Cabinet Refacing or Replacement: Which Makes Sense for Your Los Angeles Kitchen?
Refacing keeps the boxes and changes the face; replacement changes the kitchen. Here is how to tell which one your kitchen needs, what each can and cannot fix, and where each lands in our 2026 planning tiers.
Reface when the cabinet boxes are plywood or solid wood, square, dry and in the layout you want to keep, and the problem is the look: doors, drawer fronts, finish, hardware. Replace when the boxes are swollen particleboard, the layout is wrong, you want an island, taller uppers, drawers instead of doors or a different kitchen altogether, or when the walls and systems are being opened anyway. In most Los Angeles kitchens over 25 years old, replacement is the better value once the walls are open. In Right Image Builders' 2026 planning tiers, refacing is a Refresh-tier project ($32K–$70K for a same-layout kitchen refresh, with refacing at the lower end of that band); new cabinets in the same layout sit in the upper half of the Refresh tier or in the Full Remodel tier ($50K–$130K); a new layout with walls opened is the Open-Concept tier ($85K–$225K+).
Right Image Builders remodels kitchens across the San Fernando Valley with its own crew under CSLB #1021284 and one fixed written price after a free on-site estimate.
What refacing actually is
Refacing keeps the cabinet boxes screwed to the wall and replaces everything you see: new doors and drawer fronts, new hinges and slides, new hardware, and a matching veneer or paint on the exposed box faces and end panels. Done well it reads as a new kitchen at a glance. Done badly it is a laminate skin over tired boxes. It changes nothing about the layout, the counter height, the box depth or the interior fittings unless you add them.
Replacement removes the boxes, which is also the moment to fix what is behind them: outdated wiring and outlets, galvanized or leaking supply lines, uneven floors and out-of-square walls, a vent hood duct that goes nowhere. New boxes bring full-extension drawers, taller uppers to the ceiling, an island, a pantry wall and the proportions of a modern kitchen.
Refacing vs. replacement at a glance
| Refacing | Replacement | |
|---|---|---|
| Keeps | Boxes, layout, counters usually, plumbing and electrical in place | Nothing you do not want; counters, sink and appliances often change with it |
| Changes | Doors, drawer fronts, hardware, finish, face frames | Layout, storage type, heights, island, pantry, counters, lighting, systems |
| Where it lands (Right Image Builders 2026 tiers) | Refresh tier, $32K–$70K for a same-layout kitchen refresh; refacing at the lower end | Upper Refresh or Full Remodel tier $50K–$130K in the same layout; Open-Concept $85K–$225K+ with walls opened |
| Condition required | Sound plywood or solid-wood boxes, square and dry | Any; replacement is how failed particleboard boxes are dealt with |
| Permits | None for cabinet faces alone; electrical or plumbing changes need permits | Permits for the electrical, plumbing and any wall or structural work |
| Time on site | Days to about two weeks | Typical kitchen build 5–8 weeks on site once permits are issued |
| Living through it | Kitchen stays mostly usable | Kitchen out of service; temporary kitchen set up elsewhere |
| Resale | Reads as updated; appraisers see original cabinets | Reads as a remodeled kitchen |
| Best for | Good boxes, good layout, a budget focused on the look | Old or failed boxes, a layout change, an island, the kitchen you actually want |
How to tell whether the boxes are worth keeping
- Material. Open a sink base and look at the sides and floor: plywood or solid wood boxes that are dry and square can be refaced; particleboard that has swelled at the bottom, a sagging floor under the sink or delaminated sides cannot.
- Squareness. Doors that will not line up after adjustment usually mean racked boxes, and new doors will not hang straight on them.
- Layout. If the fridge blocks a doorway, the dishwasher is across the room from the sink, or you want an island, no door style fixes that.
- Height and depth. 1950s and 1960s Valley kitchens often have 30-inch uppers with a soffit above; refacing keeps the soffit and the lost storage.
- What is behind them. If the kitchen is due for new wiring, plumbing or a hood duct, the boxes come off the wall anyway, and refacing stops making sense.
Where each lands in the 2026 tiers
Our kitchen planning tiers are by scope, not by cabinet type. A Refresh, $32K–$70K Valley-wide, keeps the layout and updates surfaces: refaced or new same-layout cabinets, counters, backsplash, fixtures, lighting and paint; a refacing-only project sits at the low end of that band, and new boxes in the same layout toward the top of it or into the Full Remodel tier. A Full Remodel, $50K–$130K, replaces cabinets and counters and brings plumbing and electrical to code in the same footprint. An Open-Concept kitchen, $85K–$225K+, removes a wall, adds an island and reworks the systems. The kitchen remodel cost guide shows the tiers by neighborhood and what moves a project within them, and the refresh vs. full remodel vs. open-concept guide helps you choose the tier.
