Cabinet Repair
Doors that will not close, drawers that stick, a sink base that swelled after a slow leak. Cabinet repair across Oakland County, including cabinetry we did not build.
Repair First
A surprising number of the kitchens people are ready to tear out do not need to be. A door that swings open on its own is a hinge. A drawer that drags is a glide. A shelf that bows is a shelf. These are afternoons, not remodels, and a shop that builds cabinets for a living can tell the difference on sight.
We repair cabinetry throughout Oakland County, and we do not limit that to our own work. If your cabinets came from a builder, a big box store or a company that is no longer in business, we can still assess them. Over four decades we have seen essentially every way a cabinet is put together.
When repair is not the honest answer, we say so. Sometimes the cost of chasing failing boxes exceeds what refacing would have cost, and you deserve to hear that before you spend the money rather than after.
What We Repair
Doors that will not stay shut, sit crooked in the opening, rub against each other, or have pulled the hinge screws out of the frame. Adjustment, hinge replacement, and repair of stripped mounting points.
Drawers that stick, drop, come off track or will not close the last inch. We replace worn roller glides with full extension soft close slides and repair drawer boxes that have come apart at the joints.
The most common serious cabinet failure in any house. A slow supply line or disposal leak swells the cabinet floor from underneath. Often the floor panel can be replaced without losing the cabinet.
Shelves that sag under dishes, shelf pins that have torn out, face frames that have separated, and cabinets that have worked loose from the wall or from each other.
Chips, scratches, heat damage above a range, sun fade on one run of doors, and the worn spot beside the handle everyone touches. Touch up where it will blend and refinishing where it will not.
Knobs, pulls, soft close dampers, lazy susan mechanisms and trash pull-outs. The least expensive change that makes a kitchen feel meaningfully different day to day.
Deciding
The right answer depends almost entirely on the condition of the cabinet boxes. Here is how we think about it before we quote anything.
| Repair | Reface | Replace | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boxes | Sound, isolated problem | Sound throughout | Failing or out of square |
| Layout | Works fine | Works fine | Needs to change |
| What you get | The cabinets you have, working correctly | New doors, fronts, veneer and hardware | New cabinetry, any configuration |
| Relative cost | Lowest | Middle | Highest |
| Typical trigger | One door, one drawer, one leak | Dated look, sound cabinets | Water damage across multiple boxes, or a bad floor plan |
Answers
Yes. Much of our repair work is on cabinetry built by someone else, often years or decades ago. Because we have been making cabinets in Auburn Hills for over 40 years, we can usually identify how a cabinet was built and what it will take to put it right.
Usually the hinges. Concealed hinges are adjustable in several directions and drift out of alignment over time, and the spring in an older hinge eventually stops holding the door shut. Adjustment fixes some cases and replacement fixes the rest. It is one of the least expensive problems on this page.
Often, though it depends on the finish and how much sun the room gets. A stained wood finish that has aged for fifteen years is not the same color it left the shop, so matching is done against the cabinet in front of us, not against a chip in a book. We will tell you honestly when a repair will show and when it will not.
Frequently, yes. A failing sink base is often a replaceable floor panel rather than a lost cabinet, as long as the leak has been stopped and the face frame and sides are still sound. If the damage has traveled into the frame or the cabinet next door, we will say so.
It depends on what is broken. Hardware, hinges, glides, shelves, a single door and localized water damage are almost always worth repairing. Boxes that are out of square, delaminating across multiple cabinets, or built into a layout that does not work are usually better addressed with refacing or new cabinetry.
In many cases. Whether a single new door will disappear into the run depends on the door style, the wood species and how much the surrounding finish has aged. Bring a photo, or the door itself, to the showroom and we can tell you what to expect.
Where We Work
We take cabinet repair calls across Oakland County and Southeast Michigan.
Cabinet Repair
Most cabinet repair questions can be answered from a picture and a short conversation. Call the showroom or send it over.
(248) 377-0707