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Barrette Kitchen Remodeling: The Orange County Owner’s Guide
We install and remodel around Barrette kitchen products throughout Orange County, and most homeowners call us when a cabinet hinge has torn loose, a drawer glide has given out, or a Barrette door style has been discontinued and they need a matched replacement. A typical Barrette-related kitchen remodel in Orange County runs $14,000 – $45,000 installed, depending on how much of the existing kitchen we’re rebuilding and which cabinet line and countertop material you choose. The most common discovery point is a drawer that suddenly binds, a door that won’t stay closed, or a hinge plate that has pulled clean out of the cabinet frame after years of daily use.
Before we get into the details: Penhallow Remodeling Orange County is an independent remodeling contractor, not affiliated with Barrette. We work on kitchens that already have Barrette cabinetry in place, and we source replacement parts and complementary cabinet lines that match what you have. If you’ve got a failed hinge, a sagging drawer box, or a cabinet face that needs matching after a remodel, call us at (424) 541-1701 and we’ll tell you what it will cost before we touch anything. Give you the number first, then pick up the tool.
Which Barrette Models This Applies To
Barrette has supplied kitchen and bath cabinetry through several retail channels over the years, and the naming conventions have shifted more than once. In Orange County, we most often see Barrette cabinet boxes from the HomeWorx and Designer’s Choice lines, along with flat-pack RTA (ready-to-assemble) cabinets that owners either built themselves or inherited from a previous flip. The critical thing to know is that Barrette cabinet doors from one era don’t always hang on Barrette frames from another. Hinge spacing, overlay (how far the door overlaps the frame), and door thickness vary between lines, even within the same brand. If you’re replacing a door rather than the whole run, you need the hinge cup diameter and the distance from the door edge to the cup center, not just the door’s height and width.
For hinge and glide replacements, we carry a range of aftermarket parts that match Barrette’s original specs. Salice, Blum, and Grass hinges generally interchange with Barrette hardware when the cup size and overlay match. We’ll always try to match with an OEM-equivalent part before recommending a door or drawer box replacement. The honest exception: if the cabinet frame itself is delaminating or the drawer box is constructed from particle board that’s now crumbling, no hinge will hold. In that case, replacement becomes the cheaper long-term answer than repeated repairs.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Barrette Kitchen Remodeling Is Failing
- Cabinet doors won’t stay closed. The hinge’s internal spring has lost tension, or the mounting screws have stripped out of the particle board. A new hinge may fix the first; the second means we’re drilling, filling, and remounting, not just swapping hardware.
- Drawers stick, wobble, or drop when opened. Barrette drawer glides on older lines were side-mount epoxy-coated slides. When the ball bearings wear flat or the glide screws loosen, the drawer starts to sag. If caught early, the glide is replaceable. If ignored, the drawer box cracks at the corner joints.
- Hinge plates pulling out of the cabinet frame. This is the one we see constantly in Irvine’s older neighborhoods near the Spectrum, where 1980s and 90s homes have lived through decades of coastal humidity swings. Particle board loses its screw grip over time. We repair with hardwood dowels and re-drill, which outlasts filling with wood putty every time.
- Delaminated cabinet sides or shelf pins dropping through. If the side panels are swelling or the shelf pin holes have crumbled, the cabinet structure itself is failing. This usually shows up under the sink or near the dishwasher first, where moisture is a daily presence.
- Doors or drawer fronts you can’t match anymore. This happens to Orange County homeowners mid-remodel. They want to keep part of a kitchen and replace the rest, only to find the original Barrette door style was discontinued. We solve this by either refacing the existing boxes with a matched style from another brand or replacing that cabinet run entirely.
Replacement Cost & What’s Included
Here’s what our Orange County pricing looks like, all in.
- Hinge or drawer glide replacement (small job, 1 – 4 cabinets): $200 – $900 installed, parts and labor
- Cabinet refacing (doors, drawer fronts, hardware, veneer): $5,000 – $12,000 depending on kitchen size
- New cabinet installation (partial or full kitchen): $4,000 – $13,000 for installation labor, separate from the cabinet cost
- Full kitchen remodel including cabinets, countertops, backsplash: $14,000 – $45,000
Those are installed numbers for Orange County, and they hold unless we find water damage, shifted framing, or code issues once the old material comes off. That’s the part we put in writing before work starts. The estimate you get is a fixed number, not a ballpark, and if something changes in the job we’ll talk to you before any additional cost is approved. Every project carries our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the work fails inside a year, we come back and fix it at no charge. In writing, on every job.
See the difference
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AfterDIY or Call Us?
Kitchen cabinet hardware is genuinely one of the safer things to attempt on your own, and if all you’re doing is swapping a hinge on a door that’s in good shape, it’s a fifteen-minute job with the right part. What goes wrong is when the screw holes are stripped, the plate no longer sits flush, or the door has to be re-aligned with its neighbor and you’re chasing a 1/16-inch gap across six doors. That’s the part that separates a clean repair from a kitchen full of doors that all sit slightly wrong.
For anything beyond a single hinge or glide, call us. We’ll identify the part, tell you whether the cabinet is worth repairing or replacing, and give you a written price before we start. The number to call is (424) 541-1701.
FAQs
Barrette cabinets with plywood or solid wood frames typically last 20 – 30 years in Orange County’s climate, while all-particle-board boxes often fail in 10 – 15 years, especially near dishwashers, sinks, or coastal humidity. The failure isn’t usually the door; it’s the screws pulling out of softened particle board. Call (424) 541-1701 and we’ll tell you if your cabinets are worth saving before you spend money on repairs.
Yes, in most cases. A stripped hinge mount can be drilled, filled with a hardwood dowel, and re-mounted stronger than the original. A sagging drawer can get new glides and corner brackets. The exception is delaminated or swollen panels, which mean the engineered wood has taken on moisture and lost its structure. For a straight answer about your specific kitchen, call us at (424) 541-1701; estimates are free.
A hinge or glide replacement usually takes one to three hours on site from the time we arrive. A full kitchen remodel around existing Barrette boxes runs three to eight weeks depending on countertop templating, cabinet lead times, and whether we’re moving plumbing or electrical. We give you a written schedule before we start, not after.
We stock the common hinge sizes, glide lengths, and mounting hardware that match Barrette cabinet specs, and we carry aftermarket equivalents from Salice, Blum, and Grass. If we don’t have your exact part, we can typically source it within a few days through our supply network. Call (424) 541-1701 with a photo of the failed part and we’ll tell you what we’re working with.
Talk to Us About Your Barrette Kitchen
If you’ve got a Barrette kitchen in Orange County and something isn’t closing, gliding, or staying mounted the way it should, call Penhallow Remodeling Orange County at (424) 541-1701. Trevor Nash and our crew will give you a written price before any work starts, show up in the window we promised, and stand behind the job with our 365-Day Done Right Promise. We also work with KraftMaid, Cambria, and Silestone materials when a remodel calls for new product lines. No pressure, just a straight answer and a number you can hold us to.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner, Penhallow Remodeling Orange County at Penhallow Remodeling Orange County, serving Orange County and nearby areas.
