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Anything BUT Builder Basic

After changing out countertops and still not satisfied with the look of their kitchen, David Gritt helped his wife, Yvonne, see what they really didn't like about their kitchen: It was their cabinets.

Although the light oak cabinets were an upgrade from the builder cabinets from four years prior, the cabinets weren't working for the Gritt family. "There were limited choices in builder cabinets at the time. These were your basic production-type cabinet without solid wood doors," says David Gritt.

Changing the cabinets completely was going to be expensive especially since they wanted to keep their countertops and the tile backsplash. "Everything else in the kitchen looked great- except the light-colored cabinets," says Gritt.

They researched their options and discovered cabinet refacing was a viable alternative. After meeting John Marino at Carolina Cabinet Refacing, the Gritts were sold on the product and were eager to make their decisions. "John came right to our house with door samples including styles and colors. That really made a difference when we could see the actual product against our countertops and backsplash. We signed the contract that night," says Gritt.

The Gritts chose the cherry hardwood with Tuscan stain with a simple raised panel door style. The finish is now a deep, rich cherry rather than the old, light honey oak color. After the selections, it took only about six weeks for their new doors to arrive and only about two days for installation.

"The actual process starts with refacing the boxes in hardwood to match the door and drawer fronts," said Marino. "The door and drawer fronts are the finest grade furniture select, Amish-crafted hardwoods used. These can be matched in virtually any wood, any stain, any style or custom glaze," says Marino.

Unlike new cabinets, disruption to the household is minimal. "They enclosed the work area in plastic to contain the dust and refaced the boxes on the first day. On the second day they installed the doors, drawers and hardware. That was it," says Gritt.

Carolina Cabinet Refacing also installed a light rail along the bottom of the upper cabinets and enclosed them so that the underside of their old cabinets did not show. "No particle wood, just nice cherry wood that showed through. It really gave the cabinets a nice beefy look," says Gritt.

In hindsight, Gritt admits he could have gotten his builder to provide a larger selection of cabinets when they were building his house, but he says he could not have gotten the quality and value he got from Carolina Cabinet Refacing. "We got custom cabinets without the custom price," says Gritt.