The very first thing you will need to determine is whether you will be painting your kitchen cupboards or if you will be using a wood finish. If you only will be painting your kitchen cabinets that is quite a bit simpler than achieving a wood finish.

If you desire a colored finish there are a few choices you will have to make. One is whether to change your existing cabinet doors, or to just paint the actual ones. Most people that undertake a cabinet reface or resurfacing project have grown tired of their cabinets and cabinet panels so it is very common to replace the cabinet doors prior to repainting your cabinets.

Now if your going to want a wood finish off for your cabinet refacing project then it is a bit more included than just repainting cabinets. Typical cabinet refacing involves changing the old cabinet doors with new ones and including a thin solid wood veneer to the face frame, and any kind of exposed cabinet ends. During this process the veneer will be cut to fit on every surface of the cabinet. Now you might be saying "this is already getting complicated" but rest assured this can be a DIY project.

With either route you take, artwork or wood finish, you will need new cabinet doors. Creating custom cabinet doors is usually out of the scope of most get it done yourselfers and far beyond this article. But don't let that dissuade you, many have made their own cabinet doors, but bear in mind it will take a variety of specialized tools and equipment, as well as a good supply of hard wood lumber. Now days the cost for quality custom cabinet opportunities have made it affordable for the DIYer. There are numerous custom cabinet front door companies out there but I have included a resource below which has the best quality, price and selection of cabinet doors and refacing materials I have found to date.