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Wellborn Kitchen Remodeling: The San Antonio Owner’s Guide
If you own Wellborn cabinets and a hinge has stripped, a drawer glide has snapped, or a door front has warped in our Texas humidity, the fastest path is a matched replacement installed by a crew that knows the Wellborn line. Most Wellborn kitchen remodeling repairs in San Antonio run between $400 and $3,000 depending on whether we’re replacing hardware on a single cabinet or rebuilding a run of boxes and faces. We stock common Wellborn hinges, glides, and bumpers on the truck, and our written quote covers the part, the labor, and the clean-up before we touch a single screw.
The way most San Antonio owners find us: a drawer starts catching on the right side, a door won’t stay closed, or the soft-close feature stops softening. Sometimes it’s a single hinge plate that loosened over years of daily use. Other times it’s a finish issue that crept in from years of steam, cooking heat, and summer humidity swings. In Alamo Heights and Terrell Hills, we see hinge wear concentrated on the cabinets nearest the range. In older homes near King William, the issue is more often a door or drawer front that’s out of square because the house has settled.
Your first question is usually whether the part matches what Wellborn built. That’s a fair question. Most Wellborn cabinet lines use specific hinge cup diameters and screw spacings, and the model label inside the drawer box usually tells us what we need. Bring us a photo of the failed part next to a ruler, and we’ll usually know before we arrive whether it’s an OEM match or a quality aftermarket equivalent.
Which Wellborn Models This Applies To
Wellborn builds several cabinet lines, and the parts are not all interchangeable. The Estate, Premier, and Cabinet Select series each use slightly different hinge profiles and drawer glide ratings, and the door construction affects which replacement front we can match. Wellborn cabinets are manufactured in Alabama, but the humidity swings in San Antonio mean the wood moves more than it would elsewhere. We account for that.
Inside one of your drawer boxes, you’ll find a stamped label with the Wellborn logo, a series name, and usually a date code. On frameless Wellborn boxes, the hinge plate screws into the side panel; on face-frame boxes, the hinge wraps onto the stile. Those are two different hinge families, and the mounting plate isn’t the only thing that differs. The cup size on the door is either 35mm or 40mm, and using the wrong one means the door will sit proud or bind.
For OEM versus aftermarket: Wellborn hinges and glides are solid parts, and we install OEM whenever the series is current or still stocked. Some older Wellborn lines are discontinued, and the OEM part is no longer made. In those cases, we use a quality aftermarket match, usually a Blum or Salice glide with the same mounting footprint. The drawer will open and close the same, and the replacement comes with a manufacturer’s warranty. We will always tell you which we quoted and why.
One compatibility gotcha: Wellborn’s soft-close add-on clips fit only their hinge design. You can’t clip a generic soft-close adapter onto an old Wellborn hinge and expect it to hold. If soft-close is what you want, we usually replace the hinge pair rather than patch it.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Wellborn Kitchen Remodeling Is Failing
- The door won’t stay closed or it drifts open. This is usually a worn hinge spring or a stripped screw hole. The hinge still looks fine, but the internal spring has lost its tension, or the wood around the screw has given way.
- A drawer grinds, sticks, or drops on one side. The glide rollers have flat spots, or the glide has pulled away from the cabinet wall. If it’s the latter, we can often remount it with a reinforcement plate rather than replace the drawer box.
- The soft-close feature stops working gradually. The damping mechanism inside the glide or hinge has worn out. It’s not a fixable part, but the replacement is quick and the cost is modest.
- A cabinet door or drawer front has swollen or delaminated at the bottom edge. San Antonio humidity and years of steam from dishwashers and ranges do this. If the panel is delaminating, the fix is a new door front, not a sanding pass.
- The cabinet box itself is pulling away from the wall. In homes with older drywall or plaster, the upper cabinet anchors can loosen over time. We see this in older San Antonio neighborhoods where the wall framing is not perfectly plumb.
If you’re noticing one of these and it’s getting worse week over week, call us. A cabinet that pulls away from the wall is not a cosmetic issue, and a drawer that binds will get worse, not better.
Replacement Cost & What’s Included
Wellborn kitchen remodeling in San Antonio typically falls between $14,000 and $45,000 for a full kitchen overhaul. But a parts-level repair is usually much smaller. Replacing a hinge or glide runs $75 to $200 per cabinet including the part and the labor. Replacing a single door front is $150 to $400 depending on size and finish matching. Rebuilding a run of drawer boxes starts around $800 and climbs if we’re matching a custom stain or glaze.
| Work Type | Installed Price Range |
|---|---|
| Single hinge or glide replacement | $75 – $200 |
| Cabinet door front replacement | $150 – $400 |
| Cabinet hardware refresh (full kitchen) | $800 – $2,500 |
| Drawer box rebuild (per run) | $800 – $3,000 |
| Full kitchen remodel | $14,000 – $45,000 |
What drives the range: whether the Wellborn series is current or discontinued, how many cabinets are affected, whether we’re matching an existing finish or refinishing the whole run, and whether the cabinet box itself is sound. Every quote includes the parts, the labor, the disposal of the old parts, and the clean-up. No charge for the estimate, no surprise line items after we start.
Every part we install falls under our 365-Day Done Right Promise. If something isn’t right a month or a season later, we make it right. You won’t have to argue about it.
See the difference
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AfterDIY or Call Us?
A loose hinge screw is something you can check yourself, and tightening it can buy you time. But the moment you strip that screw hole or install the wrong hinge plate, you’ve made the next repair more expensive. Wellborn uses specific cup diameters and screw spacings, and the wrong hardware will crack the door edge or leave the door misaligned.
What we’d rather you do: take a photo of the failed part next to a ruler and call (432) 233-0976. We’ll tell you whether it’s worth a truck roll or whether you can wait. For drawers that grind or cabinets pulling from the wall, let us handle it before the door or drawer front gets damaged. The repair is small if we catch it early.
And no, we won’t leave sawdust under the table. We put down drop cloths, we wear shoe covers, and we hand you a photo of the clean-up before we head out.
FAQs
With normal daily use, most Wellborn hinges and glides last 15 to 20 years in our climate. The ones nearest the range and dishwasher tend to fail first because heat and humidity accelerate the wear on the spring and the roller bearings.
No. The damping mechanism inside the hinge is sealed, and once it stops softening, the hinge is done. We replace the pair on that cabinet so the door closes evenly. Call (432) 233-0976 for a quote before you buy parts yourself.
Most hinge and glide replacements take under two hours for a single cabinet, and a full kitchen hardware swap usually takes one day. We bring the common Wellborn sizes on the truck, so we don’t have to leave and come back.
We stock common Wellborn hinge plates, screw sets, drawer glides, and bumpers on the truck for the current series. For discontinued parts or custom door fronts, we order a matched replacement, and that usually arrives within a week. We’ll let you know before you’re committed.
Get a Written Price Before Any Work Starts
If you have a Wellborn kitchen part that’s failing, call (432) 233-0976. A live person answers, 24/7, not a voicemail tree. We’ll walk through what you’re seeing, and if we need to visit, we’ll bring a written quote itemizing the part, the labor, and the schedule. You’ll know the price before we touch a single cabinet. Write it down, price it once, do it right.
Written by Graham Stein, Owner, Elmstead Remodeling San Antonio at Elmstead Remodeling San Antonio, serving San Antonio and nearby areas.
