Short answer: if your cabinet boxes and doors are solid, paint them ($4,500–$9,500). If the doors are dated or damaged but the boxes are good, reface ($9,000–$18,000). Replace only when the layout doesn’t work or the boxes are failing ($18,000+).
The one question that decides it
Open a lower cabinet door and press on the side of the box. Does it flex, crumble or show water damage at the bottom? If not, your boxes have another twenty years in them — and painting or refacing will give you a new kitchen for a fraction of replacement.
Painting
Best for solid doors in a style you like. We remove every door, spray in a booth and return a finish harder than most factory doors. Three to five days. Colour is unlimited.
Refacing
Best when you want a new door style — say 1990s raised oak to white shaker — without new boxes. New doors, drawer fronts and matching veneer on every visible surface. Four to six days.
Replacing
Best when you want an island where there isn’t one, a pantry wall, or the boxes are at end of life. Two to four weeks including manufacturing, and the only option that typically needs permits.
A real example
A 12×12 Mississauga kitchen with 28 doors: painting quoted at $7,200; refacing at $14,800; replacement from two cabinet shops at $31,000 and $38,500 — before counters. The homeowners painted the uppers white and the lowers navy, added quartz counters, and finished under $13,000 in five days.