When to buy new cabinets

So I've been arguing with DH over this.

He wants to pay off as much debt as possible. Which I'm all for, because when his student loans come out of defferrment in about 6 months when he graduates, if we can't negotiates with the companies, we'll be paying close to 800 a month.

So he wants to take tax return money and extra student loan monies and just pay of debt.

Which I'm all for, but I told him that he needs to keep in mind that we do own our own home, and that it will need repairs, and we shouldn't put it all on the debt just to charge it again.

The biggest thing that I think it's time to replace is all the cabinets. In all the bathrooms and kitchen we have cheap press board cabinets. The problem is the doors are solid wood, the actual cabinets are not. So the doors often fall off the hinges(from the cabinet part not the door part), everytime DH has to replace one, it's $5, he's already replaced 1 door twice, and 2 more doors just fell off. When the front of the drawers fall off, it's not replaceable.(Some fell off in the bathroom upstairs.)

I know we can get solid wood cabinets for under $5k, because my BIL did it and his kitchen is the size of ours. I told him to think about this within a year, that yes it's costly, but I think in the long run, we're going to be paying several hundred of dollars in parts just to keep putting the doors back together and eventually we won't have any drawers.

DH disagrees.

So my question. When would you replace the cabinets? How long would you fix them before you bought new? We've been in this house for a year and half. To me replacing the cabinets for another year is the max I want to do it. And want to spend the year saving.

What's everyone's thoughts on this?

ETA: I would take all the money right away and buy cabinets. Because that would be silly. I want to put like 75-80% on debt, leaving not much left and create a savings for cabinets.

I would without question pay off my debt. Remodeling is cosmetic and can always wait.

I would probably replace them for that price. When we priced out custom cabinets they wanted 25k. So we waited. Ha.

Quoting ILOVEWINE:" I would without question pay off my debt. Remodeling is cosmetic and can always wait."

Well what I want to do is pay off as much as we can keeping a reserve to save for the cabinets before the year is out.

I personally would pay off the debt first and then save for cabinets.

I agree with your husband.

I guess I would be paying off debt that accrues interest before worrying about the aesthetics of my house.

I'd rather pay off my debts then replace all the cabinets.

Quoting CerealMakerWife♥:" I would probably replace them for that price. When we priced out custom cabinets they wanted 25k. So we waited. Ha."

My BIL found a discounted place that discontinued some floor modeled cabinets. They were able to get all matching cabinets with the except of 1 that matched and had the do not slam feature, for under $4k. So I know we could do it too if we just shopped around.

I guess what I missed was pay off most of it, but leaving a reserve for the cabinets. I didn't want to put it all on cabinets right away. That would be silly. Basically have a small fund for home repairs, put the rest on debt.

<blockquote><b>Quoting TheCoopersKnitWitch:</b>" Well what I want to do is pay off as much as we can keeping a reserve to save for the cabinets before the year is out."</blockquote>




I would still take the entire return and pay the debt off. Save monthly for new cabinets starting now.

Quoting ILOVEWINE:" <blockquote><b>Quoting TheCoopersKnitWitch:</b>" Well what I want to do is pay off ... [snip!] ... I would still take the entire return and pay the debt off. Save monthly for new cabinets starting now."

This!

Quoting ILOVEWINE:" <blockquote><b>Quoting TheCoopersKnitWitch:</b>" Well what I want to do is pay off ... [snip!] ... I would still take the entire return and pay the debt off. Save monthly for new cabinets starting now."

It brings me back to the same thing my husband always complains about. We don't want to pay off everything just to rack up credit card debt on something if we need it.

We currently are putting every penny on paying off debt, so we don't even have any savings for anything, so if something breaks, we have to charge it. And I just like the idea of having a "starting" point if you know what I mean.

Plus I'd hate to not have any drawers to use. We're about to lose one, and another door in another bathroom.

Quoting BareFootBabyMaker:" This!"

Yeah we can't. we're pumping so much into debt because DH's about to graduate. So we literally have no savings at all, which is really hard to even deal with, knowing we don't have any savings. Which is why I wanted a small savings pool to start with after I paid off a bunch of debt.

Quoting TheCoopersKnitWitch:" I guess what I missed was pay off most of it, but leaving a reserve for the cabinets. I didn't want to ... [snip!] ... to put it all on cabinets right away. That would be silly. Basically have a small fund for home repairs, put the rest on debt."

It's always a good idea to have money put aside. What happens if your washer or furnace craps out.