Free written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
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Before
AfterCabinet Installation & Refacing in Sherman Oaks, CA
Cabinets & Countertops installation and refacing in Sherman Oaks typically runs between $3,200 and $18,500 depending on whether you’re replacing boxes entirely or refreshing the existing frames with new doors, drawer fronts, and veneer. Most Sherman Oaks kitchens we work in fall somewhere in the middle – refacing a standard 10-by-12 kitchen lands around $5,500 to $9,000, while full cabinet installation with semi-custom boxes comes in between $9,000 and $16,000 before countertops. Written price before any work starts, every time – that’s not a process step here, it’s Clause 1 of the Haven Standard.
If you’re researching where this work fits inside a full kitchen project, our Kitchen Remodeling in Sherman Oaks page lays out the full scope. This page focuses specifically on the cabinet work: when it makes sense, what the process looks like, and what it costs in this specific market.
Sherman Oaks sits in the San Fernando Valley, and the housing stock here reflects that history – a lot of the ranches and split-levels built between 1955 and 1975 have original cabinet boxes that are structurally sound but cosmetically dated. That’s exactly the situation where refacing earns its cost. When the frame is plumb, level, and free of water damage, replacing only the visible surfaces gives you 80 to 90 percent of the visual result at 40 to 60 percent of the cost of a full gut. When the boxes are compromised – warped particleboard, water-swollen toe kicks, or layouts that don’t work for the way a family actually cooks – a Full Kitchen Remodeling with new installation is the right call.
Grant Rowan leads every cabinet project at Rowan Construction Group Sherman Oaks. Our crews are background-checked and uniformed, and a live person answers calls at (213) 221-0788 around the clock. Every visit includes a documented photo record – what the cabinet interiors looked like before we touched them, what the substrate condition was, what was installed – delivered to you as a standard part of the job, not an add-on.
When You Need Cabinet Installation & Refacing
- Doors that won’t close or hang unevenly. In Sherman Oaks homes built before 1980, cabinet hinges are often the old European cup style that can’t be adjusted – when doors sag or gap, it usually means the hinge plate has pulled free of particleboard that’s lost its grip. That’s a refacing conversation, not just a hardware swap.
- Water damage from a dishwasher leak or sink drain. The base cabinet directly under the sink and to the left of the dishwasher are the first to absorb moisture. Swollen box sides, peeling interiors, and soft toe kicks are signs the substrate has degraded and refacing alone won’t hold – those cabinets typically need replacement while adjacent ones can be refaced.
- A layout that doesn’t work for your kitchen’s traffic flow. Many Valley ranches have peninsula layouts that made sense in 1965 but create bottlenecks in kitchens used by two adults. Full installation lets us redesign the run – shifting a corner cabinet, adding an island box, or extending upper cabinets to the ceiling to recover lost storage.
- Cosmetic fatigue on otherwise solid boxes. If your cabinet frames are straight, the shelves hold weight without flexing, and the interior surfaces are clean and intact, refacing is a direct way to bring the kitchen current. New door profiles, updated hardware, and a fresh veneer on the face frames change the room’s character without the cost or timeline of full replacement.
- A kitchen remodel where cabinet budget has to carry countertops too. In Sherman Oaks, where kitchens in the Dixie Canyon and Longridge Estates areas often sit alongside significant countertop upgrades, refacing frees up budget for Cambria or Caesarstone slabs without compromising the overall result.
- Pre-sale preparation on a property where full renovation isn’t justified. A clean, current-looking kitchen sells. If the bones are good, refacing in a buyer-neutral finish – white shaker, slab gray, natural wood grain – photographs well and adds perceived value without the months a full installation requires.
Our Cabinet Installation & Refacing Process
- On-site assessment and written scope. We measure every cabinet run, photograph the existing boxes (interior and exterior), note substrate condition – particleboard vs. plywood construction, hinge type, face frame material – and document anything that might affect the written price. Under the Haven Standard, no number goes on paper until we’ve seen the actual condition of what we’re working with. You receive a flat written price and a written scope before we schedule a crew day.
