Service 02 of 11 · Phoenix, AZ
Kitchen Cabinets in Phoenix, AZ
Refacing keeps the boxes and changes the faces, and replacement takes the boxes out and starts over. This page covers the difference, what each costs, the door and box choices that hold up in Arizona heat, and what to check before an order goes in.
Last updated
01Cabinets
What is the difference between refacing, refinishing and replacement?
Refacing keeps the cabinet boxes and applies new doors, drawer fronts and a veneer on the visible frame. Refinishing keeps the existing doors and changes the finish on them. Replacement takes the boxes out and starts over. Refacing costs less because the boxes stay and the layout stays, so the plumbing, the electrical and often the counter stay too. The limit is the box itself: a 30 year old particleboard box with water damage at the sink cannot be refaced, because the new door hangs on the old frame. Refinishing is the cheapest of the 3 and the most sensitive to what sits under the old finish. A painted door with 3 coats on it has to be stripped or sanded before anything new will hold.
02Cabinets
Where do cabinet projects go wrong?
Measurements and lead times. Most failures start with a wall that is not straight, a ceiling that drops 2 inches across 12 feet, or a soffit nobody planned around, and they end with filler strips wider than the stiles. The other common one is ordering before the electrical plan is final, so a panel or a bank of switches lands behind a cabinet. Then there is the sink base: a 33 inch base under a 30 inch sink leaves no room for the faucet, and nobody notices until the counter is templated. Measure the room at 3 heights, check every corner for square, and confirm the appliance specs before the order is signed. A reorder costs a month, not a day.
03Costs
What do kitchen cabinets cost in Phoenix?
Refacing runs $4,270 to $10,200 and refinishing runs $1,900 to $4,500, both published ranges from a national cost guide. Replacement sits inside a bigger job: a major remodel with new cabinets and counters lands at $20,000 to $65,000, and cabinets are nearly 30% of a kitchen budget on their own. Stock boxes, semi custom and full custom are 3 price tiers on the same wall. A galley with 12 linear feet is not the same order as an L shape with 22 linear feet and 3 tall units. Pricing by linear foot and by cabinet shows what the tall pantry actually adds. Published market ranges, not a quote: the final price is set after an on-site assessment.
04Costs
What moves the price of kitchen cabinets?
Box construction, door style and drawer count, in that order. A plywood box with a dovetail drawer and full extension glides costs more than a particleboard box with a stapled drawer, and it lasts longer in a kitchen with a slow faucet leak. A shaker door in painted MDF is the value pick. A 5 piece wood door with a glaze is the expensive one. Tall cabinets, glass inserts, pull out trays, soft close hinges and a corner carousel each add a line to the quote. So does anything that is not a standard width: a 27 inch opening with a 24 inch box needs a filler, and a filler is a visible strip on the finished run. Standard sizes cost less because the shop builds them every week.
05Cabinets
Which cabinet material matters most?
The box, not the door. Doors are what you see and the box is what carries the weight. Look for plywood sides and a solid top rail at the sink base, where water gets in. Particleboard is fine in a dry closet and a poor choice under a sink in a house with hard water. Door material follows use: painted MDF is stable and repaintable, thermofoil is a vinyl skin over MDF that can peel at the edges in heat, and solid wood moves with humidity. Hinges and glides matter as much as the box, because they are the parts that fail first. Soft close hinges are cheap to add at order time and expensive to add later.
06Cabinets
What does Arizona heat do to cabinet finishes?
Sun and heat fade and lift finishes, and the effect is uneven across a room. A cabinet face that takes direct afternoon sun through a west window will shift color before the rest of the run, so a 2 tone result can show up within a few years. Near a range, heat and steam attack the bottom edge of the upper doors and the crown. Thermofoil is the finish most likely to peel in that spot. Painted wood and laminate hold better. Keep the house under 80 degrees when nobody is home if the kitchen has a west wall of glass, and put the finish sample in the actual window before you commit to a dark color. Samples fade too, and that tells you something.
07Cabinets
What does water do to the cabinet under the sink?
More damage than any other cabinet in the kitchen, and it starts on day 1. A slow drip at the supply, a disposal that leaks at the flange and a hard water film on the box floor all work on the same panel. The sink base is the one cabinet worth spending on: plywood box, a plastic liner or a metal base tray, and a shutoff you can reach without unloading the cabinet. Hard water also marks the front of the door below the handle. Wipe it dry and the finish survives. Leave it and the paint at the bottom edge softens. Fix the leak before the new cabinet goes in, or the new one inherits the problem.
