If your cabinets are looking old and worn, but you are also on a tight budget, fight the urge to replace them. Learning how to reface your cabinets can have them looking new and allows you to update the look of your home.

Here is a quick crash course on how to reface your cabinets.

Disassemble all cabinet doors and drawers: This is somewhat of a painstaking process as you also must remove all of the hardware, like cabinet door hinges or drawer handles. Make sure you keep all components of your cabinet doors and drawers in order so that you know how to reassemble them easily.

Sand and fix any divots: Sand the cabinets to make sure the surface is smooth. If you encounter any gouges or divots, simply fill those in with wood putty.

Install wood veneer: Applying this thin coating of decorative wood can instantly transform the aesthetics of your cabinets. To do this, coat the area you are veneering with a light layer of wood glue. You can hold the veneers in place by using brads that are set in place with a nail gun. You can also purchase wood veneer tape to help speed up the process of veneering the edges of cabinet doors. Make sure all the veneer is trimmed accordingly and runs flush with the cabinets, doors, and drawers.

Applying stain: Once the veneer is in place, you can go to work staining your cabinets. You can use either an old rag or a brush for this job. Start staining in the tight, harder to reach places that require most precision. These will be harder to reach if you started staining the large areas first. Give all components of your cabinets significant time to dry.

Reassembling cabinets: After the cabinets are completely dry, you can reinstall the hardware and put the cabinets back together. This is where your method of sorting the disassembled cabinet parts comes in handy.

Finding A Local Resource

While it might seem like a quick and easy process, a lot of precision is required in learning how to reface your cabinets and make them look good. There are a number of professionals that are trained in this art and reface cabinets regularly. Now, with TalkLocal, they are easy to find. Just log on to our website and type in what you’re looking for. We will do the rest.