- Material selection with real brand options. For full installation, we source from KraftMaid and Wellborn – both stock semi-custom lines that cover the door styles most requested in Sherman Oaks kitchens (shaker, raised panel, slab) with lead times we can actually commit to in writing. For refacing, we spec the veneer species, door material, and finish level at the same time so the written price reflects the actual materials going in, not a placeholder.
- Demolition or prep, documented before and after. On a full installation, existing cabinets come out and we assess the wall condition – drywall, blocking, plumbing stub-outs – before framing the new layout. On a reface, we remove doors, drawer fronts, and hardware, clean and lightly sand the face frames, and photograph the substrate condition so you have a record of what was underneath. If we find damage at this stage that changes the scope, we stop, document it, and present a written change order before doing anything further.
- Installation to spec, level and plumb. New cabinet boxes are set to level using a laser, shimmed where the floor or wall isn’t flat (which is common in older Sherman Oaks construction), and fastened to studs with appropriate hardware for the wall type. Face frame joints are glued and finished flush. On a reface, veneer is applied to face frames with contact cement and trimmed precisely at corners and joints – the quality of a reface lives entirely in how cleanly those transitions are cut.
- Door and hardware installation with adjustable hinges. All doors go on with soft-close, adjustable European cup hinges – the adjustment range means doors can be brought into alignment after installation without pulling screws. Drawer boxes get undermount slides rated for the drawer weight. Hardware is installed with a template so spacing is consistent across every door and drawer front.
- Final walkthrough and photo documentation. Before we leave, Grant Rowan or the lead carpenter walks every door, every drawer, and every cabinet interior with you. We photograph the completed installation – door alignment, hinge adjustment points, interior finish – and the documented photo record goes to you the same day. The 365-Day Done Right Promise covers the workmanship: if something isn’t right within that window, we make it right. That’s in writing, not a handshake.
Before
AfterCabinet Installation & Refacing Pricing in Sherman Oaks
Cabinet pricing in Sherman Oaks reflects both the San Fernando Valley labor market and the material lead times that affect semi-custom orders out of manufacturers like KraftMaid and Wellborn. Below are honest ranges based on the projects we price in this market. These are not minimums designed to get a crew in the door – they’re the numbers we put in writing.
| Service | Typical Range (Sherman Oaks) | What Drives Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Cabinet refacing (10×12 kitchen) | $5,500 – $9,000 | Door material (thermofoil vs. solid wood), veneer species, number of drawers |
| Cabinet refacing (larger kitchen, 15+ linear feet) | $8,500 – $13,500 | Linear footage, island inclusion, interior upgrades like pull-outs |
| Semi-custom cabinet installation (10×12) | $9,000 – $14,500 | Box construction (plywood vs. particleboard), door style, finish level |
| Semi-custom installation (larger or open layout) | $13,500 – $18,500 | Island cabinets, full-height upper runs, specialty storage configurations |
| Partial replacement (select damaged boxes + reface remainder) | $4,200 – $8,000 | Number of boxes replaced, matching veneer to existing frame finish |
| Hardware replacement only (no refacing) | $400 – $900 | Number of pieces, hole-pattern matching, template fabrication |
A few factors specific to Sherman Oaks kitchens affect where your project lands in these ranges:
- Ceiling height. Many mid-century Valley homes have 8-foot ceilings that invite running upper cabinets to the top – this adds material cost but recovers meaningful storage that’s otherwise wasted.
- Existing plumbing and electrical locations. Cabinet runs that require moving a drain stub-out or a receptacle to fit the new layout add scope. We document these in the written change order before the sub-trade touches anything.
- Matching existing cabinets in a partial project. If you’re replacing two base cabinets after a dishwasher leak and want them to match the surrounding doors, we source to match – but a perfect match on a 15-year-old finish is sometimes not achievable, and we’ll tell you that before the price is written, not after.
