Free written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
Tamko Kitchen Remodeling: The San Antonio Owner’s Guide
Tamko kitchen remodeling in San Antonio typically runs $14,000 to $45,000 installed, depending on whether you’re replacing a single run of cabinetry or reworking the full room from floor to ceiling. We stock and install Tamko-compatible cabinet lines, trim, and hardware from our San Antonio shop, and most matching jobs can be quoted within a day of your call to (432) 233-0976. Most homeowners discover they need this work when a cabinet box starts pulling away from the wall, a drawer face splits along the grain, or the finish on a Tamko door begins clouding from years of heat and cooking grease.
We’re an independent San Antonio contractor, not a Tamko factory outlet or authorized dealer. What that means for you is simpler than it sounds: we measure what’s there, match it to what Tamko still makes or what fits the same footprint, and write the price down before a single tool leaves the truck. And because kitchens in San Antonio live through real heat, real humidity swings, and the occasional freeze snap, we pay attention to how a cabinet expands and contracts here – not how it behaves in a showroom in Ohio.
Which Tamko Models This Applies To
Tamko has made several kitchen cabinet lines over the decades, and the model name matters less than the box dimensions and hinge pattern when it comes to matching parts. We’ve worked on Tamko’s framed cabinet lines most often in San Antonio homes built from the mid-1990s through the early 2010s, where the face frame is 3/4-inch solid wood and the doors hang on concealed cup hinges with a 35mm bore. If you open the door and see a small round hinge cup recessed into the back of the door, that’s the version we can match quickly.
The compatibility gotcha most people miss: Tamko’s older framed lines used a 1/2-inch overlay hinge, while their later semi-frameless and full-overlay doors use a 1-1/4-inch overlay. They look nearly identical from the front, but the replacement door or hinge set has to match the old overlay or the gaps will never line up. Before you order anything online, pull one hinge off and measure the distance from the hinge cup edge to the door edge. If it’s not obvious, we’ll do it during the estimate and write the exact spec into your quote.
On the OEM-versus-aftermarket question, we’re direct: for Tamko cabinet boxes, drawer glides, and hinges, OEM replacements are still available for most popular lines and the fit is dead-on. For door and drawer fronts, we often go with a custom-matched hardwood door from a local San Antonio mill shop when the original finish can’t be saved – the grain won’t be identical, but a full-refinish of the room takes care of that. We also stock parts for KraftMaid, Cambria, and Silestone systems, so if your Tamko kitchen has a mixed-origin island or a countertop from another brand, we can handle the whole room in one scope.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Tamko Kitchen Remodeling Is Failing
- Cabinet doors no longer close flush or hang slightly crooked. This usually means the hinge screws have stripped out of the face frame – common in San Antonio’s drywall-and-stud cycles where walls shift seasonally. Tightening won’t hold; the holes need to be re-drilled and doweled.
- Drawers stick partway or fall off the glides. On older Tamko boxes, the plastic glide clips crack after enough open-close cycles. The box itself is usually fine; it’s the clip that dies.
- The finish on doors near the stove or dishwasher is clouding or peeling. Heat and steam break down the clear coat over time. This is repairable if caught before the wood underneath starts greying.
- The sink base cabinet floor is soft or swollen. A slow leak under the sink, gone unnoticed, rots the 1/2-inch ply cabinet floor. The box can often be saved with a new floor panel rather than a full tear-out.
- The upper cabinets have pulled away from the wall by more than 1/8 inch. This is a mounting issue, not a cabinet issue. Left alone, the whole run can come down – especially in older San Antonio homes with lath-and-plaster walls that were never meant to hold the load of stoneware and cast iron.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
In San Antonio, a partial Tamko kitchen refresh – say, replacing door and drawer fronts on a 10×10 layout and re-hanging the hardware – tends to land between $9,000 and $20,000. A full gut-and-replace with new Tamko-compatible boxes, soft-close glides, new countertops, and a backsplash runs $14,000 to $45,000. The gap comes down to square footage of cabinetry, whether you’re moving plumbing or electrical, and whether the original boxes are worth saving.
| Scope | Typical San Antonio Installed Price |
|---|---|
| Door/drawer front replacement only | $9,000 – $20,000 |
| Full kitchen remodel with Tamko-compatible cabinets | $14,000 – $45,000 |
| Cabinet installation (new boxes, same footprint) | $4,000 – $13,000 |
| Countertop installation | $2,000 – $6,500 |
| Backsplash installation | $800 – $2,500 |
| Kitchen island installation | $3,000 – $10,000 |
Every quote we write includes the parts, the labor to remove and dispose of the old pieces, the new hardware, and the clean-up – drop cloths on the floors, shoe covers at the door, and a photo of the room before the crew leaves. The written price you sign is the price you pay. No line items added after demo day. If something’s not right after the job is complete, our 365-Day Done Right Promise means we make it right. That’s the whole point of writing it down up front.
DIY or Call Us?
Here’s the honest split. You can safely check the hinge overlay measurement, look for a printed Tamko label inside a drawer box, and note which doors close poorly. That info helps us quote faster. What you shouldn’t do is attempt a cabinet box replacement or a full hinge-pattern conversion on your own. An upper cabinet run that’s pulled away from the wall carries real weight, and re-hanging it wrong is how people get hurt and walls get torn open. Same goes for removing a rotted sink base: plumbing disconnects, potential mold under the cabinet, and the countertop resting on that box all need to be handled in the right order. If you’re unsure whether your issue is cosmetic or structural, call (432) 233-0976 and describe what you’re seeing. We’ll tell you straight whether it’s a Saturday morning fix or a job for a crew.
And if you ask Graham Stein, he’ll tell you the same thing he tells every San Antonio homeowner who calls about a failing kitchen: Write it down, price it once, do it right.
FAQs
Most Tamko kitchen cabinet boxes in San Antonio last 20 to 30 years before the hinges, glides, or sink base show real failure. The boxes themselves can go longer if the home stays climate-controlled year-round, but Texas humidity swings and the heat around ovens and dishwashers shorten the life of moving hardware and door finishes first.
If your cabinets are 15 to 20 years old and starting to show the symptoms above, a partial repair often buys another decade. Call (432) 233-0976 and we’ll assess what’s worth saving.
Most failing Tamko cabinets can be repaired rather than replaced, especially if the problem is stripped hinge holes, cracked glide clips, or a soft sink-base floor. The exception is when water damage has wicked up the sides of the box or the face frame is pulling apart at the joints – at that point, replacing just that cabinet is cheaper and sturdier than a patch.
We’ll tell you which one you have during the estimate, and the written quote will show the repair route and the replacement route separately so you can decide with real numbers.
A door-and-drawer-front replacement on a standard San Antonio kitchen typically takes 3 to 5 working days once the new fronts arrive. A full remodel with cabinet boxes, countertops, and backsplash usually runs 4 to 8 weeks depending on countertop fabrication lead times and whether the sink or appliances move.
We sequence the work so you still have a functioning kitchen for as much of the job as possible, and we keep the crew on quiet tools during nap and school hours where the scope allows it.
We keep common Tamko hinge sets, glide clips, and mounting hardware on the truck for quick repairs. For doors, drawer fronts, and cabinet boxes, we place the order after we’ve measured your kitchen and you’ve approved the written quote – most parts arrive within 2 to 3 weeks in San Antonio.
If you need a specific part matched, call (432) 233-0976 with your cabinet measurements and we’ll confirm availability before you commit to anything.
Written by Graham Stein, Owner, Elmstead Remodeling San Antonio at Elmstead Remodeling San Antonio, serving San Antonio and nearby areas.
