Cabinet Refacing & Door Replacement in Los Angeles, CA

Reface vs replace cabinets: check the boxes first

Refacing only pays off when the structure underneath is worth keeping. Open every cabinet and look for the following before you shop for doors:

• Sink base floor is flat and dry, not swollen, soft or delaminating
• Box sides and face frames are tight, with no loose joints or racking
• Shelves are not sagging and shelf pins still hold
• Drawer boxes slide, or could slide once new glides are fitted
• The layout works for you: the sink, range and refrigerator are where you want them
• Countertops are staying, or you are happy to replace them separately

If two or more of these fail, especially the sink base, new cabinets are usually the better spend. Stock and semi-custom cabinets are the most common budget route when the boxes have to go. Our guide on cabinet refacing vs. new cabinets goes deeper into the trade-off.

Which Los Angeles kitchens make good refacing candidates?

Refacing works best on the cabinet types that are common across the region’s housing stock:

• 1970s–90s tract kitchens in places like Santa Clarita, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, with oak face frames and cathedral doors on boxes that are often still square.
• Site-built 1950s cabinets in Valley and Gateway Cities ranch houses, sometimes built in place from plywood in odd sizes that new stock boxes would not match.
• 2000s condo kitchens where thermofoil doors are peeling but the boxes are fine.

Poor candidates are kitchens where a slab leak or a failed dishwasher hose has soaked the base run.

What kitchen cabinet door replacement can cover

Refacing is a range, not one fixed package. The scope below runs from the lightest touch to a near-new kitchen face:

Which parts of that range are handled for a particular kitchen, and by whom, should be confirmed with the showroom team when they see your photos or measurements.

New cabinet doors, veneer and drawer front replacement

Choosing the doors

Replacement doors can be chosen from the same profiles and finishes used for new kitchens. Simple Shaker doors and flat slabs are the usual picks for a modern update, and both look right on most face-frame boxes. The full set of profiles and woods is on cabinet door styles and finishes.

Cabinet veneer for frames and sides

On a full reface, the face frames and exposed end panels are covered so they match the new doors. Wood veneer suits stained doors; rigid thermofoil or laminate skins suit painted-look and solid-color doors. The surface has to be clean, sound and well bonded, so grease-soaked frames near the range need proper preparation first.

Drawer fronts and drawer boxes

Drawer fronts are replaced to match the doors. If the old drawer boxes are stapled particleboard with worn roller glides, this is the moment to swap them for dovetailed or doweled boxes on full-extension, soft-close glides, since the fronts are coming off anyway.

How does cabinet refacing cost compare with new cabinets?

Refacing typically costs less than a full replacement because there is no demolition, no new boxes and usually no new countertop. The exact number depends on choices like these:

• Number of doors and drawer fronts: the single largest factor.
• Door style and material: solid wood and painted doors cost more than thermofoil or laminate fronts.
• Door-only vs full reface: covering face frames and end panels adds material and labor.
• Hardware: new concealed soft-close hinges and pulls on every door add up across a large kitchen.
• Storage upgrades: new drawer boxes, roll-outs and trash pull-outs.
• Extras: crown molding, light rail, new toe kicks or a new end panel on the island.

Because the countertop stays, refacing also avoids the cost and disruption of templating and installing new stone.

Starting a door replacement project at the showroom

1. 1

   Photograph the kitchen

   Take straight-on photos of every wall, plus close-ups of the sink base, a hinge, a drawer box and a face-frame corner.

2. 2

   Count and measure

   List every door and drawer front with its width and height, and note whether the existing doors overlay the frame or sit inside it.

3. 3

   Choose the new face

   Compare door profiles, wood and painted samples and hardware at the showroom, holding them next to your existing counter if it is staying.

4. 4

   Confirm the scope

   Decide between doors only, a full reface or added storage upgrades once the condition of the boxes is known.

5. 5

   Order and schedule

   Final sizes are checked before ordering; ask for the expected arrival window so you know when the kitchen will be in use with doors off.

When is cabinet refacing in Los Angeles the wrong fix?

A new face on a damaged box only hides the problem for a while. Skip refacing and look at replacement when:

• The sink base is water damaged. Swollen particleboard does not recover. See water-damaged cabinets for what to do after a leak.
• The layout has to change. Moving the sink or range means new plumbing, gas or electrical lines, which require a permit (from LADBS for City of LA addresses) and licensed plumbing or electrical contractors.
• The boxes are racked or loose. If doors will not hang square on the box, new doors will not either.
• You want to change the box depth or height. Refacing keeps the existing footprint.

In homes built before 1978, sanding or scraping old painted surfaces can disturb lead paint; the EPA’s lead-safe RRP rule covers renovators doing that work for pay. Refacing crews fall under the CSLB’s C-6 class for cabinet and millwork; search the company on the board’s license lookup, and for a pre-1978 house ask whether the firm is set up for RRP lead-safe work.

Why consider Adcom for cabinet door replacement

• Door replacement is a listed service. Google review tags for the business include kitchen cabinet door replacement.
• Doors chosen in person. Maple, cherry, oak, hickory, thermofoil and painted doors can be compared in one visit.
• Full replacement is right there if needed. If the boxes fail the check, local and imported cabinet lines are on the same floor.
• Counters and backsplash too. If the old laminate top is the next thing to go, slab and prefab countertops and tile are displayed beside the doors.

Refacing is popular in neighborhoods full of solid older cabinetry, including Burbank, Glendale and much of the City of Los Angeles, as well as townhomes and condos in Santa Clarita.