Replacing kitchen doors and drawer fronts only

[Imp]

Hi

Long time lurker, but first post! Hello!

I'm wanting to 'refresh' the look of my kitchen by replacing the doors and drawer fronts only. Does anyone know of anyone in Perth who does this at an affordable price?

Thanks :)

[dazzler]

Why not pull the doors off and rock down to a kitchen shop and get them to make you some nice new ones and screw them on. Get a benchtop resurfacing company to come and do the top.

[Imp]

Why not pull the doors off and rock down to a kitchen shop and get them to make you some nice new ones and screw them on. Get a benchtop resurfacing company to come and do the top.

Thanks...I did think of that, but...this might sound dumb, but I'm worried they might not fit! I want the new doors to be bigger than the current doors (at the moment there are gaps).

[gator3535]

Sorry to offer bad new .. but after over 20 years in this industry .. I can provide you with some knowledgeable advice.

After you do all this work .. the extra cost you will pay to have things custom made and retro-fited to your old existing cabinets will put you equal to or more tht a new kitchen . Do yourself a favour .. do a complete costing of this project (do omit things like trips to Mitre 10 for screws ..etc .. because there will be many of those trips!) and get a quote on new cabinets.

You might be suprised at what you will find. Door and drawer fronts are 75% the cost of the new kitchen .. so new fronts on old cabinets is not that mch cheaper.

Also .. when you are done dressing up the old kitchen .. you likely have not really improved the value of the house ... so your investment ..whatever it is .. is not as wise an investment as a new kitchen.

Just my opinon Cheers!!

[big_gumbo]

If you can get offcuts from work for free, then it's worth it

[Wood Borer]

Try making them yourself, I'm sure the cost would be much lower.

[arms]

not if you take into account the time and possible stuffups it isnt

[Wood Borer]

By making them yourself, you can have any design you want, make them out of any material you like.

My impression with kitchen places is you can have any design you like out of the limited range in their current catalogue. Last year's patterns are no longer available. What are CNC machines for?

I know of people who have been told to replace all their doors with new ones because the pattern of the one damaged door is no longer in production:(( What a load of rubbish and an underhanded way of making an unnecessary sale.

There are many alternatives such as small time operators who are happy to make one offs to any pattern or making the doors yourself.

[arms]

know of people who have been told to replace all their doors with new ones because the pattern of the one damaged door is no longer in production:(( What a load of rubbish and an underhanded way of making an unnecessary sale.


if a kitchen manufacturer tells you that something is no longer in production ,they are not saying it to make more money ,you as customers make the final decision on whether to purchase or not anyway ,if you can find the product you are looking for after being told that it is no longer in production then good and well ,but my money is on the safe side ,its no longer available !

[gator3535]

I would at least get a price (or 3) on a new kitchen (uninstalled) just so you know. Then .. if you do it yourself and keep track of all the stuff you buy along the way and add it up in the end, you will atleast know what the difference was.

[Wood Borer]

I am a woodworker like most of the people here on this forum. I have tools, machines and skills to make lots of things including simple kitchen doors.

I certainly would not replace my entire kitchen costing $1000's of dollars for the sake of a few doors that I could make in a few hours. Sure, if you don't have the equipment and/or skills to make doors then you pay someone who can.

It is a pointless argument from my perspective as we have a mostly solid timber kitchen and any repairs or replacements will and are done by me.

[arms]

sorry to burst everyones bubble here ,the origional post didnt mention the style/material/composition of the doors in question.
Perhaps we should all sit back and ask
1 what are you trying to match
2 the material you are trying to match
3 the style you are trying to match
With this information we (collectively)can respond with the knowledge required

[durwood]

Just finished replacing doors with new ones plus new bench tops.

Its a rental house, belongs to my daughter, she tracked down a guy on ebay who did doors finished in 2 pack Urethane enamel. I measured the doors sent him a list by email.

They arrived with a first class job especially on the paint. They were even buffed to get max gloss. Ordered new bench tops from Laminex. Havn't got the exact costs in front of me but it was a fraction of the cost for new kitchen cabinets etc from kitchen places.

The only thing I had to do was drill for the hinges on the new doors. I made a jig for them all the same just left and right . Had to be careful not to get them mixed up, but no problem. Took a day and a bit for the lot.

[arms]

buffing doors just gets the grit from the air out of the finish ,a true poly sprayer will get a glass finish off the gun not buff.
(just a comment )

[Imp]

Gee, didn't want to start an argument!

