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2018 National Home Improvement Estimator, All Rights Reserved Page 312

Cabinet costs listed in this chapter are based on good quality stock units such as those offered by
American Woodmark, IXL (Triangle Pacific), Kabinart, Merillat, Mills Pride, Prestige, and Thomasville.
Semi-custom cabinets will cost about 50 percent more. Manufacturers of semi-custom cabinets include
Brandom, Decora, Diamond, Kemper, KraftMaid, Schrock, Shenandoah and Yorktowne. Costs for true
custom cabinets will be about double the figures listed later in this chapter. Vendors of true custom
cabinets include Crystal, J.H. Brubaker, DBS, Fieldstone, Neff, Omega, Plato, Poggenpohl, Rutt,
Snaidero, SieMatic, Studio Becker, Wood-Mode, and any cabinet shop in your community.

The advantage of custom-made cabinets is flexibility in style, finish, size and design. For example,
custom cabinets can be made in any width or height to fit any kitchen. Stock cabinets come in widths
that increment 3 inches at a time, such as 15”, 18”, 21” and 24”. Most installations will require a filler
strip to extend the line of cabinets to exactly the right length. The disadvantage of custom cabinets is
price – about double the cost of stock cabinets. Incidentally, nearly all cabinets are priced with the
screws, hinges, rails and guides needed to finish the job. But door and drawer pulls and knobs are
generally left to the discretion of the homeowner.

Cabinet prices in this chapter reflect what most home improvement contractors install – stock cabinets
with flat panel faces, picture frame molding or a simple design. Doors and drawers with grooves, raised
panels, bead or elaborate molding will cost more. Full overlay doors (installed with Euro hinges mortised
into the interior cabinet wall) hide nearly all the cabinet frame and will cost more than traditional doors
with hinges mounted on the exterior. Doors and drawers set inside the cabinet face frame (inset) will
cost even more than full overlay doors and drawers.

About 60 percent of the cost of most cabinets is the wood itself. So you can expect to pay more for
cabinets made with exotic wood veneers such as cherry, hickory, alder, redwood or teak on a plywood
base. Oak, birch, maple and pine are the most common wood species used for cabinets. The least
expensive cabinets have a melamine or plastic laminate surface on a particleboard core. Cabinets
surfaced in stainless steel are among the most expensive. Some older homes have steel cabinets that
were popular in the middle of the 20th century. Steel cabinets are still made, but their primary use is in
hospitals and laboratories rather than in homes.