What is the downside of cabinet refacing in Dubai?

Cabinet refacing keeps the carcasses, the worktop, the sink and the hob, which is why it costs a fraction of a new kitchen. It also means that any fault inside the boxes comes with the job. We renovate kitchens across Dubai as the main contractor, so the limits below are the ones our team checks first. The cabinet refacing page sets out what the job includes and what it costs.

Can the boxes take new doors?

Usually, but only if the carcass is sound. Doors hang on hinges screwed into the side panels, and those screws need solid board to bite on. Where water or years of strain have crumbled the board around the old holes, a new door sags within months, however good its finish. Before we quote, we check four things on every box.

• Hinge holes that still hold. New doors hang on screws that go into the side panels. Where the board around the old holes has crumbled, the screws will not grip.
• Edges that have not swollen. MDF and particleboard take in water at a cut edge and do not shrink back. A side panel that has bellied beside the sink or the dishwasher gets replaced first.
• A frame that is square. A door can only sit as straight as the box it closes. A racked carcass leaves gaps that no hinge adjustment hides.
• Room for the new fronts. Thicker veneer or a deeper drawer front can catch the frame, the worktop lip or the appliance beside it.

A box that fails one of these checks is not wrong for refacing in general. It is wrong for refacing as it stands, so that unit is rebuilt or replaced as its own line in the quote, and the sound boxes keep their faces.

Does cabinet refacing fix a swollen sink base?

No. New doors on a box that has taken in water only hide the damage, and the cabinet keeps swelling behind them. The sink base is rebuilt or replaced first, and the leak that caused it is fixed before anything is fitted. Ask every quote to show that unit as a line of its own, so the rest of the job stays comparable with the others you receive.

Will cabinet refacing make the kitchen look new?

Less than most people expect. Refacing keeps the layout, the door sizes and the handle spacing of the original kitchen, so a small, dated plan stays small and dated in a new finish. The change is in the faces, the colour, the handles and the sheen. Our team agrees the door style and finish with you before anything is made, and we put them in writing with the handles, so the look you approved is the one that gets fitted.

Two details decide how the kitchen reads once the new doors are on: the handle line and the gap at the worktop. Handles set in a straight line across several doors make the run look planned, and a worktop gap that varies from door to door shows at once, however good the finish. We measure both from the worktop down before anything is made, because the gap is the one thing a refacer cannot change after the doors are cut.

Which finishes age badly in a Dubai kitchen?

Heat and sun decide more than the price does. A PVC-wrapped door under a sunny window can harden and peel away from the MDF beneath, and that damage cannot be patched invisibly. Prelaminated board is the budget choice and copes well with ordinary wear. Veneer on a stable board gives a wood face that moves less than solid timber, which swells and shrinks with the humidity around it. Keep PVC doors away from direct sun, and choose the finish for the wall it will face, not only for the showroom.

Refacing prices, by the door

Neither list prices handles, hinges or fitting, so we ask for them as lines. Our own refacing starts from AED 5,000. We price the doors you choose on your own door count, and the published figures sit beside ours so you can check the difference.

What a refacing quote should list

• The doors and drawer fronts, counted and priced by size, not as one total.
• The handles, with the fixing spacing checked against the old holes.
• The hinges, either kept with new doors drilled to suit, or replaced as a line.
• Any rebuilt unit, such as the sink base, priced on its own.
• The fitting and the adjustment, so the gaps run level when the job is done.

Our kitchen cabinet cost guide sets out the published bands, so you can check any quote against them before you agree to it.

When does the downside outweigh the saving?

When more than a few boxes have failed, the saving falls away. Several rebuilt units, a worktop that has to come out, or a layout you want to change all push the job towards new cabinets. MBC Renovation Services starts a small kitchen with new cabinets, lighting and paint at AED 12,000, so that is the comparison to put on the table. We price both versions on the same brief, and you choose on the numbers.

Send us photos of the doors