Call Cabinet Refresh at (888) 885-2058 to talk through your specific kitchen size and what a realistic timeline looks like.
888-885-2058
License # 770558
License # 770558
The short answer is YES! Most homeowners use their kitchen every evening during a refacing project. Dinner gets cooked, the coffee maker runs the next morning, the kitchen doesn’t become a 24/7 hard-hat zone. The difference between refacing and a full remodel on this specific point is not small — it’s the difference between two days of minor inconvenience and six weeks of takeout.
But “you can use it” deserves a real explanation, because the anxiety behind this question is legitimate. You’ve heard stories from friends who lost their kitchen for two months. You’re wondering if refacing is just a smaller version of the same chaos. It isn’t. Our customers are always pleasantly surprised at how clean our crew is! Here’s exactly what each day of a professional refacing project looks like in a real Los Angeles home.
The most useful thing you can do before day one is empty your cabinet contents into boxes and set them somewhere out of the way – a dining room table, the garage, a bedroom. This takes about twenty minutes for most kitchens and eliminates the need for the crew to work around your dishes and pantry items. Your countertop appliances – coffee maker, toaster, blender – can stay where they are unless they’re directly under a cabinet that needs face frame work. Plan a few simple dinners. Not because you won’t have a functional kitchen, but because cooking an elaborate meal while a crew is in your space is just awkward. A dinner that takes one pan and twenty minutes is ideal for project days. Think a meal that centers around pasta or rice. This is the same kind of planning you’d do if you were having painters over — you’re not displaced, you’re just temporarily sharing your space with professionals.
The crew arrives in the morning. The first task is removing every cabinet door and drawer front, labeling each one, and either staging them on-site or transporting them to the shop, depending on whether the project uses shop-finished or field-applied doors. This phase takes a few hours for a standard kitchen.
Here’s what’s important: your countertops don’t move. Your sink doesn’t move. Your appliances don’t move. Your range, refrigerator, and dishwasher are fully operational from day one through the end of the project. What you have by early afternoon on day one is a kitchen without doors — which feels strange, but is completely functional. You can use the sink, use the stove, open the refrigerator. You’re cooking in an open-shelf kitchen, which is actually how plenty of people live by choice.
The afternoon of day one is typically dedicated to face frame preparation — cleaning, light sanding, and applying the new veneer to the exposed wood strips that frame each cabinet
opening. This is where the craft of refacing lives. Properly applied veneer is what separates a
result that looks custom from one that looks patched. A quality crew will be precise, methodical,
and noticeably quieter than you expect.
Dust levels during face frame work are real but modest. It’s not demolition dust — it’s sanding dust, which settles quickly and wipes up easily. The crew should be cleaning up at the end of each day. If they’re not, that’s a professionalism issue worth addressing immediately. A
responsible refacing crew leaves your kitchen usable, not buried in sawdust.
New doors and drawer fronts go up on day two. This is the visually rewarding part of the project — the part where homeowners start to see the kitchen that was described in the consultation. Doors are hung, adjusted, and leveled. Hinges are aligned so every door closes flush and sits parallel to its neighbors. Hardware is installed. The detail work at the end of day two is where a good crew earns its reputation. End panels, crown molding, toe kicks, and light rail molding are the finishing elements that make a refacing project look like a designed kitchen rather than a set of doors on boxes. These details take time.
A crew rushing to finish by noon on day two is a crew skipping things you’ll notice for years. Most standard LA kitchens (20–30 doors) are fully installed and functional by end of day two. Larger kitchens with more than 35 openings, corner cabinet solutions, or custom modifications may run into a third day. Your project manager should have given you a realistic timeline before the crew arrived — if the estimate was two days and it’s running into three, you deserve a clear explanation of why.
We’ll be happy to explain exactly how the process will work in your specific kitchen during a free, in-home consultation — including timeline, daily workflow, and what to expect while the project is underway.