Cabinet Refacing near you

Refacing works when the bones are good. Carcases that are square, dry and solid, a layout you have no wish to change, a worktop you can live with, and doors that are dated or damaged rather than falling off. In that situation refacing avoids the strip-out, the waste, the plastering, the services and the worktop template, which together account for most of the disruption of a new kitchen.

It is a poor investment in three situations. First, where the sink or dishwasher base has swollen, the bottom panel has gone soft or the carcase backs are blown, because new doors will be hung on a box that is already failing. Second, where the layout is the actual complaint, since no amount of new doors changes where the oven is. Third, where the hinges and drawer boxes are worn out and stapled together, because the kitchen will still feel old every time it is opened even though it looks new.

A useful test before committing is to empty one base unit completely, look at the back and bottom panels with a torch, and open and close the drawer twenty times. If the box is dry and square and the drawer runs straight, refacing has something sound to attach to. If not, the money is better spent elsewhere.

Two-pack finishes give kitchen doors their hardness, and many of them contain isocyanates. HSE is blunt about the risk: spraying isocyanates is a significant cause of occupational asthma, symptoms can appear immediately or hours later in the evening or early morning, continued exposure can result in permanent and severe asthma, and there is no cure. It also warns that anyone near this work is at risk, not only the person holding the gun.

The controls HSE describes are correspondingly serious. Spraying should be done in an enclosed area with local exhaust ventilation where possible; high-volume low-pressure or airless equipment reduces overspray compared with conventional compressed air spraying; the operator needs constant flow air-fed breathing apparatus with an assigned protection factor of 40 and should keep it on until they have left the spraying area; and health surveillance includes annual lung function testing and a questionnaire. A contractor proposing to spray a two-pack system inside your kitchen while the family uses the rest of the house should be able to explain exactly how each of those is being met, and what happens to anyone else in the building.

Sanding is the quieter hazard in the same job. HSE's workplace exposure limits for wood dust are 3mg per cubic metre for hardwood dust and 5mg per cubic metre for softwood dust, both as eight-hour time-weighted averages, and it notes that carpenters and joiners are four times more likely than other UK workers to develop asthma, and that hardwood dust can cause cancer, particularly of the nose. On-tool extraction and sheeting off the rest of the house are the visible signs that a company takes this seriously.

The biggest single variable is which of the two trades you are buying: new fronts or a refinished set. After that come the number of doors and drawers rather than the size of the kitchen, whether end panels, plinths and cornices are included, the hardware being changed, whether the work happens on site or in a workshop, how much masking an occupied house needs, and whether the carcase fronts are being treated as well. Access matters too, since a first-floor flat with no lift adds time to every trip.

LokalMatch handles the introduction only. Describe the kitchen once with your postcode, say how many doors and drawers there are and whether you want them replaced or refinished, and companies working in your area get in touch with you. Homeowners are not charged; the businesses pay for the requests they receive. LokalMatch does not do the refacing, does not set prices and does not vet, rank or recommend anyone, so asking about the finish system, the dust and spray controls and what the guarantee covers is your job.