I’ve seen it in hundreds of kitchens – people get rid of their old laminate counters and install beautiful, new granite. The counters look wonderful, but now the old oak cabinets they’re resting on look even worse by comparison. Now what? Can the granite be removed and reinstalled on new cabinets? With a few exceptions, the answer is “probably not”.
If you’ve ever watched granite being installed and seen a team of 4 burly guys struggle to bring a slab into the house, you know that it’s heavy. Ridiculously heavy. It’s also brittle. the narrow areas around the sink cutout can snap if the slab isn’t properly supported. Once the adhesive is laid down, the slabs are wrestled into position and the seams are filled with an epoxy paste, everyone breathes a sigh of relief – 400 lbs of glued-down rock isn’t going anywhere.
Cabinets refaced under granite
When a granite (or quartz) fabricator gets a call from a customer inquiring if their granite can be removed and re-installed, here’s what the fabricator has to do.
- Ensure that the sink, disposer, faucet and dishwasher have all been disconnected/removed
- Send out a team of installers (who would otherwise be installing new counters)
- Using wedges and prybars, gently try to break the backsplash free from the wall.
- Using the same tools, try to gently pry the slabs free from the cabinets.
- Hope the joints break cleanly at the epoxy line
- If all goes well and the slabs don’t snap, they are carried off and set somewhere out-of-the-way. (At least as out-of the way as 1500 lbs of rock can be)
- Come back after a few weeks when the old cabinets have been removed, and any flooring, drywall and plumbing has been completed and the new cabinets are in place.
- Scrape any residual adhesive off the old slabs, grind any old epoxy from the seam line and reinstall. If the new cabinets have the exact same dimensions as the old and have been installed precisely the same way, the counters should have the same overhang and stop cleanly at the cabinet edge next to the range and the refrigerator. If not, well…
A fabricator is going to have to price this as 2 trips and really can’t estimate how long removal will take, so will probably have to charge hourly for the team of 4. In addition, they can’t be held responsible if the slabs break, so you’ll be asked to sign a release before the work begins. Obviously, this type of work isn’t a money-maker for a busy countertop shop.
There is an exception – and I have done this myself. If the granite is a basic rectangle without any cutouts and is installed on a desk or an island. It is much more feasible to remove and reinstall this slab. It’s still a little nerve-wracking as you try to pry the top free, but the chances of it breaking are much less than on a full run of kitchen counters. Of course, even with this you would need 2 visits, one to remove and to reinstall.
So What are Your Options?
Do you have to bite the bullet and discard a few thousand dollars worth of granite if you want to upgrade your cabinets? No, there are options.
Certainly not the best option, but it has been done. The problem is that if you have oak cabinets the bold grain of the oak will telegraph through to the finish. It’s okay for a quick facelift – but painted oak cabinets almost always have an amateurish DIY look to them. And if the cabinets sides are not real wood, they won’t hold paint.
A better option is refacing. I’m not talking about that fake woodgrain, thermofoil stuff that your parents had done in the 80’s, but honest-to-goodness solid wood doors, drawer fronts and cabinet box covering.
A solid-wood cabinet refacing job can give you the cabinet upgrade you want without having to discard your granite (or quartz) counters.