You did the responsible thing. You got two quotes. One is for refacing, one is for new cabinets, and now you are sitting at the counter trying to work out why they are within a few thousand dollars of each other and what you would actually be getting for the difference. The problem is that the two documents are not describing the same project, and neither of them says so.

Why the numbers look closer than they should

A new-cabinet quote can come in surprisingly low, and there is a reason. The cheapest place to save money on a cabinet is the door, and the door is the only part you will look at for the next twenty years. A budget line cabinet uses thinner materials, a simpler hinge, a stapled drawer box and a finish that will not take the abuse of a real kitchen.

David puts it in terms people recognize:

We've lost bids to contractors who price new, budget grade cabinets lower than our refacing bid. But when comparing quality, new doesn't always mean better. A brand new Chevy may not be the better deal than a fully equipped, low-mileage pre-owned Cadillac.

Dave, owner, Fresh Faced Cabinets

That is the whole comparison in one sentence. The question is not refacing or new. It is what grade of kitchen each number actually buys.

The eight line items that actually differ

Put both quotes next to each other and work down this list. If one of them is silent on a line, that is the question to ask.

1. Door construction and material

Species, and how the door is built. Solid wood frame with a stable center panel is one thing. A wrapped MDF blank is another. Ask both companies to say it layer by layer, and see which one can.

2. The finish

Factory-finished doors are not the same as doors sprayed on site, and neither is the same as a brush-and-roll paint job. Ask what the finish is and where it was applied.

3. Hinges and glides

Soft-close concealed hinges should be on both quotes. If one of them says "standard hinges," that is a real difference in how the kitchen feels every day.

4. Drawer boxes

This is the line that separates quotes more than any other and almost nobody checks it. Solid wood dovetail boxes on undermount soft-close glides are a different product from a stapled particleboard box on a side-mount slide. Refacing quotes sometimes leave the old boxes in place, which may be fine if they are sound, and is worth knowing either way.

Solid wood dovetail boxes on undermount glides. This is the line item that separates two quotes more than any other, and the one buyers almost never ask about.

5. What happens to the boxes and face frames

On a new-cabinet quote the boxes go in a dumpster, and you are paying for demolition, disposal, and the drywall and paint repair where the old runs came off. On a refacing quote they stay, and the question is how they get finished: painted on site to match, or veneered in real wood. Both are legitimate. "Covered" is not an answer.

6. Decorative work

Crown molding, light rail, decorative end panels, island wainscoting, a hood surround. This is usually where the custom look actually comes from, and it is frequently an add-on line on one quote and included on the other. Compare the two rooms you would end up with, not the two prices.

7. Countertops, and whether they survive

If you are keeping your countertops, a new-cabinet quote has a problem it may not have mentioned. Stone rarely comes off a base cabinet intact. Check whether the quote assumes new tops, and whether that cost is in the number or waiting behind it.

8. Who is actually doing the work

Ask whether the crew is employed by the company or subcontracted out. We run our own installation team and an owner walks the finished job with you. That is not a line item on a quote and it is most of the difference in how the two weeks feel.

When new cabinets genuinely are the right call

We will say this plainly, because it is the part refacing companies usually skip.

If the boxes are failing, replace them. Water damage under the sink, particleboard that is swelling and flaking, shelves with a permanent sag, boxes that have racked out of square: new doors on a bad box is money spent twice. If you want the layout changed in a way that means moving plumbing or taking out a wall, you need a general contractor, not us. And if the kitchen is a small enough footprint with few enough cabinets, the arithmetic can land close enough that new cabinets are simply the cleaner answer.

What we see most often, though, is a kitchen from the last two or three decades where the boxes are plywood or sound particleboard with a hardwood face frame, screwed to studs by someone building a subdivision, and they will outlast the doors twice over. Throwing them away is the expensive choice dressed up as the thorough one.

Same boxes, same layout, same plumbing. Everything a visitor notices is new. Nothing that was working got thrown away.

Where our numbers land

So you can place a refacing quote against whatever else is on your counter, and our published prices by kitchen layout are there too: as a planning guide, Refresh projects are typically $12,000 to $18,000, Signature projects $15,000 to $30,000, and Custom projects $25,000 to $50,000 and up. The ranges intentionally overlap, because a larger, simpler kitchen can cost more than a smaller kitchen with more extensive modifications.

These are general planning ranges only, not project quotes. Kitchen size, materials, construction requirements, modifications and selected options can all significantly affect the final investment.

If a refacing quote in front of you is dramatically below that, it is worth going back through the eight items above. Somebody is buying the difference somewhere, and it is usually the door.

What to do with the two pieces of paper

Send us both. We will tell you what each one is actually offering, including when the other quote is the better deal, which happens and is not a difficult conversation for us to have. We would rather lose a job we should not have had than install a kitchen on boxes that were never going to hold it.