8 Types of Kitchen Cabinets to Consider for Your Home
Open the door to your new cabinet vocabulary
Cabinets play a crucial role in the overall design of a kitchen, and there are various types of kitchen cabinets to match any preference. You can choose your cabinetry and create your own unique space from the ground up, and hire a local cabinet maker to further enhance the design and construct your dream cabinetry. Let's take a closer look at the eight main types of kitchen cabinets.
1. Custom Cabinets
The epitome of personalized design, custom cabinets grant you complete control over the choice of materials, styles, and construction methods. Working alongside top-tier designers and installers, you craft cabinets tailored precisely to your dream kitchen remodeling design. Custom cabinets are the most expensive option at $500 to $1,200 per linear foot, and they offer unparalleled flexibility and an opportunity to bring your dream kitchen to life with meticulous attention to detail.
2. Semi-Custom Cabinets
A middle ground between custom and stock cabinets, semi-custom cabinets provide a degree of personalization while leveraging pre-made designs. Although you have some freedom in selecting colors, materials, and finishes, the range of choices are more limited compared to fully custom options. However, the key advantage lies in a faster turnaround time due to utilizing pre-existing designs.
3. Stock Cabinets
Stock cabinets present a convenient solution if decision fatigue sets in or budget considerations take precedence. These ready-made cabinets come with predetermined specifications, limiting options for customization. While they might not accommodate unique sizes or styles, stock cabinets offer quick availability and cost savings, making them highly practical and cost-effective.
4. Ready-to-Assemble (RTA) Cabinets
Ideal for DIY enthusiasts, ready-to-assemble (RTA) cabinets arrive as flat-packed units with predetermined sizes, colors, and necessary hardware for assembly. Color choices are often limited, although a DIY cabinet painting job can help create a more custom look. For those confident in basic cabinetry installation, RTA options offer affordability and a hands-on approach to cabinet installation.
5. Base Cabinets
Base cabinets sit closest to your kitchen floor, providing storage and a base for countertops or kitchen islands. The standard size is 24 inches deep, 34 to 36 inches high, and 36 inches wide. Typically, base cabinets house drawers and shelves, offering ample space for pots, pans, and other kitchen essentials. Base cabinets also dictate the ergonomic flow of your kitchen, providing both functional storage and a base for countertop support.
6. Tall Cabinets
Tall cabinets are floor-to-ceiling units designed to maximize vertical storage space. These towering units serve as versatile storage solutions, often ideal for pantries or utility purposes. Think of these cabinets as the ideal pantry or broom-holding design. Tall cabinets run from the floor to the tops of the cabinetry, up to 84 inches high.
7. Wall Cabinets
Wall cabinets are positioned above countertops, sinks, and appliances, optimizing vertical space while leaving ample room for food preparation. Their elevated position adds storage to your kitchen and creates a sense of visual depth. Ranging in depth from 12 inches and up, they provide convenient storage for dishes, glassware, and pantry items.
8. Specialty-Use Cabinets
Specialty-use cabinets are designed for a specific purpose. They may hold cookie sheets, wine fridges, cleaning supplies, or even hide kitchen appliances behind the streamlined look of your cabinetry. They can also use ergonomic designs to fit a given space, such as a narrow gap or a corner.
Cost to Install Kitchen Cabinets
The cost of installing kitchen cabinets varies depending on several factors, such as the size of the cabinets, the type of cabinets you want, and the materials that make up your cabinetry. The average cost of your kitchen cabinets will be around $6,188, with most homeowners spending anywhere between $2,006 and $10,818.
DIY vs. Hiring a Pro
Your local cabinet installer will give you an estimate anywhere between $50 to $450 per linear foot. Using stock cabinets for your kitchen will save you more, since custom cabinetry always comes with a higher price tag.
You can save on labor costs by installing kitchen cabinets yourself. But, because of the level of difficulty required—with so many tools, skills, and time needed to pull this DIY off successfully—it might be best to shelve this DIY and let a pro handle it.
Alison Kasch contributed to this piece.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cabinets come in diverse styles, including the simple, clean-lined shaker, flat or raised panel, and inset cabinets which sit flush with the cabinet frame. Additionally, cabinets can be framed or frameless.
So, what is a frameless cabinet versus a framed cabinet? The key difference is that framed cabinets have a 1½-inch face frame affixed to the cabinet box front, with doors installed onto this frame. In contrast, frameless cabinets lack a face frame. Instead, their doors are directly mounted onto the cabinet box.
Cabinets are typically categorized into stock, semi-custom, and custom grades. Stock cabinets are pre-built and widely available, while custom cabinets are made to order based on specific requests and specifications. Semi-custom grades offer certain options for customization, such as color and layout, but follow pre-existing designs.
Each of these grades comes with its own timeline and price point. Custom cabinets are the most expensive and take the longest to build, while stock cabinets are typically the most affordable and are available immediately.
When it comes to kitchen cabinets, most homeowners opt for stock cabinetry. Not only is stock cabinetry more affordable than custom or semi-custom options, but it’s also typically readily available for a quick installation. RTA cabinets are popular types of kitchen cabinets as well, but often aren’t as durable and can be difficult to build.