08Permits
Do I need a permit to replace kitchen cabinets?
Not for a like for like swap in the same footprint with the same electrical. Yes if the layout moves, if a circuit is added for a microwave or a disposal, if a gas line moves, or if a wall comes out. The City of Phoenix lists replacing cabinets and fixtures in existing locations with no new electrical or structural changes as work that needs no permit, and electrical updates, gas line modifications and wall removals as work that does (City of Phoenix (opens in a new tab)). Cabinet replacement that shifts a range 2 feet to the left is a layout change, even though it looks like a cabinet job from the invoice. Settle the permit question before the order, because the answer changes the schedule and sometimes the cabinet size. A taller cabinet over a moved range hood is a different order. A permit description also has to name what moved, and that reads off the plan, not off the invoice.
09Timeline
How long does a cabinet order and install take?
Fixr lists stock cabinets at 1 to 2 weeks for delivery, semi-custom at 4 to 8 weeks and custom at 3 to 6 months or longer, plus 2 to 3 days to install stock or semi-custom boxes. Install itself is set, level, shim, screw, then doors and drawers, then hardware. Nothing gets templated until the boxes are set and level, so an install can hold up the counter if the run is not square. The order is released after the site measure, and the site measure happens after demolition when the walls are being opened. Release is the date that matters: an order that sits 2 weeks waiting on a signature is 2 weeks late before the shop has cut anything.
10Cabinets
What should I check before the cabinet order goes in?
6 things: the site measure at 3 heights, every appliance spec including the refrigerator door swing, the electrical plan with the panel and switch locations marked, the window and door trim, the ceiling height and soffit, and the counter overhang at any seating. Measuring at 3 heights catches a wall that is not straight or a ceiling that drops. Then check the order against the room, not against the drawing. A 36 inch aisle can become 33 inches when a panel and a filler are added, and 33 inches is a tight kitchen. Confirm the sink base width against the sink, confirm the hood width against the range, and line up the delivery date with the demo date. Then walk the order once more with a tape measure in hand. The 30 minutes it takes is cheaper than a cabinet that has to be rebuilt.
Kitchen Studio
Swap the finishes. Watch the kitchen change.
A design preview, not a price. Pick a finish for each part of the kitchen, drag the line to compare, then send your picks with your project.
114 questions
Questions people ask
Still have a question? Call (747) 243-2089 and describe the kitchen.
01Can I reface cabinets myself?
Yes, with the right doors and a lot of patience. The frame has to be flat, clean and square, and any water damage has to be cut out and patched before veneer goes on. Most homeowners get a good result on a small bathroom vanity and a poor one on a full kitchen, because the run is long and every high spot shows. The doors are the easy part. The frame prep is the work.
02How long do cabinets last in Phoenix?
A plywood box with quality hinges lasts decades. A particleboard box under a leaking sink can fail in 5 years. Heat and dry air are kinder to cabinets than humidity, so the Phoenix climate is not the problem. Water is. The parts that fail first are the hinges, the glides and the box floor at the sink. Replace the hinges at 10 to 15 years and the boxes outlast the finish.
03Are stock cabinets good enough?
Often, yes. Stock boxes in standard sizes with a decent hinge are a sound choice for a rental, a flip or a kitchen with a simple layout. The limits show up when the room is out of square or the ceiling drops, because stock sizes cannot close a 3 inch gap without a wide filler. Semi custom buys you the odd width. Custom buys you the odd width and the odd height.
04Should I pick white or wood cabinets?
Pick by the light in the room, not by the trend. A north facing Phoenix kitchen with 1 window reads gray with a cool white and warm with a wood tone. A west facing kitchen with afternoon sun will yellow a cheap white paint within a few years. Wood shows dust less. White shows a dark scuff more. Both sell fine at resale. The door style dates faster than the color does.
12Keep reading
Related
- Kitchen remodeling services: all 11 service pages in one place.
- Kitchen remodel cost in Phoenix: the full range table and what moves it.
- Kitchen countertops: what sits on top and how it is supported.
- Kitchen remodeling: the full scope, permits and order of work.
- Kitchen islands: cabinet runs that stand on their own.
- Contact: send the room dimensions to talk through refacing and box choice.
