One of the most important decisions you’ll make when remodeling your kitchen is how much to spend on your cabinets.
When you get your quote and look at it, cabinet pricing can get confusing. We’ll clarify everything in a second.
We’ll discuss the cabinets pricing of ready-to-assemble cabinets, semi-custom cabinets, and custom cabinetry. Besides these, you’ll also find about different styles and material pricing for your upcoming renovation project.
In short: we’ll break down the basics of cabinets pricing, so you know what you’re paying for.
Let’s begin.
The Different Types Of Cabinets
There are three types of cabinets: ready-to-assemble, semi-custom, and custom. Each of them is beneficial in its own way.
- If you're on a budget, ready-to-assemble cabinets are the best way to go.
- If money is not a problem, you can fully control how your cabinetry will look with custom cabinets designed exactly to your taste and needs.
- Or you benefit from a lower price and a wider selection range by going for semi-custom cabinets. These are also the ones that bring the highest ROI.
Ready-To-Assemble Cabinets
Ready-to-assemble cabinets (RTA), also known as stock cabinetry, are a great way to save money on your kitchen remodel. They are the most affordable type of cabinets and come in a relatively wide variety of styles and colors.
However, there aren’t many sizes and designs available, and you can’t customize them to your own needs.
RTA cabinets are easy to assemble, and most of them snap together. You can buy them from IKEA, Lowe’s, or Home Depot. Cabinet installation requires skill and time, even with stock cabinets.
Besides, if you want to get the most out of them, hiring a professional installer ensures you avoid the costly mistakes DIYers tend to make.
You can find good stock cabinets, but their quality won’t be nearly as good as a custom or semi-custom cabinet.
RTA Cabinets Pricing
Stock cabinets pricing come at around $60 to $200 per linear foot of cabinetry.
Semi-Custom Cabinets
Semi-custom cabinets are a great way to get the best of both worlds. You can have them made to your specifications, and you don’t have to spend a fortune.
They come in various styles, materials, and colors, so finding one that looks good in your kitchen shouldn’t be too difficult.
Semi-custom cabinets are available at IKEA, Lowe’s, and other home improvement stores. They are similar to stock cabinets, except you can select from other sizes and colors too.
Semi-custom cabinets take longer to arrive than ready-to-assemble cabinets. Even if there are more sizes of the same cabinet, your choices are still limited to specific colors and styles.
This type of cabinets have the highest ROI. Find more about the ROI of cabinets (or of a kitchen remodel, for that matter) here.
Semi-Custom Cabinets Pricing
Semi-Custom cabinets pricing falls at around $100 to $650 per linear foot of cabinetry.
Fully Custom Cabinets
Custom kitchen cabinets allow you to match your cabinetry with the rest of your kitchen without too much hassle.
Professional cabinet makers will visit your home to get exact measurements, and they’ll start building your kitchen cabinets to fit your preferences and needs. These cabinets make your kitchen truly yours.
You can find custom cabinets at a specialty kitchen store or talk to a professional cabinet maker.
On custom cabinets, you can personalize everything from its color to the cabinet’s structure. Because of that, custom cabinets cost more than other options.
Ordering fully custom kitchen cabinets in advance is a great idea, since their manufacturing and installation will take longer than any other cabinetry option.
At Mortise & Miter, your certified carpenters will take care of your remodeling project from start to finish. You’ll custom cabinets tailored to your needs and preferences by local craftsmen dedicated to your success.
Custom Cabinets Pricing
Custom kitchen cabinets pricing falls between $500 and $1,200 per linear foot of cabinetry.
Kitchen Cabinet Styles
The cabinet door will be the face of your cabinets, and it has a huge impact on the overall vibe and style of your kitchen.
In fact, your cabinet door and drawers are what sets the style of your cabinets.
Let’s discuss some style options for your cabinets.
Cabinet Construction
The construction of your cabinet will impact its resistance and how sturdy it’ll be.
