Can You Replace Kitchen Cabinets and Keep Your Countertops?

By the MJC design team, Orlando. Updated November 2026.

How are countertops attached to cabinets?

A countertop rests on the base cabinets and is fastened to them. Laminate tops are usually screwed up from inside the cabinets. Granite and other stone tops sit on the cabinet frames and are held with adhesive or silicone, and the sink is often mounted to the underside of the stone. The base cabinets are the foundation of the countertop, so replacing them means lifting the top off, storing it and setting it back on new boxes.

When can you keep your countertops?

Keeping the countertop works only when several conditions are true at the same time:

• The layout stays the same. The new base cabinets follow the old footprint exactly: same length, depth and height, sink in the same place, corners in the same spots.
• The top is in good shape. No cracks, loose seams or deep stains you would want to fix anyway.
• The shape is simple. A straight run with few seams is easier to lift than an L shape with narrow strips around a cooktop or sink.
• A stone fabricator handles the removal. Lifting and resetting stone is a fabricator’s job, not a cabinet installer’s side task.
• You accept the risk. If the stone breaks, you need a new countertop anyway.

Why is keeping a granite countertop risky?

Stone is strong on a flat, fully supported base and fragile in the air. The weak points are the cutouts for the sink and cooktop, where the slab is narrowest, and the seams between pieces. A slab that has sat on the same cabinets for years can crack when it is pried off the adhesive, carried through a doorway or set down on an uneven surface.

Natural stone also makes a broken piece hard to replace. Every granite slab is unique, so a new section cut years later will not match the color and pattern of the rest of the counter. One crack can turn a cabinet project into a countertop project.

The backsplash is the other casualty. A tile or stone backsplash sits right on top of the countertop and is usually damaged when the top is lifted, so plan on replacing it.

When should you replace the countertops too?

• You want to change the layout, move the sink, resize the island or add a pantry wall.
• The countertop is cracked, stained or dated, and you would replace it within a few years anyway.
• The old cabinets have water damage, which often means the top has been sitting on a weak base.
• You plan to sell soon and want the kitchen to read as new.

New granite installed together with new cabinets also gets a clean template, new seams and a sink cutout that matches the sink you choose now. If you are deciding between materials, read our comparison of granite vs. quartz countertops for Florida kitchens.

Are there safer ways to keep the countertop?

Yes. If the countertop must stay, two options avoid lifting it at all. Refacing keeps the existing base cabinet boxes and replaces the doors, drawer fronts and visible surfaces, so the top never moves. Our guide to cabinet refacing vs. replacing explains when the boxes are solid enough for that. The other option is to replace only the wall cabinets, which do not carry the countertop, and keep the base cabinets below.

How MJC handles this

Tell the designer at the free design visit that you want to keep your countertop. The space is measured and drawn in 3D, so you can see whether the plan you want fits the existing footprint or needs a layout change. Because MJC builds cabinets to measure in its Orlando shop, the sizes follow your space instead of standard catalog widths, which matters when a design has to match what is already there.

If a new countertop makes more sense, MJC installs granite together with the new cabinets, chosen from samples in the mobile showroom van, in your own kitchen light. See our granite countertops in Orlando page, and the detailed quote shows what each part of the project costs.

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