Kitchen Cabinets - Stock Cabinets vs. Built to Order - Other Ideas
Kitchen cabinets can consume up to half of your kitchen remodeling budget and greatly influence the style and look of your kitchen, so they are well worth understanding inside and out. Some styles popular on the east coast in places like Greenwich or Westport and Bethesda differ greatly from Malibu, Santa Barbara and other cities like Tiburon on the west coast. Either way, below are various kitchen cabinet types to consider.
Cabinet types: Cabinets fall into three basic categories, depending on how they're constructed and whether they can be customized. They are stock, built-to-order, or custom-made. There are two basic styles of construction - framed and frameless.
Stock cabinets:
Built to order cabinets (semi-custom)
Custom cabinets
Cabinet types: Cabinets fall into three basic categories, depending on how they're constructed and whether they can be customized. They are stock, built-to-order, or custom-made. There are two basic styles of construction - framed and frameless.
Stock cabinets:
- Solid fully assembled or ready to assemble (RTA)
- They are typically constructed of particle board with doors, drawers, or face frames made of hardwood.
- Generally the least expensive and mass-produced.
- They're available in a standard range of styles and sizes.
- Stock units are made in 3-inch-wide increments.
- Typically, those less than 24 inches wide have one door, and wider ones are designed with two doors.
- The quality can be excellent, but material and accessory options may be limited.
Built to order cabinets (semi-custom)
- These cabinets are midrange in terms of both cost and options.
- They are built by a manufacturer to a limited range of specifications, with more design flexibility than stock cabinets (more choices in cabinet sizes, certain types of interior fittings, such as pullout shelves and lazy Susans, as well as in a variety of door styles, hardware and finishes).
- Materials tend to be a higher grade than those used in stock units and include medium-density fiber-board, which is superior to particleboard, better-quality wood veneers, and durable varnishes.
- You may wait from 3 to 12 weeks for delivery, depending on the complexity of the job.
Custom cabinets
- These cabinets are usually the most expensive option.
- They are built to suit specific needs, with the work often done by local cabinetmakers, though some factory0made lines will allow you to order a custom kitchen. It's possible to order custom cabinets through kitchen dealers and home centers.
- If you want to keep some of your existing units, a custom cabinetmaker can produce new ones to match.
- If you need to solve an unusual layout problem that can't be solved with stock or built-to-order cabinets, custom cabinets offer an answer.
- You can select the material of your choice: solid wood or plywood, MDF, or particleboard covered with laminate or wood veneer.