When it comes to construction, cabinets are either framed or frameless.
Be careful when choosing the cabinet construction, as this will limit your cabinet door styling options.
Frameless Cabinets
Frameless cabinets, as the name suggests, don’t have a frame. The cabinet doors and drawers attach directly to the cabinet box.
This type of cabinet is growing in popularity because it’s sleek and modern. It gives any kitchen a more contemporary look.
Frameless cabinets are made from plywood or particleboard and are not as sturdy as framed cabinets.
Installation is also a little more difficult with frameless cabinets because you have to ensure the cabinet is level before attaching the doors and drawers.
Framed Cabinets
Framed cabinets have a frame that the cabinet doors and drawers attach to. This solid wood or plywood frame makes your cabinets more sturdy than frameless cabinets.
Plywood is a great choice for framed cabinets because it’s more affordable. Besides, they’re an environmentally friendly material with benefits similar to those of solid wood.
Framed cabinets offer a more traditional look, and unlike their counterpart, they’re easier to match with your kitchen style.
Framed Vs. Frameless Cabinets Pricing
What impacts the two types of cabinets price-wise is mostly the cabinets’ material.
Frameless Shaker Door style cabinets will cost between $4,500 to $6,500 for a typical 10-by-10 kitchen for materials and supplies. Cabinets with a face frame usually cost about $1,000 less for all the materials and supplies.
Cabinet Doors
Depending on your style preference, the main types of doors are raised panels and flat panels.
The most common type of cabinet door is the raised panel, with a shaker door style. This has a frame around the front of the door, with a flat center section known as a “panel.”
Raised Panel Doors
This type of cabinet door is used in most ready-to-assemble and stock cabinets. They are very sturdy and have a traditional look.
They can make your kitchen seem timeless and give it a comfortable vibe and appearance.
Raised panel doors are the most common type because of their flexibility in matching other styles. They are great for transitional style kitchens, traditional, and organic.
Flat Panel Doors
Flat-panel doors don’t have a frame around the center section, making them more contemporary than raised panels. This door type is often used on frameless cabinets because it doesn’t need that frame for support.
The flat panel doors, or the slab doors, are the perfect choice for a contemporary kitchen or a modern one, giving it a futuristic and minimalistic look.
Materials Choices
Material choices for your kitchen cabinets are endless. Particleboard, laminate, solid wood, or plywood give a cabinet different benefits and make it great for certain circumstances.
However, we’ll focus on the three most common material options for cabinets, but it’s good to remember that the material will impact your cabinets pricing.
Solid Wood
Solid wood is the traditional choice for kitchen cabinets, but quite a pricey one. It’s sturdy, looks great, and can be refinished many times to make it seem new again.
Solid wood is the most expensive option, and it’s important to pick quality wood to ensure your cabinets will last many years. Wood also needs a lot of treatment and upkeep to remain the beautiful focal point of your kitchen.
Solid wood cabinetry can increase the value of your home if it’s taken care of properly.
- Ash - A coarse straight grain with excellent strength.
- Oak - Unusually strong and absorbs stain good. It’s a popular, inexpensive hardwood.
- Birch - It can be finished to look like maple, mahogany, or walnut. White birch can blotch if not treated against staining.
- Pine - A porous wood hard to stain or paint. Has an affordable price point because of how fast pines grow.
- Maple - Maple is durable and stains well. Its price depends on hardness and availability.
- Beech - It’s an affordable wood with a high density. It’s a bad option for cabinets, as it’s prone to warping.
- Cherry - It’s a solid and durable material that looks great with a gloss or matte finish.
- Walnut - Walnut is durable and holds up well against moisture. Looks great when not stained.
- Mahogany - It’s an expensive material that’s durable and resistant to rot. It ages well.
Plywood Cabinets Pricing
Plywood is an excellent choice for kitchen cabinets because it’s more affordable than solid wood and has similar qualities.
