Over time, kitchen cabinets can accrue all kinds of damage. Minor damage will only affect the finish layer and can be easily corrected with kitchen refinishing. But in cases of deeper damage, you may wonder, “Can the damage be fixed through refinishing? Or do I need to replace my cabinets?”
Most kitchen refinishing services can restore or camouflage certain types of deeper damage. But this depends on the type of damage and its severity. Gouges, scrapes, and dents are one thing. Deep cracks, rotting wood, and termite damage are another.
The answer also depends on who you hire to refinish your kitchen cabinets. Some companies do great work refinishing cabinets, but they have limited experience with cabinet restoration. While these contractors can get rid of minor scratches and scuffs, fixing deeper damage is outside their skillset.
Other companies, like N-Hance®, bring equal care and skill to both refinishing and restoration. At N-Hance, we can usually handle minor or moderate cabinet damage.
Wondering if kitchen refinishing can fix your damaged cabinets? Here’s a quick guide to help you find out…
What Damage Can Refinishing Services Fix?
Most homeowners are surprised by just how much damage they can fix by refinishing kitchen cabinets. Even if your cabinets look scuffed, shabby, scratched, and faded, you’ll be shocked at how many of these issues refinishing can fix.
Kitchen refinishing can do wonders for minor cabinet damage. This is damage that’s restricted to the finish layer itself, or wood damage that hasn’t penetrated past the surface.
Here are a few examples of the kinds of minor damage that can be fixed when you refinish kitchen cabinets:
- Peeling finish
- Faded finish
- Discolored finish
- Light scratches
- Minor scuffs
Your kitchen refinishing service might also be able to remedy moderate cabinet damage. This is damage that’s reached the underlying wood but hasn’t threatened the integrity of the wood itself.
There are a number of ways to restore damaged wood, with different products and strategies for different types of damage. Restoration may involve screen sanding the wood, applying filler to deep scratches and gouges, and masking discolored areas with a camouflaging product.
Below are examples of moderate damage that can be fixed by kitchen refinishing:
- Deep scratches
- Dents
- Gouges
- Deep stains
- Surface-level water damage
What Damage Can’t Be Fixed by Kitchen Refinishing?
While a skilled refinisher can restore many types of wood damage, they won’t be able to fix areas suffering from severe cabinet damage. If the damaged area is too large, or if the wood itself is compromised, you will probably need to replace all or part of your cabinetry.
Here are a few examples of damage that may fall outside the scope of kitchen refinishing:
- Dry or wet rot
- Termite damage
- Major cracks
- Mold infestations
- Warped wood
- Moderate or severe water damage
When this type of damage is present, there are two possible scenarios.
In the first scenario, the damage is restricted to a small section. For example, a small leak may have caused limited water damage to the cabinetry under your sink, or a large crack may have developed in one of your cabinet doors.
In these cases, you can usually remove and replace the damaged section, without a wholescale replacement of your cabinetry. If the replaced section is highly visible, this may require a good deal of skill to ensure seamless results. But it will be much less expensive than replacing all of your cabinets.
In the second scenario, the damage is so widespread that you’ll need to replace a large section of cabinetry, if not all of your cabinets. Cases of widespread rot, mold infestations, or termite damage are common reasons for this type of situation.
This scenario certainly isn’t ideal. However, replacing your cabinets will be a much smarter choice than keeping rotted or termite damaged cabinets in your kitchen.
Do your cabinets have minor or moderate damage that needs fixing? Contact your local N-Hance today at (855) 642-6230 to request a FREE estimate for kitchen refinishing.