Cabinet Refinishing for Rental Properties: A Landlord’s Guide

Getting and keeping good tenants means maintaining your rental properties that keep them functional and looking great. A kitchen is the heart of any home, even one you're renting, so it's critical to keep your kitchen cabinets in good repair and aesthetically pleasing. You have many options when it comes to any kitchen remodel, but one place you should never cut corners is on your cabinets.

Good quality cabinets can last 50 years or more, which makes them a long-term investment and worth a little more upfront. Plus, better-quality cabinets mean you won't have to replace them as often or spend as much on maintenance.

Let's take a look at some of your options and the costs when selecting cabinets for a rental property, including:

We'll dive into all your options and explain why cabinet refinishing for rental properties is often the top choice.

Installing new cabinets comes with a hefty price tag. Even the cheapest kitchen cabinets are likely to start at $10,000 and rapidly go up from there, depending on the size of the kitchen. There are two basic options for new cabinet installation: stock and custom. Refinishing either type of cabinet is a cost-effective way to give your kitchen a quick facelift. Let's look at the price difference when refinishing stock versus custom cabinets.

Stock cabinets often come in standardized sizes with minimal detailing, though some can be very ornate. Ultimately, the size is what determines the cost of a refinishing project. Some stock cabinets use materials that don't allow refinishing, which could mean you'll need to reface your cabinets for an upgrade. Refacing involves us designing and hanging entirely new cabinet fronts using hardwood materials. Where refinishing costs about 1/3 as much as a new cabinet, refacing is at least 1/2 the price of simply installing new. With that in mind, you'll want to get a professional to assess your cabinets and provide information about what refinishing options are available.

Custom cabinets are often larger than stock alternatives. These cabinets may reach the ceiling, contain larger doors, or feature custom trim designs requiring more detailed work during refinishing. In either case, the total price will depend on the amount of surface area that needs refinishing and the number of hours it will take to get your cabinets to look great. The big bonus with custom cabinets is that nearly all custom designs can be refinished since most are hardwood.

As a landlord, you want to maximize your profits and minimize the cost of maintenance. When you install cheap, pressboard fronts and pre-fabricated cabinets, it can be a very costly mistake down the road. After all, most pre-fabricated cabinets are only designed to last for around 15 years, which means you could face another $10,000 investment several times before a custom cabinet needs replacement.

Reducing the number of maintenance calls from your tenants is also important. Tenants don't want too much disruption, and it's expensive to send out maintenance personnel to diagnose repairs that are functionally minor but play a significant role in landing renters, like your cabinet condition. Hardwood cabinets can last for 50 years or more, and refinishing regularly can dramatically extend that time frame, making an original investment one that quickly shows its worth in the long term. Plus, good cabinets are essential if you consider putting the property up for sale, making them a capital investment.

Unless you have a lot of experience in home remodeling, we don't recommend refinishing your cabinets as a DIY project. If you mess up, it could turn a simple refinishing project into an expensive refacing project, which you'll want to avoid.

Refinishing well means stripping off all of the old finish and applying new. You'll need to remove cabinet doors, carefully sand every bit of finish until it's completely gone, and then apply the new paint or stain. You could ruin your doors if you miss spots or sand too vigorously. Finding the space for a project like this is also hard, so you could be looking at a half-finished kitchen for months, delaying your ability to re-rent the property.