Cabinet Refacing vs. Replacing: Which Costs Less in 2026?

Refacing costs less, and it is not close. In the Newnan and south Atlanta metro area, refacing a typical kitchen of about 30 linear feet runs about $6,000 to $13,000 installed, while new stock or semi-custom cabinets run about $12,000 to $30,000 and custom work starts around $30,000. The real question is not which is cheaper. It is whether your cabinet boxes are worth keeping. I have opened up plenty of kitchens where the answer was yes, and plenty where refacing would have been throwing good money at bad boxes.

Key takeaways

• Refacing keeps the boxes. You get new doors, new drawer fronts, new veneer on the frames, and new hardware. The layout does not change.
• Cost gap is roughly half. Reface about $6,000 to $13,000 installed. New cabinets about $12,000 to $30,000 for stock and semi-custom, more for custom.
• Imported cabinets carry a 25 percent duty right now. That rate has been in place since October 14, 2025, and the scheduled jump to 50 percent was pushed back to January 1, 2027.
• The boxes decide, not the budget. Solid plywood or firm particleboard, square frames, no water damage at the sink base, and refacing is on the table.
• Fronts-only work returns well. A minor kitchen remodel, which is mostly new fronts and hardware, recouped 112.9 percent of its cost nationally in the 2025 Cost vs. Value Report by Zonda.

What refacing changes, and what it does not

Refacing changes the parts you see and leaves the rest alone. New doors and drawer fronts go on, a matching wood veneer or laminate skin covers the face frames and exposed end panels, and every hinge and pull is new. The boxes, the shelves, and the layout stay exactly where they are.

That is the part homeowners miss. Refacing cannot move a sink, widen a run of cabinets, take out a wall, add an island, or turn shallow shelves into deep drawers. If your complaint is that the kitchen looks tired, refacing fixes it. If your complaint is that you have nowhere to put a mixing bowl, it does not.

Painting is a third option that gets confused with refacing. Painting keeps your existing doors and just changes the color, so any dents, grain, or dated profiles come along with it. Refacing gives you a new door style, which is why a 1990s oak kitchen can come out looking like a new shaker kitchen without the boxes ever leaving the wall.

What each option costs in 2026

Here are the numbers I quote most often on kitchen remodeling jobs around Newnan, based on a kitchen with about 30 linear feet of cabinets. These are estimates, not quotes, and your kitchen sets the real price.

	Refacing	New cabinets
Installed cost, 30 linear feet	$6,000 to $13,000	$12,000 to $30,000 stock and semi-custom, $30,000 and up custom
Time in your house	2 to 4 days	2 to 3 weeks
Layout changes	No	Yes
Counters	Usually stay	Come off, often replaced
Kitchen usable during work	Mostly yes	No

What moves the refacing number: how many doors and drawers you have, since the count drives the price more than the room size does; the door material, with rigid thermofoil at the low end, wood veneer in the middle, and solid wood at the top; whether you add soft-close hinges and glides; and whether you add new interior parts like pull-out trays.

What moves the replacement number: stock versus semi-custom versus custom, plus everything that follows the cabinets out. New counters, a new backsplash, moved plumbing, and added circuits are separate line items, and they are why full replacements land where they do.

One more number worth knowing before you decide. In the 2025 Cost vs. Value Report by Zonda, released September 18, 2025, a minor midrange kitchen remodel cost $28,458 nationally and returned $32,141 at resale, or 112.9 percent. That project is defined as leaving the cabinet boxes in place and replacing the fronts and hardware, along with new counters, appliances, and flooring. It was the only interior project in the national top five.

The cabinet tariff, and why the timing matters this year

Imported cabinets cost more than they did two years ago, and that is not a rumor. Under a Section 232 action, imported kitchen cabinets and vanities carry a 25 percent duty on goods entered on or after October 14, 2025.

That rate was set to double to 50 percent on January 1, 2026. It did not. Proclamation 11000, signed December 31, 2025, pushed the increase to January 1, 2027, so the 25 percent rate is what applies through the rest of this year. A lot of pages online still say cabinets are at 50 percent. They are not, at least not yet.

Two practical takeaways. First, if you are replacing cabinets with imported boxes, the quote you get this fall is under the lower rate. Second, ask where the boxes and doors are made. Cabinets built in the United States are not subject to the import duty at all, and that answer can move a quote by thousands.

