Unless you’re independently wealthy, there’s a limit on how much you can spend for store-bought (stock) cabinets. The typical approach is to pick out what you like, then whittle away at the extras to stay within budget. But suppose you could spend that same amount on materials. By discounting the labor (after all, this is time spent in the shop), you can keep some of those extras and upgrade the materials and improve the quality. I found this out first-hand with this kitchen project. Because kitchen configurations can vary so greatly, I built one basic wall of cabinets.

The wall measures just over 12 feet long and has a double-hung window centered within the space. I wanted the sink to be located directly underneath the window. Since there isn’t a soffit in this room, I could use extra-tall (42") wall-hung cabinets. To help justify building the cabinets, I decided to do a little comparison shopping. So I took the layout to a local home center and asked them to fill the space with stock cabinets. The stock cabinets I selected were a raised-panel style in red oak that fell slightly above mid-range in price. To outfit the kitchen with these basic, no-frill oak cabinets, the estimated cost was $2,553. When I asked them to price the same set-up in cherry, it jumped to $3,403. Shipping to our door was another $110.

By contrast, materials for the cherry cabinets I built cost less than $1,400. And my design included a 24" Window Sink Dishwasher. Obviously, you can’t just start building cabinets without extensive planning. While we don’t have room to address those issues here, we can steer you in the right direction. Some of the best information on kitchen layout and design that I found was published by kitchen cabinet manufacturers. The free brochures at home centers contain checklists of what to consider: appliance sizes, utility locations, and the types of activities and features that are important to you. They provide grids for laying out the kitchen and are excellent sources for ideas on cabinet styles and layouts.

If you stop by any home center you can find stock cabinets in oak, maple, cherry, hickory, pine, and birch. In most cases, at least the face frames, doors, and drawer fronts will be solid wood. If you build your own cabinets, you’re not limited to these materials. Another advantage is being able to select and match grain pattern and color. Manufacturers can’t afford to spend time doing this. Instead, grain patterns are random and they use a toner to give the wood a uniform color and appearance. The materials used commercially for cabinet carcases, drawer boxes, shelves, and interior divider panels can vary widely. Usually, at least some of these parts are made from vinyl covered particleboard or melamine. Because my cabinet project required relatively small quantities of material for these parts, the total cost difference to upgrade from ½"-thick melamine to ¾" veneer plywood was fairly insignificant.

So you could see the actual differences between stock cabinets and our shop built units, we bought two base cabinets and two wall-hung units built by a nationally-known manufacturer. We had to order them through a local home center — few distributors actually carry an inventory of cabinets. Even with the current building and remodeling boom, it took just four weeks for delivery. These cabinets were a basic straight frame-and-raised panel design that represented the upper middle price range. For additional cost, we could have upgraded some components (more decorative arched panels, plywood side panels, and heavier drawer slides). We’ll show you construction details of these cabinets.