Cabinet Installation & Refacing in San Francisco, CA

Cabinet Installation & Refacing in San Francisco, CA

Cabinet installation and refacing in San Francisco typically runs $7,500 to $32,000 depending on whether you’re replacing boxes, refacing existing frames, or doing full kitchen remodeling with custom sizing. In older San Francisco homes, refacing usually makes sense when the cabinet boxes are structurally sound but the doors, drawer fronts, and finishes are worn. Bradford Remodeling Co San Francisco does both: full installation for new cabinetry, and refacing that keeps your existing footprint while replacing every visible surface. Call (831) 610-5598 for a written price on either path.

If you’re mid-way through a larger plan, this work sits under our Kitchen Remodeling in San Francisco service. For a full view of what a kitchen project involves, start with our Kitchen Remodeling page. Cabinet work is often the hinge point of a kitchen job: get the boxes and faces right, and the counters, plumbing rough-ins, and finishes follow cleanly. Get them wrong, and every trade behind you absorbs the error.

We work this job by the book. Every cabinet project starts with a written price and ends with a signed 365-Day Done Right Promise. That’s the Garrison Standard: the scope, the materials, the price, and the guarantee all in writing before a single tool comes out.

Key Takeaways

• Typical San Francisco cabinet work runs $7,500 to $32,000 depending on scope, material, and whether you reface or replace.
• Refacing replaces doors, drawer fronts, and veneer but keeps the existing cabinet boxes. It costs roughly 40-60% less than full replacement in most San Francisco kitchens.
• Full installation is required when boxes are water-damaged, termite-damaged, or structurally failing. We won’t reface over a failing substrate.
• Every job gets a written price before work begins. No numbers that move at the door.
• Every completed job carries a 365-Day Done Right Promise. If the work fails inside a year, we correct it at no charge.

When You Need Cabinet Installation & Refacing

Most San Francisco homeowners don’t wake up planning to spend on cabinets. They hit a moment where the kitchen stops working or stops looking like a place they want to cook. Here are the conditions we see most often across the city, from the Richmond to the Mission to the Sunset:

• Boxes are solid but faces are shot. Hinges sag, doors no longer close square, drawer fronts are chipped, and the finish is worn through at the pulls. If the boxes are square and dry, refacing is the lower-cost fix.
• Water damage under the sink has compromised the cabinet floor. This is common in older San Francisco homes with original plumbing. If the base cabinet floor is swollen or rotted, the box needs replacement, not a reface. A new door over a failing cabinet is money wasted.
• Hinges and slides are worn past repair. Soft-close hardware has a service life. When doors drift open or drawers bind mid-track, replacing the hardware and faces together gets the kitchen back to square.
• Layout no longer matches how you live. A 1920s Edwardian kitchen with two small cabinets and a dead corner may not be worth refacing at all. Full installation with updated boxes, pull-out trays, and a lazy Susan or blind-corner solution changes how the room works.
• Doors are swollen or delaminating from moisture. San Francisco fog and unvented kitchens cause doors to swell over time. If the slab is delaminating, no refinish will save it. Replacement doors or full refacing is the call.
• You’re selling and the kitchen reads as dated. Realtors will tell you kitchens sell houses. A reface with new doors, soft-close hardware, and clean pulls can be done in a week and upgrades the room without a demolition.

If you’re unsure whether your boxes are worth saving, we’ll tell you. We don’t sell a reface when the substrate won’t hold it. That’s part of the Garrison Code: give the homeowner the straight answer, even when the cheaper job isn’t the right job.

Our Cabinet Installation & Refacing Process

Here’s how a cabinet job runs under Bradford Remodeling Co San Francisco, from first call to signed guarantee:

1. Phone consultation and site visit. Call (831) 610-5598 and a live person answers, day or night. We set a site visit, walk the kitchen, measure the run, check the existing boxes for square and level, and look at what’s behind and below: plumbing rough-ins, electrical, drywall, soffits. Nothing is priced blind.
2. Written scope and pricing. You get a written price before any work starts. It lists the cabinet line, the door style, the finish, the hardware, the scope of demolition, and what’s included and excluded. No allowances that move. No “we’ll see once we open the wall” pricing. If we open a wall and find a problem, we stop and put the change in writing before proceeding.
3. Demolition and prep. We remove existing doors, drawer fronts, and face frames as needed. For full installation, we remove old boxes, then check the studs and floor. In older San Francisco kitchens, floors are rarely level and walls are rarely square. We correct what’s correctable and shim what must be shimmed, so the new boxes sit flat and the doors hang true.
4. Installation or refacing. For refacing, we apply new veneers, hang new doors, and install new drawer fronts and soft-close hardware. For installation, we set boxes, level them, secure them, and trim out with matching toe kicks, crown, and end panels. Lines we install include KraftMaid and Wellborn, both documented name brands with manufacturer specs that back our own guarantee.
5. Hardware, doors, and adjustment. We hang every door, set every drawer, adjust every hinge so the reveals are even and the soft-close works. Then we adjust again a week later. Cabinets settle. Doors that were perfect on install day can drift slightly. We account for it.
6. Job close and written guarantee. The site is cleaned, debris is hauled, and you get a signed copy of the 365-Day Done Right Promise. That’s a written guarantee covering the installation and refacing work for a full year. If anything we installed fails inside that window, we return and correct it at no charge.

Cabinet Installation & Refacing Pricing in San Francisco

Here are the numbers we quote most often in San Francisco. These are realistic ranges, not teaser rates. A reface on a standard 10×10 kitchen runs lower; cabinets and countertops in a large Marina or Presidio Heights kitchen run higher.

Scope	Typical Range	What It Includes
Refacing, 10×10 kitchen	$7,500 – $14,000	New doors, drawer fronts, veneers on face frames, new hinges, new pulls, minor hardware adjustment
Refacing, large kitchen (15×15+)	$12,000 – $22,000	Same scope, plus island work, more door count, custom end panels
Full installation, semi-custom lines (KraftMaid, Wellborn)	$12,000 – $26,000	New boxes, doors, drawers, hardware, trim, demolition and haul-away, install
Full installation, large kitchen with island and custom sizing	$20,000 – $32,000+	Full tear-out, new boxes, custom widths where stock sizes won’t work, island build-out, all hardware and trim

What moves the number:

• Reface versus replace. Refacing runs roughly 40-60% less than full installation because the boxes stay put. If the boxes are square and dry, this is the single biggest lever on cost.
• Linear feet of cabinetry. More cabinets, more doors, more drawer fronts. The math is simple, and we show it in writing.
• Door style and finish. Slab doors in paint-grade MDF are the least expensive face. Five-piece raised-panel doors in wood or custom color adds cost. We’ll price multiple options so you can decide with real numbers.
• Hardware. Soft-close hinges and slides are standard on most lines now, but premium pulls, knob sets, and specialized hardware (tip-out trays, drawer organizers, roll-out shelves) add to the total. We itemize it.
• What we find behind the cabinets. In San Francisco we regularly find settled floors, out-of-square walls, and old plumbing. If we need to correct a floor before setting boxes, or replace a shutoff valve that’s rusted open, that’s a written change order. We don’t bury it in a line item you never saw.
• Countertops and backsplash. If this is a full kitchen job, you’re also looking at counters. We install Cambria surfaces among other documented lines. Cabinet work and counter work are often priced together because the sequencing matters: measure cabinets, template counters, cut and install, then set plumbing and backsplash.

We give written prices. Always. If you want to know what your specific kitchen costs, call (831) 610-5598 and we’ll schedule a site visit and put a number in writing. The estimate is free.

How Refacing Works Without Changing Your Footprint

Refacing means your cabinet boxes stay exactly where they are. We remove the doors and drawer fronts, strip the old veneer or facing, and apply new material to the exposed face frames. Then we hang new doors, install new drawer fronts, and replace every hinge and slide. You keep the layout, the countertop, and the plumbing locations. What changes is everything you see and touch.

This matters more in San Francisco than in most cities. Our kitchens are small. Many older homes have original built-in cabinetry that would be difficult or impossible to remove without damaging adjacent plaster walls or flooring. Refacing preserves the room’s original bones while upgrading the face. It’s also faster: a full reface typically runs 4 to 7 working days, while a full replacement with countertop work runs two to three weeks. If you’re living in the house during the job, that’s a real difference.