Plywood is made of several thin layers of wood glued together under extreme heat and pressure. This process makes plywood strong and less likely to warp or crack.
Since plywood is a manufactured material, it doesn’t have the same natural look like solid wood. Getting a clean cut from your plywood sheet or particleboard is also more difficult without the right equipment.
If you’re looking for an affordable option that brings excellent value to your kitchen, plywood has many advantages that make it the go-to for most cabinet builders.
Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) Cabinets Pricing
Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) are wood fibers combined with wax and a resin binder under heat and pressure.
MDF is denser than plywood and particleboard. Like plywood, getting a clean cut from your MDF sheet is difficult, as it splinters and chips.
MDF is a great material choice for cabinets, especially for cabinet doors and sides, as it takes paint well, allowing quality refinishes.
| Cabinet Material | Average Cost |
|---|---|
| Wood Veneer | $4,900 - $9,000 |
| Laminate | $5,000 - $8,000 |
| Plywood | $7,500 - $10,000 |
| Wood | $6,000 - $12,000 |
| Stainless Steel | $22,000 - $36,000 |
Kitchen Cabinets Pricing
The cost of kitchen cabinets varies depending on the material you choose. The custom kitchen cabinet cost will depend on the material, the features, and the type of cabinet. Solid wood cabinets are the most expensive option, followed by plywood and MDF.
For example, the average cost for custom kitchen cabinets is between $500 to $1,200 per linear foot, including labor, hardware, and materials.
This means that for a medium kitchen of around 20 linear feet, installing custom kitchen cabinets can set you back at approximately $12,000.
Other Prices
Other aspects of the job, like labor cost, the cost to install, your customization options, or other factors, can add up to another $5,000 to the total cost.
At the same time, crown moldings, cabinet hardware, doors, and other items are essential if you want your kitchen to be fully functional and appear finished.
Depending on your contractor, the installation cost may not be included, so budget another $100 for each cabinet.
Considering all the key factors that impact the price, the entire cost of manufacturing and installing custom cabinetry for an average-sized kitchen will be around $15,000. Note that the custom garage cabinets cost won’t differ too much if you use the same material option.
If you’re interested in replacing kitchen cabinets, check out this article. If, on the other hand, you want to give them a new look without spending too much money, read our kitchen cabinets refinishing article!
Professional Installation Or DIY
There are pros and cons to hiring a professional to install your kitchen cabinets, and the same is true for doing it yourself.
Hiring A Professional
Hiring a professional contractor ensures your kitchen cabinets are installed correctly and look good. They’ll do the measuring, cutting, and assembling the cabinets in your home, so you can see the entire process.
The downside to hiring a professional cabinet installer is that it can be expensive.
Depending on your location, the cost for installation can be anywhere from $50 to $200 per hour. If you have a large kitchen or a lot of cabinets, this amount will quickly add up.
We strive to be your one-stop shop in your kitchen or bathroom remodeling journey. We plan and take care of everything for you, including the cabinet installation.
DIY
The only benefit of installing cabinets yourself is that you can save money. But how much money will you actually save if the installation doesn’t go as planned? And let’s not mention the time it takes to install cabinetry.
Cabinet installation is time-consuming and requires a lot of hard work. You’ll need professional tools, nerves of steel, a couple of extra hands now and then, but most importantly, experts’ knowledge.
The idea of saving money might sound tempting, but it’s rarely the case. If you have a passion for carpentry and plenty of time on your hands, that’s a better reason to try and install your cabinets yourself.
Conclusion
These prices are just ballpark estimates and guidelines that will differ from project to project. We take pride in our pricing transparency, and you’ll get an exact quote after our in-house consultation.
Remember that cabinet pricing depends on many aspects of the project. Your kitchen size, choice of materials, and type of cabinets will impact the final price the most.
If you’re looking to get the best custom cabinets from professional carpenters with years of experience, this is it!
Start by requesting a quote today, or call us directly at (913) 214-6211 to get in touch directly!