Making a decision about whether to use store-bought or custom cabinets for your kitchen remodel can be stressful because, whichever way you choose to go, it’s likely you’re going to be living with those cabinets for a long time.
Whether you decide on store-bought or custom-built, new cabinets are a major investment, so you want to be sure you’re going to be happy with the end result. The best way to avoid regrets is to become as well-informed about the pros and cons of the different types of cabinets before you make your final decision.
Price and Quality
When you compare store-bought against custom cabinets, you’re going to find that there’s a notable difference in price. One of the reasons that custom cabinets cost more is because the custom cabinet maker builds your cabinets to your exact specifications. It’s a much more time-intensive and labor-intensive process than that of a prefabricated cabinet manufacturer who builds the same cabinets the same way time after time.
The quality of the cabinet also has a great deal to do with the price. Store-bought cabinet quality can vary widely, depending on the manufacturer. Some cabinet manufacturers use the least expensive materials available, such as particle board and basic hardware. Custom cabinet makers, on the other hand, almost always use higher-quality materials, such as solid woods and hardware of superior quality.
Fitting Your Space
When choosing store-bought cabinets, finding the right combination of sizes to fit your kitchen’s layout can be difficult because manufacturers build their cabinets according to their pre-determined specifications, not according to your kitchen’s configuration.
When you go with custom cabinets, you can be sure that the cabinets will fit your kitchen perfectly with no gaps and no need for unattractive fillers. What’s more, unlike most prefabricated cabinet manufacturers, custom cabinet makers have no problem in accommodating special requests, such as roll-out shelves, lazy Susans, etc.
Installation Considerations
Another consideration when deciding between store-bought and custom cabinets is the installation process. In the real world, kitchen walls and ceilings are seldom completely straight and square. This means that cabinet installation requires careful measuring and skillful hanging to ensure that the cabinets are lined up properly and mounted securely.
When you choose store-bought cabinets, you have two choices: you can tackle that major undertaking yourself or hire someone else to do it. Then the issue becomes, if adjustments do become necessary, will you or your installer have the necessary trim in the right wood and the right finish to make the required modifications?
With custom cabinets, those concerns are eliminated because the cabinet-making company usually does the installation as well, and they make adjustments as needed to make sure that every cabinet fits into place precisely.
So, you see there’s a lot more to consider when comparing store-bought versus custom cabinets than just price.
We’ve been building and installing custom cabinets in Palm Desert, Palm Springs and the entire Coachella Valley since 2009, so if you’re thinking of installing new cabinets, we invite you to call us at 760 345 9898 for a free estimate. You just may find that custom cabinets are more affordable than you think.
That’s good to know that fitting an existing kitchen layout can be difficult with store-bought cabinets. My husband and I want to remodel our kitchen and especially the cabinets. We’ll have to look into options for customization so that our kitchen can be as functional as possible.