Tuesday, December 14, 2010

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

Product Description

By refacing old cabinets, virtually anyone with basic skills can make a kitchen or any room in the house look stunning at a fraction of the cost of new. The secret is knowing how to refurbish old cabinets by applying high-quality wood laminate and new cabinet doors, door fronts, and/or trim. This book shows readers everything they need to know to achieve professional results. 130 color photos. 50 drawings.
 
What People Are Saying About This Cabinet Refacing Book

Buy this book before you think about refacing!
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.  
My husband is refacing my kitchen cabinet in the future and this book will be great help! It sure has all the information he will need. 
I had never seen a refaced kitchen or even spoken to someone who had. This book detailed the aspects of kitchen refacing in such a way that I am confident I can do this job myself and do it well. The pictures and diagrams are abundant and pertinent to the text and are a great supplement to understanding each aspect of the job. The book is organized and the subjects are categorized in such a way that the book is a good tutorial but can also be used as a reference.

If you plan to reface your kitchen or just want to know what is involved with the job this book is an excellent resource.
I purchased Herrick Kimball's "Refacing Cabinets" book since it was the "bible" on how to reface your kitchen cabinets. I was not disappointed! I followed Mr. Kimball's instructions and the results were fantastic. My first refacing project looks great with few errors. Some references to materials need to be updated since the book is 10 years old. I did find equivalent substitutes. 
I don't think I could have gotten the project done without this book. Organized in perfect order. Many, many techniques to make the job look great and save time making everything fit. I talked to some professional cabinet refacers and they weren't even aware some of the techniques used in this book that made the result look great.

However, one item that is missing is the technique for getting a clean cut between 2 pieces of veneer that touch each other. It's the same overlay technique that wallpaper hangers use. Other than that, this book has it all.  
 
 
 
I completed my refacing project in a few days after thoroughly
reading and following the instructions in this excellent book.
The MUT is an indispensable tool; I got mine at Rockler. This
book saved me a lot of money by doing the reface myself and not
paying someone to redo my kitchen. It's worth every penny! 
The MUT (multi-use tool) is now available from Rockler, rather than fabricating your own.

Read the book, found it interesting and thorough, but have not tried a whole job using it.

I have however used some of the techniques in spot repairing fire damage, and the concepts I learned in the book were helpful.  
This book delivers exactly what it promises. I have used the techniques and they DO work. I would recommend this approach for the extremely budget minded renovator. By the way, the veneer he uses can be found easily online. 
This is a really excellent guide to cabinet refacing. It covers the job from start to finish, and offers several options for different steps along the way, not just the author's preferred technique. It gives the pros and cons of different techniques and materials as well. I'm a pretty good woodworker/carpenter/builder, so I really wouldn't hesitate to take on a reface job after reading this book. I've already ordered his other two books.
I found this to be a very clear explanation as well as a source reference for resurfacing cabinets yourself. Many photographs, charts, and diagrams accompany the text. The author convinced me that this is a home improvement project that I could tackle with a little help from my friends. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to update their 60's or 70's kitchen. I plan to give it a try this summer. 
 
Detail but dated and incomplete
This book is focus on putting new veneer or laminated board on old cabinet, not what I was looking for as refacing the existing face with stain or new paint. Even on the subject of installing new cabinet face, it lacks the final finish (clear coat, stain)suggestion. The pictures are way dated and not inspiring. it's a good wood work book, but not very helpful if you want to evaluate different options to modernize your kitchen such as sanding and painting the existing panels.