Regardless of whether you are building a new home or just renovating an old entire kitchen, kitchen cabinets form an important part of the whole project. Kitchen cabinets can easily eat up a big portion of the remodeling and designing budget, this is rightfully so because these cabinets play a big role in determining the final look of the kitchen.
Depending on the layout, size and look of the kitchen, the cost of custom cabinets will significantly vary. While they are more expensive than the stock or standard cabinets, custom-built cabinets allow endless possibilities. They also allow the homeowner endless specification options so that he is able to get precisely what he is looking for, and the best quality. Last but not the least, even after years of continuous usage, custom cabinets still retain their unique qualities, and if the homeowner is planning on selling his home, they significantly help by raising its value.
Why you shouldn’t have stock kitchen cabinets installed in your home
Stock or ready-made kitchen cabinets are those types that have already been built, all ready for installation. They are generally available for purchase at local furniture stores. Because they are already built, they cannot be customized in any way and what you see is what you get. As such, these kinds of cabinets are not the best options for homeowners that require some form of customization in their kitchen, in particular where the cabinetry has to be integrated into the interior design theme.
Merits of purchasing custom cabinets
The main merit to purchasing custom kitchen cabinets is that you get exactly what you are paying for. Furthermore, you are often purchasing straight from the source rather than from third parties. Custom kitchen designers in Aurora mostly purchases the wood and hardware right from the first line of the wholesale and distribution chain, something that eradicates middlemen from the picture.
Basic pricing guidelines for custom-built cabinets
Homeowners basically have two options when purchasing kitchen cabinetry; buying semi-custom or custom. Depending on owner’s personal preferences and home requirements, these cabinets can be face-frame or frame-less types. Face-frame cabinets have small borders around the edges, something that makes the cabinet box more durable. A very pretty look but unfortunately, these frames are known to narrow the opening size of the drawers and doors. Face-frame cabinetry, when custom made, are more time consuming to build and are usually the most expensive cabinetry to purchase. Frame-less cabinets on the other hand offer more storage space without the big price tag of face-frame cabinetry. Think of it this way; you pay more for fashion with face-frame, and pay less for function with frame-less.
Price ranges
As with a majority of custom-built products and with multiple options available, price ranges for custom-built cabinetry vary significantly from one designer to another. Add-ons such as the ones listed below greatly affect the costs of custom cabinets in the long run.
• Light rail
• Pullout spice racks
• Stacked crown molding
• Cedar lined
• End panels
• Dovetail drawers
• Rollout shelves
• Decorative toe or feet-kick
• Drawer dividers
• Pantry cabinets
• Glass front doors
• Peg and board system
• Matching wood countertops
• Appliance panels
• Lazy Susan
• Customized wood vent hood
• Corbels and on-lays
To cut the long story short, pricing custom kitchen cabinet per linear foot simply doesn’t work here as there is more to it than what meets the eye.
Average estimates for custom kitchen cabinets
Because custom kitchen cabinets are built from scratch, they need to be quoted as per the client’s specifications, material used and labor requirements. In simple terms, no two projects are ever the same where custom kitchen cabinets are concerned.
Each client has desires and needs that are unique to his or her situation. The proper way to quote a custom cabinet project according to the experts is to sit down with the homeowner and discuss the project in detail. The “per linear foot” option might work with semi-custom cabinets but not the custom variation.
You should also note that prices vary wildly from one custom cabinet store to another. Some businesses in the custom cabinet industry are a one-man operation while others run more complex workflow processes so the setup of the company plays a part in influencing the price too. As a result, price fluctuations are quite pronounced between the players. Couple this fact with regional difference in cost of overheads and labor, and the price swings are substantial.
Simply put, price differences between two different regions can be quite huge. But on average, the custom cabinetry price for a medium sized kitchen in a small town is around $15,000 to $25,000, while in major cities, it ranges from $25,000 to $50,000, depending on the chosen material and the add-ons required.