We use real trade terms here because they matter. Substrate is the underlying material: the plywood or particleboard the cabinet box is made of. Face frame is the vertical and horizontal material on the front of the box that the doors mount to. Soffit is the boxed-in area above the cabinets, often built to hide mechanicals or close the gap to the ceiling. Reveal is the visible gap between a cabinet door and its frame. When we set reveals to 1/8 inch across a run of doors, it reads as clean; when one door shows 1/8 and the next shows 3/16, it reads as sloppy. We’re fussy about this.

What “Squared Away” Looks Like at Job Close

At Bradford Remodeling Co San Francisco, a finished cabinet job looks like this: every door closes flush, every drawer glides clean, every reveal is even, the hardware is level, and the job site is clean. Debris is hauled. The floor is swept. The cabinet interiors are dusted. You have a written scope of what was done, the materials installed, and the guarantee signed in your hand.

That’s what the Garrison Standard means. Not a handshake. Not “call me if anything looks off.” A written guarantee, a year long, with a free return visit if the work doesn’t hold. Part of the Garrison Partners family since 2004, and held to that standard every day since.

Curtis Lane owns and operates this location. He’s the one who signs the guarantee. If something’s not right a year from now, the person who signed the paper is the person who comes back.

FAQs – Cabinet Installation & Refacing

How much does cabinet refacing cost in San Francisco?

Cabinet refacing in San Francisco typically runs $7,500 to $22,000 depending on the size of the kitchen and the door style you choose. A standard 10×10 kitchen reface usually lands between $7,500 and $14,000. The largest variable is door count and material: slab doors in paint-grade MDF cost less than five-piece wood doors in custom finishes. Call (831) 610-5598 for a written price on your specific kitchen; the estimate is free.

Is it cheaper to reface cabinets or replace them?

Refacing is typically 40-60% cheaper than full replacement because the cabinet boxes stay in place, which eliminates demolition, new box construction, and a good portion of the labor. But the right answer depends on the condition of your existing boxes: if they’re water-damaged, out of square, or structurally compromised, refacing is money spent on a failing substrate. We’ll tell you straight whether your boxes are worth refacing, and put the recommendation in writing.

How long does cabinet installation or refacing take in San Francisco?

A full cabinet reface typically takes 4 to 7 working days. Full replacement with countertop work runs two to three weeks, depending on scope, material lead times, and what we find behind the walls. In San Francisco many jobs involve older homes with floors that require leveling before boxes are set, which can add a day. We schedule in writing and stick to it.

Can you reface cabinets without replacing the countertops?

Yes, in most cases. Countertops can stay in place during a reface because the cabinet boxes remain. We work carefully around existing stone or laminate tops, and we’ll inspect the seam between the counter and the face frame before quoting so you know the reface won’t disturb the top. If your counter is also at the end of its life, doing both at once as part of your kitchen design and layout usually saves you a second mobilization and keeps the sequencing clean. Call (831) 610-5598 and we’ll price both paths.

What cabinet brands do you install?

We install documented name-brand cabinetry including KraftMaid and Wellborn, and we surface with Cambria when the project includes counters. We don’t install unbranded or off-spec boxes because there’s no manufacturer spec or warranty to stand behind. Our own 365-Day Done Right Promise covers the installation and refacing work for a full year, and it’s backed by the manufacturer’s material warranty on the product itself.

Call Bradford Remodeling Co San Francisco for Cabinet Work in San Francisco

If your kitchen cabinets are worn, sagging, water-damaged, or just done, call (831) 610-5598. A live person answers, no matter the hour. We’ll set a site visit, measure the room, give you a written price before any work starts, and stand behind the finished job with the 365-Day Done Right Promise. No no-shows, no numbers that move at the door, no site left messy. That’s the Garrison Standard, and it’s how we’ve operated since 2004.

We serve homeowners across San Francisco, from the Outer Sunset to Noe Valley to Russian Hill. If you’re also thinking about the rest of the kitchen, start with our Kitchen Remodeling in San Francisco page. If you want to understand the full company, visit our home page.

Written by Curtis Lane, Owner at Bradford Remodeling Co San Francisco, serving San Francisco.