When you're remodeling your kitchen, the cost of kitchen cabinets is one of the first things to consider. Along with appliances, kitchen cabinets are a serious part of your kitchen remodel budget. So, it helps to find ways to reduce the cost of kitchen cabinets by purchasing used over new cabinets, assembling your own cabinets, using stock cabinets, or refacing and refurbishing your existing cabinets.
How Much Do Kitchen Cabinets Cost?
The national average to remodel a 10-foot by 10-foot kitchen is between $13,500 and $38,000, a range that averages out to around $26,000. Since the national average to replace or install cabinets is around $5,000 to $6,000.
Use Stock or Semi-Custom Cabinets
Stock cabinets come in a very limited range of sizes and styles. Stock cabinets are often—quite literally—in stock: flat or pre-assembled on the shelves of local home centers. If you're happy with stock sizes and styles, you can save money by purchasing them over semi-custom or custom cabinets.
Semi-custom cabinets are a lower-cost alternative to custom cabinets. Semi-custom cabinets are much like stock cabinets: standard sizes, styles, and finishes. Yet you'll find a far greater selection of sizes, styles, and finishes. You'll also find more options to add details. Semi-custom cabinets afford more opportunities to add extras like inserts, spice racks, pullouts, cutlery trays, and lazy-susans.
Purchase RTA Cabinets
RTA means ready to assemble: flat-packed kitchen cabinets at generally reasonable prices that you need to assemble by yourself.
Since assembly is your job, this keeps costs down because factorylabor is not required to assemble the cabinets. With a cam-lock system and pre-drilled holes, cabinet assembly is easier than many homeowners expect. Typically, shipping costs are waived when your order price exceeds a certain amount.
Tip
Many RTA companies provide assembly as an option, for a fee. When the cabinets are flat-packed, though, shipping costs are reduced due to the smaller boxes.
IKEA kitchen cabinets are like online RTA cabinets, but with one appealing angle: you can pick them up yourself, eliminating the delivery charge associated with most RTA cabinets.
IKEA tends to offer low prices on kitchen cabinets. And IKEA kitchen cabinets are stylish, sleek, and contemporary. Like their RTA counterparts, IKEA cabinets require assembly. The cabinet boxes are largely made with particleboard.
Tip
For an additional fee, you can have outside contractors deliver and assemble the cabinets.
PaintYour Kitchen Cabinets
Painting wood cabinets is no different than painting any other wood surface. But it gets more complicated when dealing with melamine or laminate kitchen cabinets. Melamine is a thin plastic material usually applied to particleboard that does a great job of resisting dirt and easing wipe-downs.
As long as the melamine does not delaminate from its base material, you can leave the cabinets as they are. But if you want to paint your laminate or melamine, you need to prepare these non-porous surfaces so that paint will stick well.
All-inclusive kits like Cabinet Transformations work on wood, melamine, and laminate. Kits typically include deglosser, bonding coat, decorative glaze, and bonding topcoat, as well as various stirring sticks, roller pads, and other implements.
Reface Your Cabinets
Cabinet refacing falls between a total replacement of cabinets and a high-end paint job. Cabinet refacing is usually done by professionals and involves replacing old cabinet doors and drawer fronts and veneering the cabinet box fronts and sides.
Cabinet refacing isn't usually a do-it-yourself project, as veneering the cabinets can be a tricky process. The insides of the boxes are usually not refaced. Expect refacing to cut your cabinet replacement costs by about half.
Purchase Quality Used Cabinets
Homeowners frequently dispose of cabinets simply because they have better cabinets coming in. If the homeowner is concerned about landfilling cabinets, they will not want to toss them in the trash. Not only that but disposing of cabinets costs money.
By giving the cabinets away, these homeowners save on hauling or roll-off costs. Search Craigslist for cabinets to buy at low cost or tohaul away for free from a private party. Facebook Marketplace is another prime place to look for free or very cheap kitchen cabinets.
Architectural salvage yards, located in large metro areas with older housing stocks, often have items like sinks, toilets, flooring, and even bathroom and kitchen cabinets. Check out your localHabitat For HumanityReStore, as well.
FAQ
What's the largest cost when remodeling a kitchen?
The most expensive part of a kitchen remodel is the kitchen cabinets, which make up as high as 41 percent of the remodeling cost.
Does a kitchen remodel increase the resale value of your home?
Home buyers tend to prefer the look of a remodeled, up-to-date kitchen and are willing to pay for it. A well-designed kitchen remodel will usually increase the resale value of a home.
Are ready to assemble cabinets less expensive?
Purchasing kitchen cabinets that you need to assemble yourself will save you money. RTA (ready to assemble) cabinets cost less since the manufacturer isn't putting them together for you, plus shipping costs less.