I have timber doors that are falling to pieces. I just want something hardwearing and practical so I think I'll go with laminate. I got a quote to replace the bench top from Granite Transformation that I'm happy with, and now I need new doors. I also need new hinges etc.

I am going to get quotes to replace the whole kitchen, but this isn't hard as lots of places will quote me on that! It's just that none of them are interested in doors only. I just wonder why I should rip out perfectly good cabinets, seems a waste to me! But if it's the same price then I suppose I will do that and take the opportunity to put drawers in instead of cabinets in places. But still seems a waste... But we live in a throwaway society, don't we...

[Wood Borer]

You didn't start an argument - just a couple of people with different ideas coming from different perspectives trying to help you. We are defending our opposing strongheld views - nothing personal.

It does seem a pity that you have to throw away the perfectly good old cabinets and replace them with possibly identical ones. If you need to replace the doors again in two years time it seems the kitchen people will possibly ask you to replace the cabinets yet again.:((

Doesn't make any sense to me either but it makes perfect sense to those who make $$$'s out of assembling/selling kitchens.

Fortunately they don't design cars - need a new ash tray? It is cheaper and easier to buy a new car because yours is last year's model:o

[arms]

thats right ,the best decisions always come from listening to several sides of a problem

[woodbe]

Persevere Imp, you'll find someone to do it for you. Don't let the nay-sayers put you off.

We had the same problem when we bought our house. No money and a tired kitchen. It even had mosaic tile benchtops!

I tracked down a cabinetmaker, (not a kitchen shop), and had them come and measure up for a laminate benchtop. While they were there, they took away all the fronts of the doors and drawers. A week later, they returned with the new top and repaired/rejuvenated fronts. Really spruced things up, and the whole job cost a fraction of a new kitchen. Lasted for 6 years until we did the big renovation, and still looked good then, but it had to go as we were moving walls etc.

woodbe.

[SAISAY]

We are in the process of renovating our kitchen.
I absolutely detest laminex, vinyl, 2 pack and timber imported from countries that have no regard for the destruction they do to their forests.
I do not have a sawbench large enough to handle full sheets, so I went to my local cabinetmaker and asked him to cut them up for me. No problem as long as I get it done when he has down time.
Let me first say that I have never made a door in my life until I started this.
I do not like the run-of-the-mill doors and my cabinetmaker said it would be far too costly for him to make them the way I wanted them, a modified cathedral style.
Soooooo, I bought the kitchen door router bits from Carba-tec and some cheap pine from Mitre10 Building centre.
Then, as a learning curve we decided to put new doors in our bathroom cabinet, just plain old rail and stile ones.
I surfed the net and found a lot of informataion about making rail and stile doors.
I just finished them and think they don't look too bad at all. The colour in the pic is bad, the doors are actually a lovely golden honey colour, like aged pine. They were nowhere near as difficult to make as I thought.
When it came to the hinges, we bought a forstner bit at the right size. Then we cut the stile off the old door and cut the hinge holes right through the door. This was out template for the new doors. We set the hight on the vertical drill by using another door as a sample.
The click on Blum style click on hinges are a breeze to put it.and adjust.
We needed a special hinge for the 32 degree door at the end and got it from www.hardware.net.au. (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/www.hardware.net.au.) Ray is very helpful and, if he doesn't carry what you want, he will get it in for you. In my case he had to get the hinges from overseas. His shipping costs are great too.
Now we are ready to tackle the kitchen cabinet doors.
For the benchtop we got local silver ash, the local cabinetmaker cut them to size, we fitted them. He also supplied knotfree Tasmanian Pine for the doors.
So far, not including the router bits the kitchen cabinets have cost us just under $2.000 and we are talking about 7 metres of L shaped kitchen cabinets.

As a sideline, I was up at the cabinetmakers one day when a customer brought in solid timber rail and stile doors that were pre-made by a large company and falling apart. No wonder they were. Presumably to save cost and to save time cleaning the joints after assembly, they were so starved of glue one could barely see it :rolleyes:

So, don't tell me it is not worth it renewing the doors and benchtops on existing cabinets.
All it takes is give-it-a-go :D
Wolffie

[seafurymike]

I'm with wolffie,

I am building my kitchen in the way i want it.
Along the way I have acquired some really nice tools, some really great experience and a bucket load of enjoyment. The missus loves it too and we have been at this for about 6 weeks.

Next is the island bench and a stand alone cabinet for glasses, etc.
The money i have saved on not farming it out has allowed me to buy the tools which will allow me to build other wonderful items for the house.
Plus, i reckon I've saved at least $5K on the project, even with the equipment purchased.

/M