There are basically two routes that you can take regarding the material you'll use for refacing your cabinets. You can use real wood veneer, or a laminate such as Formica. You can also use real wood doors, or Thermal Foil covered MDF. Most manufacturers of doors have many different options to select from. Let's take a look at the pros and cons of both types.

Door Material Differences

Wood is, of course beautiful and holds up well to the abuses a kitchen can give. It is not always the easiest to clean though. It will normally outlast other types of materials. When I say wood doors, I am talking about solid wood, not plywood. On the other hand Thermal Foil is a very hard, scratch resistant surface that is easily cleaned. However, die hard wood lovers will not be happy with it's plastic-like appearance. There are other types of doors that have a Thermal Foil look, but they peel and chip without much effort, especially if they get wet. True Thermal Foil is pretty hardy and doesn't mind getting splashed and wiped.

What About The Cabinets

The face frames make up what you see from the front of the cabinets, besides the doors. This are will need to be covered with a similar material to the doors. If you decide on using real wood, you can purchase pre-finished wood veneer. For Thermal Foil doors, you can easily get a High Pressure Laminate such as Formica®. The techniques and installation times are very similar, so worry more about what look you want than how it is done.

Most kitchens have some cabinets with visible side panels. These too, must be covered and will be covered with the same material you select for the face frame.

Don't Forget The Drawers

I have seen some companies that do refacing and they just replace the drawer fronts. I have done work for companies that do that, and I have done work for companies that always replace the drawers and I highly discourage leaving the old ones for several reasons. Most of the time, the old drawers are just plain worn out. Take this opportunity to fix that. Second, there are so many types of drawers you might run into, almost always, modifications must be done to the new fronts to get them to work. This is time consuming and can lead to a non-satisfactory job. If you order new drawers from the same company you get your fronts from, they will be made for each other and will solve many problems. Care must be given as to the type of drawers you have, as far as the glides or sliders that operate the drawer.