Wood Cabinet Kitchen Listings Across Greater Vancouver

Inspect the Wood Cabinet Boxes, Not the Doors

Wood Cabinet on a Greater Vancouver listing describes a kitchen with timber fronts, so open a door, look at the box behind it and decide whether you are buying quality or an era before you write an offer.

The fronts are what you see and the carcass is what you are buying. Pull out a drawer and look at the cut edge: solid sides or good plywood will outlive several kitchens, while swollen particleboard will not survive the next leak. Solid maple cabinets and oak from an earlier decade often look dated and are built far better than what replaced them, and that combination is the best news you can find in an older kitchen.

Check the Hinges, the Finish and the Layout

Open and close several doors. Old face-frame hinges cannot be adjusted the way a modern cup hinge can, and replacing them means new doors. Look at the finish where hands go, at the base of the cabinet beside the dishwasher, and under the sink with a flashlight, because that is where a slow leak shows first as dark swelling at the bottom of a side panel.

Then step back and look at the layout, which matters more than any of it. Cabinets can be painted, refaced or replaced in place for a fraction of what it costs to move a sink, a range or a wall. If the plan works, tired doors are a weekend project. If the plan does not, you are pricing plumbing, electrical and, in most municipalities, a permit.

Ask What a Wood Cabinet Kitchen Costs to Change

Get numbers before you offer rather than after. Ask a cabinet shop what new doors and hardware on the existing boxes would run, and ask a contractor what a full replacement in the same footprint would cost. The gap between those two figures is usually large, and it belongs in the number you write.

In a strata, check the bylaws and ask for the alteration agreement, since work touching plumbing, ventilation or an exterior wall needs approval. Then ask your real estate agent what comparable homes with updated kitchens have sold for nearby, so the discount you are being offered is measured against the work rather than against the photographs.