Quick answer
Yes, in most kitchens you can replace just the doors and drawer fronts, provided the carcasses are structurally sound, square and standard depth. New doors and fronts typically cost 30 to 45 percent of a full replacement kitchen and go in over a day or two. If the boxes are swollen, sagging or the layout itself is the problem, doors alone will not fix it.
Key points
- Door and drawer front replacement works when the carcasses are dry, square and sound. It is the layout and the boxes, not the doors, that decide.
- Ten-minute check: press the base under the sink, open and close every door, and pull one drawer right out.
- Expect roughly 30 to 45 percent of a full kitchen cost, fitted in one to two days rather than a week.
- Hinge type matters more than people expect. Standard 35mm cup hinges are easy; old face-fixed or piano hinges usually are not.
- If you want the sink moved, an appliance added or a wall opened up, you are past what new doors can do.
This is one of the most sensible questions a homeowner asks and one of the least honestly answered, because the person answering usually sells whole kitchens. The truthful answer is that a lot of kitchens genuinely do only need new fronts. The cabinets in a 1990s or 2000s Auckland home were often built from decent 18mm melamine board, and if water has never got into them they are still perfectly serviceable behind a set of tired doors.
What has usually failed is the visible stuff. The door finish has yellowed or the edge tape has lifted, the handles are dated, the hinges have dropped so nothing lines up, and the whole thing reads as old even though the structure underneath is fine. Replacing what you can see is a completely legitimate answer to that, and it is the difference between spending a few thousand and spending fifteen.
The ten-minute check that decides it
You do not need a tradesman to work out whether your carcasses are worth keeping. Three tests cover almost everything.
| Check | How to do it | What a pass looks like | What a fail means |
|---|---|---|---|
| The sink base | Empty it, get your hand in, press the base and the back corners firmly | Board feels hard and flat everywhere | Soft, spongy or visibly swollen board means water damage. That cabinet needs replacing at minimum |
| Square and level | Open every door and look at the gaps between them | Gaps are even top to bottom and door to door | Tapering gaps mean the run has moved or a cabinet has racked. New doors will show it worse, not better |
| Drawer boxes | Pull one drawer fully out and look at the sides and the runner | Sides solid, runner smooth, no sag | Blown corners or bottoms dropping out mean the drawers go regardless of the fronts |
| Hinge type | Open a door and look at the hinge cup | A round 35mm cup set into the door | Face-fixed, piano or non-standard hinges usually mean bespoke drilling or new carcass plates |
What it actually costs
New doors and drawer fronts across a typical Auckland kitchen usually land somewhere between a third and a bit under half of what the same kitchen would cost to replace outright. The spread is wide because the door finish drives it. Melteca and other melamine-faced fronts sit at the bottom, painted 2-pac lacquer at the top, and the number of drawer fronts matters because a bank of four drawers is four fronts where a cupboard is one door.
The things that push the price up are rarely the doors themselves. New hinges throughout, new handles, and adding soft-close where there was none are all sensible upgrades while everything is off, and they add up. So does making good where an old handle hole does not line up with a new one.
When new doors are the wrong answer
- You want the sink, cooktop or dishwasher in a different place. That is plumbing and electrical work, and the cabinetry has to follow it.
- The layout does not work. If the fridge blocks a walkway or there is nowhere to put shopping down, better looking doors change nothing.
- The carcasses are 500mm deep or some other non-standard size and you want modern appliances that assume 600mm.
- You are adding a dishwasher for the first time. That needs a 600mm bay, plumbing and a dedicated outlet.
- The boxes are chipboard that has already taken water. Re-fronting a wet carcass is money spent on a cabinet that is on its way out.
How the job runs
A door replacement is measured differently from a new kitchen. Rather than measuring the room, we measure every existing opening and every existing door, because we are matching what is there rather than setting it out fresh. Getting that wrong is the classic failure: doors ordered to a nominal size that do not suit the actual gaps, leaving uneven shadow lines across the run.
Once the fronts are made, the fit is quick. Old doors and hinges come off, new hinge plates go on where needed, and the new fronts are hung and adjusted. Most kitchens are done inside a day or two, and unlike a full renovation you keep a working kitchen the entire time.
Doors, or a new kitchen?
The honest test is whether you are unhappy with how the kitchen looks or with how it works. Looks are a door problem. Works is a layout problem, and no amount of new fronts will solve it. If you are somewhere in between, a measured quote for both options is worth having, because the gap is often smaller than people assume once new benchtops and hardware are in the door option anyway.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get new doors made to fit my existing cabinets?
Yes. We measure each existing opening and each existing door rather than working to nominal sizes, and make the fronts to suit. That is what keeps the gaps even across the run once they are hung.
Will new doors fit my old hinges?
If yours are standard 35mm cup hinges, usually yes, though new hinges are worth doing while everything is apart. Older face-fixed or piano hinges normally mean new hinge plates on the carcasses as well.
How much cheaper is it than a new kitchen?
Typically 30 to 45 percent of the cost of replacing the kitchen outright, depending on the door finish and how many drawer fronts you have. Painted 2-pac sits at the top of that range, melamine-faced fronts at the bottom.
How long does the kitchen stay out of action?
Barely at all. Doors come off and go back on over a day or two, and you keep the benchtop, the sink and the appliances the whole time.
Can you replace just the drawer fronts and leave the doors?
You can, but it rarely looks right unless the existing doors are in genuinely good condition and you can match the finish. Mixing an aged finish with a new one usually shows.
What if one or two cabinets are damaged?
We replace those carcasses and re-front the rest. That is a very common outcome, and it is far cheaper than replacing the whole run because one cabinet under the sink got wet.