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We handle custom kitchen cabinets across 77039 in Houston, roughly 20 miles from our Energy Corridor base.

Not every kitchen needs new cabinets. Some need doors. Some need a proper finish and better hardware. And some have boxes that are already swollen at the sink base and a layout that fights you every day, in which case new doors are money thrown at the wrong problem. The decision comes down to three questions: what the boxes are made of, whether the layout works, and what condition the finish and hardware are in. Answer those honestly and the choice usually makes itself.

Scope of work

The assessment takes an hour and is mostly looking. Pull a drawer and check the box material at the cut edge: plywood shows plies, particleboard shows chip. Open the sink base and look at the deck and the back of the toe kick for swelling and dark staining. Check whether the boxes are square and still attached to studs, whether the face frames are sound, and whether the doors have sagged at the hinges. Then the layout question: is there a dead corner, a cooktop with no landing space, a fridge that blocks a walkway, or one bank of drawers doing all the work. Refinishing means degreasing thoroughly, sanding, a bonding primer and a sprayed topcoat, with the doors sprayed off site. Refacing means new doors and drawer fronts with veneer applied to the face frames, plus new hinges and slides. Replacement means the boxes come out, walls and floor get repaired, and new cabinets are set to a laser line and scribed to the room.

What gets specified

If you refinish, the finish class matters more than the colour. Kitchen cabinets take grease, cleaner and knuckles, so a catalysed or conversion product sprayed in a shop outperforms a brushed wall paint by a wide margin. Oak telegraphs its grain through paint unless it is grain-filled first, which is labour. If you reface, the new doors should be built for the climate: painted doors in MDF or with MDF panels stay flat and do not open hairline joint lines at the rails when humidity swings, while stain-grade doors in maple, white oak or walnut float a solid panel in the frame for the same reason. If you replace, specify plywood boxes rather than particleboard, particularly the sink base, and full-extension undermount soft-close slides rated for real drawer loads. Concealed six-way adjustable hinges are what let doors be aligned once the boxes are set in an out-of-square room.

What Houston conditions demand

Houston humidity decides more of this than people expect. Particleboard boxes in a sink base that has taken a slow supply leak or dishwasher steam do not dry out and go back to shape; they stay swollen and lose their grip on screws, so new doors on those boxes are a temporary fix. Older inner-Houston kitchens add galvanised supply lines and cast iron drains under the slab, so moving a sink is a bigger conversation than moving a cabinet. In slab homes, seasonal movement can leave floors out of level across a long run, which is why refaced cabinets sometimes still look wrong: the boxes were never shimmed correctly. And on-site finishing in high humidity risks a slow cure and a soft film, which is why finish work belongs in a controlled shop wherever possible.

Working in Houston

Houston is not one housing stock, so it is not one kind of remodel. In the Heights and Woodland Heights you are often working on 1910s–1930s wood-frame homes on pier-and-beam, where leveling, sill and joist repair, and original wiring long past its service life come before anything cosmetic — and where a home in a designated historic district brings design review with it. Montrose, Oak Forest and Garden Oaks add mid-century layers. Meyerland, Westbury, Braeswood and Sharpstown are largely 1950s–60s slab ranch: cast iron drains near the end of their life, galvanized supply, single-pane windows, popcorn ceilings that should be tested before they are disturbed. Memorial and Alief lean 1970s–80s, which brings aluminum branch wiring and polybutylene supply into the conversation. West of Beltway 8 you are usually in 2000s and 2010s construction, where the job is upgrade rather than repair. Houston has no zoning, but plumbing, electrical and structural work is permitted, and deed restrictions still govern a great deal.

Common mistakes

Refacing over boxes that are failing. New doors on a swollen sink base is money you will spend twice. Second, refinishing without degreasing properly. Kitchen grease is invisible and it stops primer bonding, so the finish peels in sheets at the cooktop within a year. Third, painting doors in place. You get brush marks, dust and a soft film that marks with a fingernail. Fourth, keeping a layout that never worked because the boxes are sound. If the corner is dead and there are no drawers, that is the actual complaint. Fifth, reusing old hinges on new doors and inheriting the sag. Sixth, replacing cabinets and levelling them to the floor instead of to a laser line, which puts the countertop out of level. Seventh, on older homes, discovering after demo that a soffit contains a duct or a vent stack, when a small exploratory opening beforehand would have answered it.

Where the budget goes

Refinishing is priced by door and drawer count and by how much prep the existing finish needs, with grain-filling oak a significant addition. Refacing is priced by door count, door style and veneer work on the face frames, and inset styles cost more than overlay. Replacement is priced by linear footage, box material, door style, finish, and how much the layout changes. Moving a sink or a range is what moves a replacement price hardest, because it brings plumbing or electrical work and, in a slab home, potentially concrete. Removing a soffit, adding ceiling-height uppers, appliance panels, interior accessories and inset construction all add. Site conditions add too, since out-of-plumb walls in older homes mean scribing and filler work.

The process

We look before we quote. Box material, sink base condition, hinge and slide condition, whether the layout is the real problem, and what the walls and floor are doing. From there we lay out the honest options rather than one. If it is refinishing, doors come off, get tagged, and are sprayed off site while the boxes are prepped in place. If it is replacement, we field verify after demo, order to the verified numbers, and set to a laser line with shims and scribes. Kitchen electrical and plumbing changes are permitted work in the City of Houston, and unincorporated Harris and Fort Bend handle it differently, so we confirm for your address.

Common questions

Can existing cabinets be repainted well?

Yes, with the doors sprayed off site and real preparation. Thorough degreasing, sanding, a bonding primer and a catalysed or otherwise durable topcoat. Oak needs grain-filling if you want a smooth painted look. What does not work is a roller and wall paint. It stays soft, marks with a fingernail and peels at the cooktop where the grease is.

What usually pushes a kitchen to full replacement?

Water damage in the boxes, a layout with dead corners or no drawer storage, cabinet sizes that will not accept current appliances, and any plan that moves the sink or the range. Once you are opening walls and floors, replacement often makes more sense than trying to keep boxes that then have to be modified anyway.

How do I tell plywood boxes from particleboard?

Pull out a drawer and look at the raw edge of the cabinet side, usually visible at the back or under the drawer box. Plywood shows thin layers. Particleboard shows compressed chips. Also press the deck inside the sink base. If it feels soft or the surface has lifted, it is particleboard that has taken water, and that box is at the end of its life.

Is refacing worth it?

When the boxes are plywood and sound, the layout works, and you mainly dislike the doors, yes. It costs less than replacement and takes less time out of your kitchen. When the boxes are particleboard, the sink base is swollen, or the layout is what actually frustrates you, refacing preserves the problem behind a new face.

Do you cover Houston 77039?

Yes. Houston 77039 is about 20 miles from our shop at 1530 W Sam Houston Pkwy N, Houston, TX 77043, inside the area we work in daily. Call (281) 235-6971 to arrange a site visit.

MS Home Remodeling — custom kitchen cabinets in Houston, TX 77039. Call (281) 235-6971 for a site visit.

MS Home Remodeling · 1530 W Sam Houston Pkwy N, Houston, TX 77043 · (281) 235-6971 · All custom kitchen cabinets locations