The question we get most in kitchens is whether refinishing is worth it or whether the money is better spent on new cabinets. The honest answer depends almost entirely on the boxes, not on the doors, because doors are the part refinishing transforms and boxes are the part it cannot fix.
Refinishing makes sense when the carcasses are solid, the layout works, the drawers still run true, and the doors are wood or a decent veneer. In that case you are paying for labor and material on the visible surfaces and keeping everything structural, which is why the number lands so far below a replacement.
Replacement is the right call when the boxes are swollen or delaminating at the sink base, when the layout genuinely does not work for how you cook, or when the doors are thermofoil that is already lifting at the corners. Spraying a beautiful finish onto a cabinet that is failing underneath is money spent twice, and we will tell you that at the estimate rather than after.
When refinishing is the answer, the process is what determines whether it lasts. Doors and drawer fronts come off and get numbered. Everything gets degreased, because years of cooking film is the single most common reason a cabinet finish fails. Then scuff-sanding on every face, a bonding primer chosen for the existing finish rather than guessed at, and a cabinet-grade enamel applied with a sprayer so the surface is smooth instead of carrying brush marks.
Timeline is the other advantage. A refinish typically has your kitchen back in days rather than the weeks a replacement takes, and you keep your counters, your plumbing, and your backsplash. If you are unsure which side of the line your kitchen falls on, have someone look at the sink base and the door construction first. Those two things answer it faster than any showroom visit.