Peeling thermofoil doors
The vinyl skin lifts near heat and steam, and the fiberboard core under it can't take paint.
Custom Cabinets and Refacing in Sherman Oaks, CA
Peeling doors, sticky drawers, a sink base gone soft. The boxes get checked first, then you hear whether it's new fronts or new cabinets.
- Boxes checked before a quote
- LA cost figures, cited
- Lead-safe rules followed
Peeling thermofoil is the call we hear most. The white or wood-look skin lifts at the corners over the stove, curls by the dishwasher, and once it starts you can't glue it down for good. Custom cabinets and refacing in Sherman Oaks, CA usually begins with that one bad door, and the real question is whether the box behind it is worth keeping.
Refacing means new doors and drawer fronts, new veneer or paint on the frames, and new hinges and drawer slides. The boxes stay where they are. Custom cabinets means new boxes cut to your wall lengths. Sherman Oaks houses run old, with a typical build year of 1966 in ZIP 91423 by the Census count, so some of the original boxes are solid and some are tired.
Here's the short version. Sound boxes and a layout you like? Refacing is the smaller job, and the kitchen stays out of demo. A swollen sink base, a layout that annoys you or a pile of water damage points the other way, and then new boxes earn their cost. Either route is custom cabinets and refacing in Sherman Oaks, CA, and the price gap between them is large.
Custom Cabinets and Refacing in Sherman Oaks, CA and Nearby Towns
Cabinet calls come from Sherman Oaks first, then Studio City, Encino and Woodland Hills, where the kitchens date from the same stretch of the 1960s and 1970s.
When Custom Cabinets and Refacing Starts to Make Sense
Six things homeowners point at when the cabinets are what bother them. Each one nudges the answer toward refacing or toward replacing.
Water damage under the sink
A slow drip swells a particleboard floor, and new doors won't fix a base that's gone soft.
Drawers that stick
Worn metal runners and sagging bottoms. Full-extension slides can go into sound boxes.
Dated oak finish
Orange oak with a heavy grain can be veneered or painted over without touching the boxes.
Upper cabinets too short
Uppers stopped at 30 inches over the counter leave a dusty gap. Taller boxes fix that, refacing can't.
No pull-outs
Deep bases and blind corners swallow pots. Pull-outs fit sound boxes or go into new ones.
LA and California Rules That Touch Custom Cabinets and Refacing
Doors and drawer fronts on boxes you keep are cosmetic work. Once boxes come out and the sink, dishwasher or circuits get touched, it's a kitchen remodel, and LADBS lists a residential kitchen remodel without changing the structure as an Express Permit job, no plan check needed. The inspector wants to see the work before it's covered.
Old paint is the other rule. The EPA's RRP rule says firms working on housing built before 1978 must be lead-safe certified, and cabinet frames in a 1960s ranch have usually been painted several times. Sanding them dry is exactly what the rule is written to stop. It matters for custom cabinets and refacing in Sherman Oaks, CA, where 76% of homes in ZIP 91423 predate 1980 by the Census count.
One more, if a permit gets pulled on a house. Civil Code 1101.4 has the applicant replace any noncompliant plumbing fixtures with water-conserving ones before final approval. A new cabinet job that gets a permit can bring a toilet swap along with it.
Can You Do Any of This Yourself?
Some of it, yes. Painting doors, changing pulls and fitting soft-close hinges are weekend jobs, and a $5 screwdriver bit fixes half the loose-door complaints. Cleaning a sticky drawer track costs almost nothing. Cabinets in decent shape and you only want a new color? A good paint job will carry you a few more years.
Real refacing is a different job. The veneer has to be cut and pressed onto frames that are square, and new doors are measured for every opening, because 1960s boxes are rarely the same size twice in a row. A door that is off by 1/8 inch shows from across the room. That's shop work.
Before you sand anything in a house built before 1978, wet-wipe and test. Dry sanding old paint puts dust in the air that you don't want your kids breathing. When in doubt, call us before you start, even on a small custom cabinets and refacing job in Sherman Oaks, CA.
Who Calls Us for Custom Cabinets and Refacing
Mostly houses, plus a few condos and rentals where the goal is different. Custom cabinets and refacing in Sherman Oaks, CA means both.
Houses
Ranch and split-level kitchens from the 1960s and 1970s, where the boxes sit in the original footprint and the walls haven't moved. Like where the sink and fridge sit? Refacing keeps all of that and swaps what you see. Hate the layout? Say so on the first visit, because new boxes is when it can change.
Book a design visitCondos and rental units
Condo owners often want refacing because it skips demo, dumpsters and a week of HOA paperwork. Landlords like it because the unit comes back faster than with a full tear-out. In both cases we pick doors and finishes that are easy to match later, so one cracked panel in two years doesn't mean a special order.
Book a design visit
How We Run Custom Cabinets and Refacing
Measuring comes before anything gets ordered. This is the order we follow on custom cabinets and refacing in Sherman Oaks, CA.
- 01
Box check
Every door and drawer gets opened and the sink base probed, to decide what can stay.
