Kitchen Cabinets

The most popular home improvement project is a kitchen makeover. A kitchen is the beating heart of most homes, and the area in which the most technological and design advances have been introduced in the past few decades. It's also the most cost-effective renovation in terms of return on investment if you plan on selling the house in the foreseeable future.

Depending on the size of the kitchen and how extensive the renovation is, a complete kitchen remodel could easily run as high as $30,000. It is possible, however, to update the look of your kitchen for considerably less than that by simply refacing the cabinets or possibly by replacing the cabinet doors if the cabinet structure is basically sound.

When refacing, the doors are removed and the surface of the wood is roughened to better hold glued-on sheets of thin wood veneer or laminate. Other visible parts of the cabinets are refaced, stained or painted to match the new doors. New hardware such as handles and hinges are attached when the doors go back on. Many people take the opportunity to have pull out drawers updated with new side-mounted tracks on rollers replacing old wood center glides.

To add decorative molding to cabinet doors, cabinet replacement would be the best option. This would replace the existing cabinet doors and drawer faces with new ones, with the cabinet frames and other visible parts stained or painted to match.

Replacing the entire cabinet structure is the most costly route, but may be the right choice if the kitchen is poorly designed. You would be able to add custom touches like installing slide-out shelving or drawers, adding new cabinets or pantry space, or installing an automatic dishwasher.