Ready Made versus Local Built Cabinets

It seems that every kitchen or entertainment cabinet is a custom built cabinet. There are really two main categories of custom cabinets: store bought cabinets and cabinets built locally in a nearby shop.

Store bought. These vary greatly in quality and price: from economy grade to high end “European-style” cabinets. Regardless of price or quality, store bought cabinets are mass produced to a rigid design template without variation. Custom features like drawer pulls and slides, door styles, wood materials, dimensions, and finish are pre-determined. And although the combinations can be quite extensive, they can not be varied. Because thousands of the same unit are manufactured, economies of scale can be realized through this standardization, thus resulting in a slightly lower cost. Keep in mind, because of shipping costs involved, store bought cabinetry is usually of lighter weight construction than locally built cabinets.

Since store bought cabinets are built to a stock dimension they will usually require large "fill strips" where they meet the walls. Stock configurations may not work in your kitchen. Another perceived advantage of stock cabinets is their immediate availability. However, as anyone who has waited and waited for a “special order” knows, if the cabinetry is not stocked in the store it can take quite a while to have the more esoteric lower volume pieces delivered to you. Also once your warranty period has expired you have very little recourse to fixed peeling finishes or broken drawers.

Shop built cabinets. As the name implies these are built in a local shop. The construction techniques and tools used by local cabinet craftsman are similar to those used in the mass production facilities. Today to save time and cost, local shops generally build the boxes and drawers then the doors are ordered from a large supplier according to your desired styles and materials. The one main advantage of shop built cabinets is they are built for your kitchen’s dimensions and idiosyncrasies. Walls are not plumb and corners are not square. There is no substitute for constructing your cabinets to a template that is an exact replica of your kitchen walls. Further, you can choose the finish, the hardware, and the extra features commensurate with you budget, which is often not the case with factory cabinets.

Remember that store bought mass produced cabinets are not necessarily cheaper than locally built. It pays to shop around.