To change the look of your kitchen cabinets without replacing them, consider having them refinished.

“If you’re happy with the style of door you have, it’s a good way to spruce them up,” says Mary Ann Vincent, who, with her husband, Richard Vincent, owns The Finish Line, a 23-year-old, furniture repair and refinishing company.

Any look that you can imagine for your cabinets can be done, says Lesley Sexton. With her husband, Mark Sexton, Lesley owns Renderings Faux & Decorative Painting, a 12-year-old Sparks company that offers custom faux and decorative finishes for all types of surfaces.

“You can do absolutely anything,” Sexton adds. “If you see something in a magazine or in a store you like, we’ll copy it.”

Any color is possible. The endless finish choices include fine, distressed, or more creative, such as crackle painting and gold leaf.

Other possible embellishments include hand-painted designs and raised architectural elements (composites), such as moldings, and motifs such as olive branches.

All cabinets, even melamine ones, can be refinished, Sexton says. And, by filling in the grain, oak cabinets can be made to resemble other types of wood.

Cabinets that need mechanical repair may not be worth refinishing. In that situation Sexton recommends replacing any damaged doors with new cheap ones, having the hardware repaired, and then getting them refinished.

The Sextons’ general cabinet refinishing process involves some sanding but no stripping. Most work is done in the customer’s home.

The cost for a simple finish, which involves about four to five layers, is around $6,000. A more complex finish, with 12 to 14 layers, starts at about $15,000. Price, however, depends on the materials, the kitchen, and the job.

“Even though some of our finishes are expensive, it’s still a whole lot cheaper than going and buying new cabinets,” Sexton says. “Normally, new cabinets would cost $40,000 to $50,000.”

The Finish Line refinishes wood cabinets with wood or whitewash stains, or color lacquers (that look like paint).

Wood-toned stains, and more often the cherry-colored ones, are rapidly replacing whitewashes as the most requested finishes, Vincent says.

Wood stains are the easiest and cost less than color lacquers, says Mary Ann Vincent. To transform a cabinet from one wood tone to another costs about $4,000 to $6,000, depending upon the kitchen and the work involved. A solid color lacquer ranges from about $10,000 to $12,000.

The cost savings is the primary advantage to cabinet refinishing versus new cabinets, Vincent says. Refinishing costs are limited to labor and supplies—there are no installation and material costs. Cabinet refinishing also eliminates the need to potentially tear out the countertops and flooring, and unhook the plumbing and appliances.

The Vincents’ cabinet refinishing process involves stripping and then lacquering. They refinish the cabinet boxes on-site and the cabinet doors in their shop.

Andrews’ Furniture Service in North Washoe Valley provides refinishing and repairing of wood cabinets and furniture, primarily antiques.

“I can do lacquers, polyurethanes— any finish there is,” says Dave Andrews, the owner of the 43-year-old business. “My recommended finish would be lacquer finishes.”

Customers can get color matching, wood stains, or natural or custom finishing, such as antiquing and distressing. Sheen choices range from flat to high-gloss, handrubbed, natural, or oil finishes.

Cabinet refinishing in a typical kitchen containing a total of 26 to 46 doors and facings costs about $2,600 to $4,600, depending on the scope of the job.

Because Andrews treats every piece as an individual, refinishing may or may not include hand stripping, sanding, and then finishing. “I am both a refinisher and a conservator,” he says. “I try to do what’s best for the pieces and cabinets that people have.”