What refacing cannot fix
- Storage type. A base cabinet with a door and a half-shelf stays that way; converting it to full-extension drawers means a new box or a retrofit kit that rarely fits a 1950s carcass.
- Counter height and depth. Older Valley kitchens often have counters below the modern 36 inches and uppers set low; refacing keeps both.
- Appliance openings. A 30-inch range opening stays 30 inches, the dishwasher stays where it is, and a counter-depth refrigerator still sticks out if the boxes around it were built for a smaller one.
- Lighting and electrical. Under-cabinet lighting, extra circuits for an induction range or a second oven, and outlets where the code now wants them are electrical work behind the boxes, not a door style.
- Smell, grease and sag. Thirty years of cooking live in the boxes; a new face over a sagging shelf or a greasy interior is still a sagging, greasy cabinet.
Doors, drawer fronts and hardware: where refacing shines
When the boxes pass, refacing lets you spend on what you touch and see. Shaker or slab doors in paint-grade maple or a rift-cut oak veneer, soft-close hinges and drawer slides, new pulls, a matching end panel on the peninsula and a light rail under the uppers change the room more than most people expect, and the money that would have gone into new boxes goes into a quartz counter, a tiled backsplash and good lighting instead. The result reads as a new kitchen to anyone who does not open the sink base.
Permits and timelines
Changing cabinet faces needs no permit. The moment outlets move, a circuit is added for an induction range or a dishwasher, a sink or gas line relocates, or a wall opens, the work is permitted through LADBS inside the City of Los Angeles or through the city building department in Burbank, Glendale and Beverly Hills, with inspections at rough and final. Refacing takes days to two weeks with the kitchen mostly usable; a replacement kitchen typically runs 5–8 weeks on site once permits are issued, with a temporary kitchen set up elsewhere in the house.
How we recommend deciding
Ask two questions. Do you like where everything is? Are the boxes sound? Two yeses and the look is the problem: reface, and spend the difference on counters, lighting and a better faucet. One no and the kitchen needs new cabinets, and the only remaining question is whether the layout changes with them. We inspect the boxes, the wiring and the plumbing at the free on-site estimate and give one fixed written price for the scope you choose.
Sources (checked October 2026): Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, plan check and permit information; Right Image Builders service and neighborhood pages (2026 planning ranges, timelines, permit authorities). Cost figures are Right Image Builders' 2026 planning ranges from its service and neighborhood pages.
Frequently Asked
Questions
Yes when the boxes are sound plywood or solid wood, square and dry, and the layout works; new doors, fronts, hardware and finish then read as a new kitchen for the low end of the Refresh tier ($32K–$70K Valley-wide for a same-layout kitchen refresh). It is not worth it on swollen particleboard boxes, racked frames or a layout you want to change.
Refacing sits at the low end of our Refresh tier and new cabinets in the same layout toward its top or into the Full Remodel tier ($50K–$130K); the gap narrows once counters, lighting, backsplash and the electrical and plumbing behind the boxes are counted, because those are the same either way. The fixed price follows a free on-site look at the boxes.
Usually yes, if the counters are in good shape and you are not changing door overlay or box heights. New doors and drawer fronts hang on the existing boxes under the existing counter. If the counter is being replaced anyway, that is often the moment to ask whether the boxes should go with it.
Not for the cabinet faces or boxes themselves. Permits are required when electrical or plumbing changes, when a wall opens or when structure is touched, through LADBS inside the City of Los Angeles or your city building department; a replacement kitchen almost always includes some of that, a refacing rarely does.
Refacing takes days to about two weeks with the kitchen mostly usable. A replacement kitchen typically takes 5–8 weeks on site once permits are issued, longer when a wall opens or the layout changes, with the kitchen out of service.
It changes their face, not their size: the 30-inch uppers and the soffit above them stay, and so does the lost storage. Removing the soffit and running new uppers to the ceiling is a replacement job, and in most 1950s Valley kitchens the boxes behind the soffit are not worth keeping anyway.
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GuideRefresh vs. Full Remodel vs. Open-Concept
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Ranch and hillside kitchens →
By NeighborhoodKitchen Remodel Contractor in Studio City
Opening the layout →
Have the Boxes
Looked At
Free on-site estimate across the San Fernando Valley: the cabinet boxes, wiring and plumbing checked, a straight answer on refacing versus replacing, and one fixed price in writing.
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