Three Approaches to Cabinet Renovation
There comes a time for every apartment community when cabinets become a drag.
Kitchens eventually get old, out-of-fashion, worn out or damaged. And cabinets are important.
When prospective residents tour an apartment home, cabinets make a powerful impression, especially in an unfurnished space. The kitchen sets the tone for the entire apartment home. If cabinets aren’t attractive, leasing prospects go elsewhere.
Failing cabinets cause current residents to move out. Old cabinets drag down occupancy, effective rents and cash flow. Something needs to be done. But what?
There are three basic choices for cabinet renovation:
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Repaint the old cabinets (sometimes known as resurfacing)
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Remove and replace the cabinet boxes
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Reface the cabinets with new doors and drawer fronts
These basic choices in cabinet renovation have been unchanged for decades.
Repainting cabinets is easy to understand, as is removing old cabinets and replacing them with new ones. Cabinet refacing is a less understood option, but it’s a viable choice for many projects. And now a new door technology has the potential to make cabinet refacing a more popular choice than ever before.
This technology offers property managers a new option for refacing. The new door technology is a five-piece foil door with four pieces of molding surrounding a center panel, the way most cabinet doors have been made for centuries. The critical joints are tucked in where the moldings meet the center panel, to prevent failure. And because the front of the door is the same material as the back, these doors are unlikely to warp. This five-piece door style dominates the popular priced cabinet market in Europe and Canada and is growing rapidly in the United States.
The return on investment from cabinet renovation can be huge.
At the 1/3 of the cost of new cabinets, you can lower your renovations costs while raising rents, occupancy and NOI. Renovations become Fast, Easy and Affordable with an ROI greater than 70%. That is a fantastic investment by any measure.
George Hagle is the founder and president of Cinch Kit, a Houston manufacturer of complete cabinet makeover kits. He has over 20 years experience in the cabinet industry including managing the largest US manufacturer of kitchen cabinets installed in apartment complexes.