With so many cabinet solutions on the market (refinish, reface, replace) it’s no wonder many throw their hands in the air and just decide to leave them as is. Allow me to guide you through a few simple questions that will get you to the right solution, the right product and hopefully, the right vendor.
KitchenCRATE was founded upon the simple premise that many old cabinets can be refinished and/or re-faced and thus add 10-20 years to their useful life. But we’d be fools to not admit that, at times, new cabinets are the way to go. And that’s why we’re launching kitchenCRATE Custom on March 1st. KitchenCRATE Custom takes the award-winning kitchenCRATE concept and incorporates new custom, locally-fabricated cabinets. It’s the best of both worlds: high quality AND stunningly-quick project execution.
So how do you know if your cabinets are beyond saving? How do you determine that a kitchenCRATE Custom is your best option?
Here Are 5 Ways to Know it’s Time to Move on:
1. You See Structural Damage
A sure sign of DOA cabinets is structural damage.
Are your cabinets coming apart at the joints? Are your uppers sagging from the ceiling and creating unsightly cracks? Are your hinges actually pulling off from the frame due to cracking or splitting of the wood? Are your drawers coming apart when you pull them out?
These are all signs that the inherent strength of your cabinets is gone. So long. Never to return.
Like anything made of wood (or a wood-composite), cabinets do in fact have a useful life. For high-end cabinets that can be many decades, for some of the more modern 1980-2010 cabinets, it could be just 10-20 years.
No matter the age of the cabinets, when you start seeing structural failure it’s time to budget for replacement.
2. You Need a New Layout that Fits Your Needs
Another indicator that you need new cabinets is if you simply can’t live another day with your current kitchen layout.
Perhaps because of the way you use your kitchen the layout just does not work. Maybe you hate having your back to the kitchen but your sink placement requires it. Maybe your kitchen work triangle (the relationship of you sink to your refrigerator to your stove) is out of whack and has your Fitbit smoking every time you prepare a simple meal. Maybe you love to entertain but the design of your kitchen has those working in it relegated to a distant land while everyone else is enjoying the company.
These layout issues simply can’t be solved with anything short of new cabinets. Once you decide this is the case, it’s new cabinets or bust!
3. You Just HAVE to Have the Latest Accessories
Does that latest episode of Fixer Upper have you pining for all the bells and whistles of a modern kitchen? Even though many of the amenities can be incorporated into existing kitchens using off-the-shelf solutions, there comes a point where after-market hardware just won’t meet your needs.
Maybe you just have to have a spice pull-out right next to your cooktop, or perhaps reaching deep into the recesses of your lower cabinets has you yearning for more large, heavy-duty, easy-to-access drawers. Or perhaps that dead corner in your cabinet lowers makes you dream of a space-maximizing lazy susan?
New, custom cabinets allow you to design the perfect kitchen for you. That means each bay can be designed to meet the way you cook, entertain and even access your heavier items. And that’s simply hard to do without cabinet replacement.
4. Your New Refrigerator/Wall-Oven/Range/Microwave Won’t Fit.
America super-sizes everything, and appliances are no different. The average refrigerator, wall oven, and range have increased over the last few decades and fitting them into existing cabinets can be a major chore.
New cabinet design allows you to design cabinets around your ideal appliances, bringing the spacing up to modern standards and making future appliance replacement even easier.
And one additional hidden benefit? With a new cabinet design, you’ll open your possible appliance selection up quite a bit, allowing you to get the look, function and price point that works best for you. So don’t relegate yourself to 2 different models of wall-ovens, go ahead and expand your options knowing that your new kitchenCRATE custom can accommodate the appliances you need.
5. Previous Refinishing has Damaged the Cabinets Beyond Repair
Despite their best intentions, sometimes homeowners or inexperienced painters do more harm than good when trying to refinish their cabinets. For example, they may use a brush or heavy-nap roller instead of spraying or spray the doors AND hinges while the doors are hung.
Making mistakes like this can damage the surface of the cabinet to the point that it’s more expensive to try and refinish than it is to replace. Our painters have, at times, spent HOURS on jobs simply trying to sand old brush marks down to a paintable level. Doing so can, at times, seem futile if the cabinets are already past their prime working years.
Do One or More of the Pain Points Above Resonate with You? If So, Contact Us Today!
Be among the first 5 kitchenCRATE Custom customers and get $1000 off your kitchenCRATE custom!
Go to www.kbcrate.com/custom and sign up for a member of our team to help you start your journey.
