Call CabDoor Direct
1-800-800-9382
CabDoor Direct · Cabinet Refacing Guide
cabdoordirect.com
Cabinet Refacing Guide • 02 of 03
The Smart Path to a Fresh Kitchen
If you still like your kitchen layout, don't be so quick to tear it out.
New custom cabinet doors, drawer fronts, hardware, and a fresh finish can completely change what you see while leaving perfectly good cabinet boxes and countertops exactly where they are.
Cabinet refacing gives homeowners a way to dramatically update a kitchen without starting over from scratch.
Same kitchen. Very different first impression.
How Much Do You Want to Do?
You're doing this.
You handle the project from measuring and ordering through prep, painting, and installation.
Best suited for homeowners who have the skills, tools, time, and interest to take on the entire project.
Your share of the work
Most involvement. Most opportunity to reduce hired labor.
Pick the jobs you want. Hire out the ones you don't.
Measure your own doors. Order the new components directly. Install your hardware. Hire a professional painter for the cabinet boxes or a carpenter for installation.
Hybrid DIY lets you build the project around your skills, time, and budget.
Your share of the work
A little DIY. A little professional help. Entirely up to you.
You pick the look. Let the pros handle the rest.
Hire qualified professionals to manage painting, carpentry, installation, or the entire project while you choose your doors, drawer fronts, hardware, and finish.
Your share of the work
Less hands-on involvement for the homeowner.
We Can Do Some of the Work Before Your Doors Arrive
Either way, we've already done some of the work for you.
Pre-Primed Doors
Choose pre-primed cabinet doors when you want your new doors and existing cabinet boxes finished together on site.
The doors arrive with a professional primer foundation, ready for the finishing process.
Factory-Painted Doors
Factory-painted doors arrive finished, allowing your painter to concentrate on the existing cabinet boxes, frames, panels, and other surfaces that remain in the kitchen.
That means fewer door surfaces for the on-site painter to clean, repair, prep, prime, and paint.
Plan First. Paint Second.
Before the painter arrives, decide what the finished kitchen should look like and who is doing which parts of the project.
Then organize the project into three early decisions:
Measure your existing cabinets for new doors and drawer fronts.
CabDoor Direct's PerfectFit™ Measurement Wizard is designed to guide homeowners through gathering the measurements needed for their specific cabinet style.
If you're hiring a painter, carpenter, handyman, or contractor, get quotes before work begins.
Make sure everyone understands that you're purchasing new cabinet doors and drawer fronts so their work scope reflects what they actually need to prep, paint, or install.
Have your new doors, drawer fronts, hinges, and hardware on hand before the painting project begins whenever practical.
This helps keep the project moving and allows installation/fitting decisions to be resolved before the final finish work.
The Cabinet Refacing + Painting Process
18 steps in five logical phases: Plan → Prep → Prime → Paint → Put It Back Together
Phase 01 · Plan
Steps in this phase
Measure carefully, decide which portions of the project you're doing yourself, get professional quotes where needed, and order the new components before work begins.
If you're hiring a painter, ask whether installing and adjusting the new doors and drawer fronts is included or should be quoted separately.
Phase 02 · Prep
Steps in this phase
The workspace is masked and protected, hardware and components are removed as needed, cabinet surfaces are cleaned, repaired, sanded, and prepared for primer.
If spraying is involved, surrounding floors, walls, ceilings, counters, appliances, cabinet interiors, and openings to adjoining rooms may need protection from overspray.
Prep isn't the glamorous part. It may be the most important part.
Phase 03 · Prime
Steps in this phase
Primer creates the foundation for the finish coat.
Between coats, sanding helps smooth surface imperfections and prepares the surface for the next coating. After sanding, dust needs to be thoroughly removed before the next coat goes on.
Phase 04 · Paint
Steps in this phase
The first finish coat is applied and allowed to dry appropriately. The surface is inspected and lightly sanded as needed before subsequent finish coats.
Multiple controlled coats generally produce a better result than trying to build the finish too heavily at once.
After the final finish has dried sufficiently, the painter can inspect for imperfections or areas requiring touch-up and begin removing masking.
Phase 05 · Put It Back Together
Steps in this phase
Install and align the new cabinet doors and drawer fronts, add the hardware, reinstall anything that was temporarily removed, clear away the final masking, and give the room a good cleaning.
Then stand back.
Because this is the moment when all those little steps finally look like one very different kitchen.
Step 18
Seriously. That's the step.
You've measured, planned, prepped, painted, installed, adjusted, cleaned, and probably spent more time thinking about hinges than you ever expected.
Now go make some coffee and stare at your kitchen for a while.
This step is mandatory.
© 2026 CabDoor Direct. All rights reserved.
