Your Complete Guide to Purchasing Kitchen Cabinets in 2025
One of the most costly, elaborate, and detailed rooms in a house is the kitchen. One of the main causes of this is kitchen cabinetry. A kitchen’s shape, look, and atmosphere are greatly influenced by its cabinets.
Cabinets are a long-term, permanent addition to a house, so it’s crucial to carefully evaluate the kinds, materials, treatments, and colors.
Things to Take Into Account When Purchasing Kitchen Cabinets
There are three different types of kitchen cabinets manufactured by kitchen cabinet companies: semi-custom, custom, and stock.
There are extremely few sizes and configurations available for stock cabinets, which are the least priced and frequently the lowest quality option. The most common kind of cabinets, semi-custom cabinets, come in a variety of sizes, shapes, finishes, and hues. Since custom cabinets are created to the homeowner’s requirements, the options are almost endless.
Kitchen Cabinet Material Types
The cost and long-term functionality of the cabinets are affected by the material selection, whether it be particleboard, MDF, or plywood.
Plywood: Cabinet-grade multi-layer plywood is used to make the best kitchen cabinets. Compared to particleboard or MDF cabinets, plywood cabinets are more lighter, stronger, and simpler to install. Plywood cabinets are more costly, but they’re a wise investment if you want to stay in the house for a long time.
MDF: Medium-density fiberboard cabinets are thought to be quite environmentally friendly since they utilize the fibrous leftovers of wood processing. Due to its poor paintability, MDF cabinets are typically faced with laminate or thermofoil.
The lowest quality material for kitchen cabinet boxes is particle board, which expands and contracts in response to changes in the environment and breaks readily. However, because particle board cabinets are so affordable, they’re a great option for short-term residences, cottages, or rentals.
Types of Cabinet Layouts and Configurations for Kitchens
Sometimes installed kitchen cabinets blend in so well that it’s difficult to tell they’re divided into only three categories: tall, wall, and base cabinets. If money and room allow, specialty cabinets are also useful choices.
Base Cabinets
Base cabinets are found in every kitchen. Base cabinets, which are 36 inches high and floor-mounted, offer countertop work on top and storage underneath. Base cabinets typically have a depth of 24 inches.
Base cabinets are available in a variety of layouts to suit various purposes. A double-basin sink can therefore be placed on top of a sink base cabinet that is sufficiently wide. An L-shaped corner base cabinet is designed to fit into a kitchen corner.
Cabinets on the Wall
Wall cabinets are seen in most kitchens. Attached to wall studs, wall cabinets are raised approximately 18 inches above the tabletop and range in depth from 12 to 17 inches. Glassware, plates, and commonly used food items are stored in wall cabinets.
Elevated Cabinets
Tall cabinets are tall and slender, almost touching the ceiling. Because they can accommodate substantial foods like rice or flour as well as tiny kitchen gadgets, tall cabinets are frequently referred to as pantry cabinets.
Particular Cabinets
All of the other cabinets that aren’t categorized as base, wall, or tall cabinets are gathered into specialty kitchen cabinets. Hutches, wine racks, appliance bays, and slider pull-outs are examples of popular specialized cabinets.
Cost of Kitchen Cabinets
Depending on a variety of criteria, like the kind and material of the cabinet, the size of your kitchen, and more, kitchen cabinets may cost anywhere from $3,000 to $25,000, with an average cost of around $14,000. Since RTA cabinets don’t require labor, the decision between professionally installed or ready-to-assemble (RTA) cabinets has a big impact on the price.
The price of labor to install kitchen cabinets
According to HomeAdvisor, the labor cost alone for installing semi-custom kitchen cabinets ranges from $75 to $250 per linear foot.
Kitchen Cabinets: Framed vs Frameless
In terms of both beauty and functionality, choose between framed and frameless kitchen cabinets is a significant decision. While frameless cabinets offer easier access and appear more contemporary, framed cabinets are more robust and have a more classic appearance.
Cabinets with frames
Cabinet doors and drawer fronts of framed kitchen cabinets are surrounded by a 1.5-inch-wide frame on the front of the cabinet box. Because of the stabilizing effect of the frame, framed cabinets are stronger than frameless cabinets.
However, because the frame shrinks the size of the cabinet opening, framed cabinets are a little harder to reach. Compared to frameless cabinets, framed cabinets offer a more traditional appearance.
Cabinets Without Frames
Cabinet box face frames are absent from frameless cabinets, sometimes known as modern or Euro-style cabinets. Compared to framed cabinets, the doors and drawers look smoother and merge in with the cabinet boxes. Full access cabinets are another term for frameless kitchen cabinets since they are a little simpler to reach.
Selection of Door Overlays
Kitchen cabinet doors may be fully overlay, partially overlay, or insert doors.
Inset: Cabinet doors that are inset lack an overlay. The door’s exterior face is flush with the cabinet’s borders when it is closed, resting inside the cabinet.
Overlay: Overlay cabinet doors completely enclose the cabinet box and frame when they are closed. The whole perimeter is covered with full overlay doors. Between 1/4 and 1½ inches of the cabinet front are left visible by partial overlay doors.
Due to their faster installation and improved ability to adapt to long-term shape changes, the majority of kitchen cabinets include either a partial or complete door overlay. Any little variations in the squareness of the cabinets are concealed by the door overlay.
Inset doors, on the other hand, alter the design of the cabinet and may even make it more difficult to open and close.