Refacing Cabinets: Making an Old Kitchen New (Fine Homebuilding)

I completely refaced my kitchen with the help from this book and it turned out fantastic. It covered all of the steps necessary to do the job. This was a much better source than the brief installation instructions provided by the manufacturer of the product that I ended up using. Before reading this book, I was leaning toward replacing my cabinets instead of refacing because I didn't like the idea that when you open the cabinet doors you can see the old facing on the face frame sides. But the author uses a technique to wrap the facing around the interior sides of the face frame which makes it look like solid wood rather than an applied veneer. It was quite a bit extra work to do it this way but the results were well worth it. I highly recommend this book to anyone considering doing a DIY cabinet reface.

Detailed but Dated Guide for the Ambitious DIY Cabinet Refacer Herrick Kimball’s *Refacing Cabinets: Making an Old Kitchen New* was written before YouTube tutorials existed—but it still holds up surprisingly well as a methodical, print-era deep dive into cabinet refacing. Aimed at homeowners with modest carpentry skills, it covers everything from prepping surfaces and applying veneer to installing new doors, drawer fronts, and trim. What stands out is the level of detail. Kimball’s step-by-step explanations and 130 color photos make the process feel achievable, even for first-timers. He explains tools, materials, and finishing options clearly, and his professional background as a kitchen remodeler adds credibility. The book also demystifies what can be an intimidating project by breaking it down into manageable stages. However, the book’s age shows. The examples, materials, and cabinet styles are unmistakably 1990s, and it focuses entirely on face-frame cabinets—omitting today’s frameless “Euro-style” designs. Readers tackling modern laminate or melamine cabinetry will need to supplement with more current resources. Bottom line: A thorough, old-school woodworking guide that still teaches the fundamentals of cabinet refacing. Ideal for classic face-frame kitchens and DIYers who prefer printed, step-by-step instructions over video tutorials.

Looks good but decided not to do the work myself. But it would help if I had.

I think this book is going to convince me to have help. The detail and info is a bit dated because the book is from the 90's but I am glad it gave me more things to consider.

Very dated. To the point of laughter. Sometimes I couldn’t tell which was the before or after. That being said there is some good information; however, I think it likely dated too. Youtube has some more current info.

This book is very thorough, and reading it convinced me to skip refacing (I think I have the skills) and just buy new cabinets. There's much more work involved than I appreciated and the disruption to the kitchen doesn't look to be much less than simply replacing the cabinets and cupboards.

This is a reasonably thorough book and will probably be a good reference for upgrading face-frame cabinets. I expected it to cover non-face-frame (European frameless) cabinets, but there's not a word in the book about them. Since the cabinets I am considering refacing are the Euro-style frameless kind, I will have to do additional research to complete my project. For example, a lot of the Euro-style cabinets were made of melamine; are the stick-on veneers appropriate for covering melamine? The edges of frameless cabinets are only about 3/4"; can you apply these stick-on veneers to such narrow edges and not have them lift off after a year? I was also looking for ideas about how to handle the cabinet interiors; many of these melamine cabinets come in white or light colors; when you apply wood veneers and add a wood door, the contrast between the new wood edges, sides and doors would not be pleasing -- how do you go about updating the cabinet interiors to minimize this contrast? Bottom line -- this is a good reference for refacing cabinets, but just doesn't go far enough to talk about frameless cabinets and the challenges mentioned above.

Great information. Definitely will help when I start my re-facing project. Would certainly recommend this book to anyone looking to refinish their cabinets.