Our Cabinet Maker Story
Painting, refacing and complete tear outs are terrible solutions.
Kitchen Refresh started as the classic story of “there has to be a better way.”
Founder Chris Reinicke, Bismarck, N.D., who had a home inspection background, repeatedly heard this same question from homebuyers: "I love the layout of the kitchen, but hate the look. What can I do about it?"
At the time, there were less than a handful of options: Repainting, refacing or a complete tear out.
With any of those options, it was such an enormous waste of resources and time, or came with unsatisfactory results.
Chris had explored less expensive ways to manufacture all new cabinets, but didn’t like the compromises in quality that it would take to get to the right price point. He also looked at cabinet refacing, and saw the amount of time that process takes, as well as the problems such as outdated doors and drawer fronts still remaining and quality issues, and determined it wasn’t a good long-term solution either.
The third option - repainting the whole cabinet setup of boxes, doors and all - didn’t provide the right answer either. To do it right, it would take a two-step spray method, taping off and covering large areas of a home interior, a long, messy process of sanding and prepping the doors and drawer fronts, high odor and chance for overspray. And, in the end, the homeowner still had exposed hinges, dated style doors, paint that would crack due to expansion and contraction of the wood, and it would wear off and stain near the pulls of the doors and drawer fronts in a short time due to the lack of long-term durability.
His “aha” moment came in March of 2015 when the idea sparked of only painting the cabinet BOXES - since they are solid construction and see very little hand interaction - and then using a more efficient machining method to just manufacture all new, solid, one-piece doors and drawer fronts, adding concealed, soft-close hinges, and updating the pull hardware.
With this innovative process, there is massive cost savings of working with the existing cabinetry, combined with the versatility of upgrading to a new color, updated door and hardware styles, delivering a durable, high quality, custom, beautiful new cabinet look.
And, one of the most exciting client reactions has been to the speed of the kitchen makeovers: Complete kitchen transformations in just 1-5 days rather than 2-5 months like a typical remodel.
After proof-of-concept testing the idea in Bismarck for a year, and finding incredible positive response, the Refresh solution was then tested in Fargo for another year where it was also enthusiastically embraced. And, as they say, the rest is history as the Refresh method has been introduced into other communities and continues to grow in popularity across the United States.