Kitchen Cabinets: Stock, Semi-Custom and Custom Explained

Cabinets are the largest single purchase in most kitchen remodels and the one that fixes the layout in place. They also decide the schedule. This page explains how cabinets are graded and built so you can compare quotes on what matters, and when it makes sense to keep the boxes you have.

Stock, semi-custom and custom

The three grades describe how much you can change, not how well the cabinet is made. A well-built stock cabinet will outlast a poorly built custom one.

Stock cabinets suit straightforward rooms and tight budgets. Semi-custom covers most remodels well. Custom earns its cost in rooms with odd dimensions, in older houses where nothing is square, and where you want details a catalog does not offer. Our article on Diamond cabinets looks at one widely sold semi-custom line as an example of what a catalog includes.

In JDI's published planning tiers, Essential kitchens use standard cabinetry, Signature kitchens use custom-built cabinetry and Luxury kitchens use fully custom millwork. JDI's calculator lists fully custom cabinetry as an add-on in the range of $12,000-$25,000. How cabinets fit into the whole budget is covered in where the money goes.

Box construction: what to look at

Open a door and a drawer in the showroom. These are the things worth checking:

• Box material. Sides, bottoms and backs are plywood or an engineered panel such as particleboard or MDF with a laminate or melamine face. Plywood holds screws well and tolerates occasional moisture better. A good engineered panel is flat and stable and is the norm in frameless cabinets. What matters is thickness and how the box is joined, so ask.
• Back panel. A full, solid back keeps the box square and gives the installer something to fasten through. Thin backs with hanging rails are a cost-saving shortcut.
• Drawer boxes. Solid wood sides with dovetail joints are the benchmark. Stapled or glued butt joints are the first thing to fail in a kitchen.
• Slides and hinges. Full-extension, soft-close drawer slides and adjustable soft-close hinges are now standard on decent cabinets. Undermount slides carry weight better than side-mount slides and keep the drawer interior clean.
• Shelves. Thicker shelves sag less. Check that they are adjustable and supported at more than the four corners on wide cabinets.
• Sink base. This cabinet sees leaks. Ask what protects the floor of it.

Framed vs. frameless

Framed cabinets have a solid wood face frame on the front of the box, and doors mount to the frame. It is the traditional American construction. Frameless cabinets, sometimes called European or full-access, have no face frame; doors mount directly to the box sides. Frameless gives slightly wider drawers and easier access for the same cabinet width. Framed is more forgiving on walls that are out of plumb, which matters in older houses.

How the door sits on the cabinet changes the look more than the construction does:

• Partial overlay: doors cover part of the frame, leaving frame visible between them. The least expensive option.
• Full overlay: doors nearly meet, covering the frame or box edge. A clean, current look in either construction.
• Inset: doors and drawer fronts sit flush inside the face frame. It requires precise fitting, costs more, and gives up a little interior space.

Door styles and finishes

Three door types cover most kitchens. A Shaker door is a flat center panel in a square frame, and it works with nearly any style of house. A slab door is a single flat panel, for a modern look. A raised-panel door has a contoured center and suits traditional rooms.

Finish is a maintenance decision as much as a style one:

• Paint gives a uniform color. On a five-piece wood door, fine hairline cracks can appear in the paint at the joints as the wood moves with seasonal changes in humidity. That is normal behavior for a painted wood door, not a defect. Painted doors with an MDF center panel reduce it.
• Stain shows the wood grain and hides wear and small dings better than paint.
• Thermofoil and laminate are factory-applied surfaces over an engineered core. They clean easily and cost less, but are hard to repair, and thermofoil can be damaged by heat next to ovens and ranges.
• Wood veneer on slab doors gives a continuous grain that solid wood cannot.

Hardware and storage accessories

Knobs and pulls are the least expensive way to change how a kitchen looks, and they can be chosen late. What has to be decided early is anything built into a cabinet: trash and recycling pull-outs, roll-out trays, tray dividers, corner mechanisms, spice pull-outs and appliance garages. These change the cabinet order, so they belong in the design, not on a list for later. The NKBA's planning guidelines give storage targets by kitchen size, and kitchen storage and pantries explains how to plan storage by zone.

Why cabinets set the schedule

Almost everything in a kitchen waits on the cabinets:

1. The cabinet order cannot be placed until the layout and the appliance models are final, because cabinets are sized around the appliances.
2. Built-to-order cabinets take time to manufacture. We found no reliable published industry figure for current lead times, so ask each supplier for its lead time in writing when you order, and ask again before demolition is scheduled.
3. Countertops cannot be measured until the base cabinets are installed and level, since the fabricator templates from the actual cabinets.
4. Backsplash, plumbing hookup and appliance installation follow the countertops.

The practical rule is not to demolish a working kitchen until the cabinets have a confirmed delivery date. The sequence is described in how long a kitchen remodel takes.

When refacing or repainting makes sense

You do not always need new boxes. Repainting keeps doors and boxes and changes the color. Refacing keeps the boxes and replaces doors and drawer fronts, with new veneer or paint on the exposed frames. Both are worth considering when all of these are true:

• The layout works and you are not moving appliances or the sink.
• The boxes are solid, square and dry, with no water damage under the sink.
• The drawer boxes and slides are sound, or you are willing to replace them.
• You are keeping the countertops, or the boxes are strong enough to carry new ones.

Neither one fixes poor storage, a bad layout or cabinets that are falling apart. Our article on whether kitchen cabinets can be repainted covers which materials take paint and how the work is done, and kitchen remodel levels shows where a refresh fits against a full replacement.

Where to go next

Browse more cabinet topics in our cabinet articles, then read choosing kitchen countertops, since the two are designed together. JDI Construction includes cabinet selection in its design process and provides an itemized plan and a 3D design layout before anything is ordered. Details are on our Vancouver kitchen remodeling page.