5 things I check before I tell someone to reface

This is the walk-through I do in every kitchen before I give an opinion, and it takes about ten minutes.

1. The sink base. I open the doors under the sink and press on the deck and the bottom panel. Slow leaks swell particleboard from the inside out. A soft or crumbling sink base is the most common reason I tell people to replace.
2. Box material and screw holes. Plywood boxes are the easy yes. Particleboard can still work if it is dry and firm, but if old hinge screws spin in their holes, new doors have nothing to hang from.
3. Whether the frames are square. I hold a level on the face frames and check that the existing doors close flat. Boxes that have racked or settled will show every gap once crisp new doors go on.
4. How you use the kitchen. If you tell me you are always short on counter space, or two people cannot pass behind the island, that is a layout problem. New fronts will not fix it, and I will say so.
5. The door and drawer count. I count them, because that is the number the price is built on. Two kitchens the same size can be several thousand dollars apart when one has twice the drawers.

When new cabinets are the right call

Replacement earns its cost in five situations: the boxes are water damaged or falling apart, you want the layout changed, you are removing a wall or adding an island, you want deep drawers where fixed shelves are now, or the cabinets are so shallow or short that no new door fixes the storage.

The kitchen above is one of ours, a full replacement for a client here in Newnan. The old kitchen had a cramped run and tired boxes, so refacing was never the answer. New boxes let us set the island where the family actually needed it, run the drawers deeper on the range wall, and take the countertops and backsplash to the ceiling line. That is the kind of change only replacement buys.

Which one is right for you

• Reface if the boxes are sound, the layout works, and you want a new look for the lowest cost. This is most 1990s and 2000s subdivision kitchens around Coweta County and Fayette County, where the boxes were built better than the doors.
• Paint if you like your door style and only want a color change, and you are willing to live with the wear that is already there.
• Replace if the boxes are damaged, the layout fights you, or you are already opening walls, moving plumbing, or adding an island.
• Still not sure? Get one contractor to price both on the same kitchen. If the reface number lands close to the replacement number, which happens when a kitchen has a lot of doors, buy the new boxes.

QWR Remodeling and Handyman Services is a family-run, licensed and insured remodeler based in Newnan, with more than 20 years of kitchen work across Coweta County, Fayette County, Peachtree City, Fayetteville, and the south Atlanta metro. You can see finished kitchens and baths in our project gallery, and larger projects can be financed through Hearth.

FAQ

Is cabinet refacing worth it?

It is worth it when the boxes are solid and the layout already works for you. You get new doors, new drawer fronts, and new hardware for roughly half the cost of new cabinets, and the kitchen stays usable most of the week. If the boxes are swollen or the layout is the real problem, refacing spends money without fixing it.

How long does cabinet refacing take?

On a typical kitchen of about 30 linear feet, my crew is in and out in two to four days. Full cabinet replacement usually runs two to three weeks, longer if the counters, backsplash, plumbing, or electrical move with it.

Can you reface particleboard cabinets?

Sometimes, but I check them first. Particleboard boxes that are dry, square, and firm can take new fronts. Boxes that have swollen at the sink base, sagged under weight, or lost their screw holes will not hold new hinges, and refacing those is money you get back in problems.

Is painting kitchen cabinets cheaper than refacing?

Yes. Painting the doors and frames you already have usually runs about $2,500 to $6,000 in this area, compared to about $6,000 to $13,000 to reface. Painting keeps your existing door style and any wear in the wood, so it is a finish change, not a new face.

Do the 2026 cabinet tariffs affect refacing too?

They can. The 25 percent Section 232 duty applies to imported kitchen cabinets and vanities, and imported door and drawer fronts fall under that same wood product action. Doors built in the United States are not hit by the import duty, so ask your contractor where the doors are made before you sign.

Do I need a permit to replace kitchen cabinets in Coweta County?

A like-for-like cabinet swap with no change to plumbing, electrical, or walls usually does not need one, but moving a sink, adding circuits, or taking out a wall does. Rules vary by county and subdivision, so a licensed contractor confirms it with Coweta County Building Permits and Inspections and pulls what is needed.

Ready to price your kitchen both ways?

If you are weighing refacing against new cabinets anywhere in Newnan or the south Atlanta metro, I will look at your boxes and price it honestly, both ways, in writing. Book an appointment for a free, itemized estimate, or call (770) 983-8856. Built on quality. Backed by trust.