Every price is a flat written number with a written scope attached. Bring a competitor’s written estimate and Grant Rowan will review it line by line at no charge – the Free Second Opinion is a standing offer, not a promotion. Call (213) 221-0788 to schedule the on-site measurement that produces the written number.
FAQs – Cabinet Installation & Refacing
Is refacing or replacing cabinets the better value in Sherman Oaks?
Refacing is the better value when your existing cabinet boxes are plywood or solid-wood construction, the face frames are straight and firmly attached to the wall, and there’s no water or pest damage to the substrate. In Sherman Oaks homes built before 1985, we find those conditions more often than not – the older construction used better box materials than the particleboard common in 1990s tract builds. If the boxes pass the substrate check, refacing delivers most of the visual result at roughly 40 to 60 percent of the replacement cost. If they don’t – soft corners, delaminating interiors, or layouts that don’t work – full installation is the call. We document the substrate condition in writing at the assessment so you’re making the decision with evidence, not a sales pitch. Call (213) 221-0788 to schedule the assessment.
How long does cabinet refacing take in a typical Sherman Oaks kitchen?
A standard 10-by-12 Sherman Oaks kitchen takes two to four days for refacing once materials are on site – typically one day for door removal, substrate prep, and veneer application, then one to two days for door and hardware installation. Full cabinet installation runs longer: four to eight days depending on layout complexity, with an additional lead time of three to six weeks for semi-custom orders from KraftMaid or Wellborn. We give you the schedule in writing with the quote so the timeline is committed before you approve anything.
What cabinet brands does Rowan Construction Group use?
For full cabinet installation, we work primarily with KraftMaid and Wellborn – both offer semi-custom construction with plywood box options, a door style range that covers what Sherman Oaks kitchens typically call for, and lead times our written schedules can actually commit to. We name the brand and the specific line in the written scope so you know exactly what’s going in before anyone places an order. If you’ve already specified a different cabinet line in a competitor’s quote, bring that estimate and we’ll review it – the Free Second Opinion applies to material specs as well as labor pricing.
Does cabinet refacing require a permit in Sherman Oaks?
Cabinet refacing – replacing doors, drawer fronts, and face-frame veneer on existing boxes – does not require a building permit in the City of Los Angeles, which governs Sherman Oaks. Kitchen Remodeling that involves moving a gas line, relocating electrical receptacles, or altering a plumbing rough-in does trigger permit requirements, and we handle the permit application as part of the project scope when it applies. We tell you at the assessment whether the layout you’re considering will require a permit and factor that into the written price – no surprises after the fact.
Why Sherman Oaks Homeowners Work with Rowan Construction Group
Since 2007, Rowan Construction Group has delivered more than 4,000 projects across residential construction trades – every one with a written price before work started and a documented record when the crew left. The discipline that makes that possible is the Haven Standard: no change proceeds without a signed change order, no price is verbal, and the 365-Day Done Right Promise is printed on every project agreement, not buried in fine print.
In Sherman Oaks specifically, the cabinet work we see most often comes from two directions: homeowners in the Kester Avenue and Dixie Canyon corridors who bought a well-built mid-century ranch and want the Kitchen Design & Layout to reflect what they paid for the property, and owners in the multi-family and condo buildings near Ventura Boulevard who are preparing a unit for sale or long-term rental and need a clean, current kitchen without the timeline of a full renovation. The written price, the documented photo record, and the signed change order discipline serve both equally – the customer who wants to track every dollar and the one who just needs to trust that the number won’t move.
Background-checked crews, uniformed technicians, a live person on the phone at any hour, and a flat written price before anyone picks up a tool. That’s the offer. It’s the same offer we make on every trade we work – from home additions to roofing to the cabinet project you’re reading about now.
To get a written price for cabinet installation or refacing in Sherman Oaks, call (213) 221-0788. Grant Rowan or a member of his team will schedule the on-site assessment, document what’s there, and deliver a written number you can screenshot, compare, and hold us to.
Written by Grant Rowan, Owner at Rowan Construction Group Sherman Oaks, serving Sherman Oaks.