- 02
Written scope
You get a line-by-line scope for doors, boxes, hardware and install, so bids compare cleanly.
- 03
Order and prep
Doors are measured per opening, built to size, and the room is protected before anyone cuts.
- 04
Install and adjust
Fronts, hinges and slides go on, get leveled and tuned, then we walk it with you.
When the Boxes Are Shot Too
Sometimes the boxes really are shot. A base cabinet that sat under a leaking trap for a few years has a floor you can push a screwdriver through, and the sides may be wicking water too. No amount of new door will fix that, so the box has to come out.
That job runs in a different order. We pull the old uppers and bases, check the wall behind for moisture and old plumbing, and fix what we find before any new box goes up. The new run gets hung level off a laser line, since floors in houses this age usually aren't. Fillers and scribe strips close the gaps against walls that aren't square.
The custom route builds boxes to your exact wall lengths, so you skip the odd filler strips that stock sizes need. It also lets you pick depth, height and drawer layout. Uppers that run 42 inches tall to the ceiling, a 24-inch deep pantry or a pull-out beside the range are easy to build in. They cost more and take longer, and we'll say so plainly.
- Swollen or soft cabinet floors cut out
- Wall behind the box checked for moisture
- Boxes leveled off a laser line
- Fillers and scribe strips close the gaps
What It's Like Living Through It
What the next few weeks look like in your kitchen, with a 36-inch walkway kept clear to the door.
- How long
- Refacing on sound boxes usually moves faster than a replacement, because nothing is demoed. Custom boxes take longer since they're built to order. The scope gives you real dates once doors are priced.
- Mess and cleanup
- Refacing is mostly quiet, with some sanding and glue dust on frames, so we mask the room. A box replacement is louder and dustier on the day the old run comes out.
- Do I need to be home
- For the box check, the door-style choice and the final walk. The install days don't need you there, though someone should let us in.
- Permits
- Fronts on boxes you keep are cosmetic. Swapping boxes and moving plumbing or circuits usually isn't, and LADBS wants an inspection before work is covered up.
- If something isn't right
- A door that rubs or a drawer that binds gets adjusted on a return visit. At the final walk we write down every nick and gap and fix them before we call it done.
Custom Cabinets and Refacing Cost in Sherman Oaks
No guide we found prices cabinets by themselves, so here is the kitchen around them. JLC's Los Angeles remodeling report for 2025 counts refaced cabinets inside its $29,765 Los Angeles minor remodel.
| Job | Figure |
|---|---|
| Minor kitchen update, midrange Refaced cabinets, new counters, sink and appliances in the same layout | $29,765 |
| Major kitchen remodel, midrange New cabinets, counters and flooring: the replace-everything route | $86,214 |
| Major kitchen remodel, upscale Custom cabinets and stone: the top of the Los Angeles range | $171,369 |
| Mid-range kitchen, greater LA Bay Cities Construction, 2026; new cabinets are inside it | $45,000 to $90,000 |
Custom Cabinets and Refacing: Straight Answers
Does custom cabinets and refacing in Sherman Oaks, CA cost less than new boxes?
Refacing usually costs less, since the boxes stay and demo is skipped. That report puts a midrange minor kitchen remodel in Los Angeles at $29,765, refaced cabinets included, against $86,214 for a major remodel with new cabinets. Those are whole-kitchen figures, so your cabinet-only number will be smaller. We price the doors after we measure.
Can thermofoil doors be repainted instead of replaced?
Not well. Thermofoil is a vinyl skin heat-pressed onto fiberboard, and paint doesn't hold on it for long, especially near the range and dishwasher. Peeling usually means the skin has let go for good. New doors fit the same openings, so on sound boxes that's the fix, and it's cheaper than a new run.
How do I know if my cabinet boxes are worth keeping?
Open the sink base and press on the floor with a screwdriver. Soft wood or a dark ring means water got in. Look for square corners, drawers that sit level and sides that haven't bowed. Plywood boxes hold up well. Particleboard that has swelled does not. The first visit includes this check.
Do new cabinets need a permit in Sherman Oaks?
Swapping doors and drawer fronts on boxes you keep is cosmetic. Replacing the boxes alone is a gray area, and we confirm with LADBS before we start. Once plumbing, gas or circuits move, it's a kitchen remodel, which LADBS lists as an Express Permit job when nothing structural changes. Inspection comes before anything is covered.
What does lead paint mean for my cabinets?
A house built before 1978 may have old lead paint under the newer coats on the frames. The EPA's RRP rule requires firms working on that housing to be lead-safe certified and use lead-safe methods, so we mask, wet-clean and use a HEPA vacuum. Ask any contractor for their firm certificate before they sand.
About us. Valley Oak Kitchen & Bath is an owner-run kitchen and bath remodeler working in Sherman Oaks and the nearby Valley neighborhoods. John runs each job the same way: a design visit first, a written scope, and the trades in the right order. More about us.
Custom Cabinets and Refacing in Sherman Oaks, CA
Wondering whether the cabinet boxes can stay? Call John. We open them and tell you whether to reface or replace.