment after a tenant has left (new floors, new appliances, repaint, redoing the bathroom).

One of the tasks on my list is to either replace or remodel the kitchen. Here's a photo of it as is.



The existing kitchen cabinets appear to be face frame plywood cabinets, with plywood doors. The cabinets themselves are still in good condition, though the interior appears to be an ugly spray painted red that is quite dated. The face frames and doors have been previously painted with a brush and roller, leaving a heavily stippled appearance. I would like to reface the cabinets using maple.

So my plan is:

• remove the existing doors and drawers.
• Spraypaint the interior of the cabinets white.
• Reface the face frames using 1/4" maple (or oak, if I can't get maple locally - I live in a remote rural area). I'll pin and glue these to the existing frame.
• Use 1/4" x 3/4" or 3/8" x 3/4" screen moulding to cover the exposed edge of the plywood, and all or part of the existing inside edge of the face frame.
• Finish the above with polyurethane
• Build Shaker style frame and panel doors (like the one below), using maple rails and styles, and 1/4 maple panels.

What are your views of this? I'm interested in whether:

• The gluing and pinning will work
• Any problems you forsee
• Any advice you may have.

[Sam Murdoch]

I have always found that working with 1/4" material is more difficult than simply going thicker - say to 1/2". The 1/4" will want to curl and take a shape unless glued and pinned very securely, whereas the 1/2" stock can be jointed flat and straight and will stay in place with less work and fewer fastenings. If you add an entire 3/4" thick face frame even better. Make it a bit wider than the existing and you can easily attach hinges to it. So what if you add a 1/2" or 3/4" depth to the cabinet. You will find it so much easier to work and secure. Make new doors and drawers and you will make a nice kitchen.

[Peter Keen]

So, total change of plans. After removing the doors and a couple of shelves from the cabinets, I found a suspicious black spot on the wall behind and beneath the sink.....and had a similar experience in the bathroom....

So the cabinets had to come out so we could do the necessary repairs, and after much humming and hawing, we decided to replace with new cabinets. So here they are. Alas, I didn't build them, just installed them.

[Justin Ludwig]

Not bad way to go, especially for apartment grade rentals. People aren't AS picky when renting 1bedroom/1bath apts, IME.

[William C Rogers]

When I did the cabinets in my old house I carefully removed the face frames from the cabinets with the cabinets left in place. It took a while as I carefully tapped each one from behind to break the glue loose. They also had been stappled. I felt it was easier to remake the face frames rather then covering them. I covered the ends of cabinets with 1/4 ply using contact cement.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I just wanted to say that your new cabinets look suspiciously like the ones that I used when I replaced mine.