Cabinet Options for Your Kitchen and Bath
What You Need to Know About ‘Where to Buy’
By James Aitchison
Whether you’re building a new home or remodeling a kitchen or bath, shopping for
good quality cabinetry can be overwhelming. With so many design styles, material
grades, finishes and options, it can be difficult to know whether custom cabinets,
off-the-shelf solutions from a big-box store – or something in between – will suit
your lifestyle, budget and your rooms’ needs.
1. Big-Box Home Centers
Making their presence known in just about every community since the late seventies,
these well-recognized retail centers offer a broad set of cabinetry such as in stock,
ready-to-assemble (RTA), and semi-custom classifications. Relying on tremendous
amounts of consumer research data that keeps them abreast of satisfaction levels
and where customers’ demands are going to be, home centers carry respected and trusted
brands that are best suited to meet the wide variety of tastes, budgets, and preferences
of their shoppers. Big-box stores are conveniently located within most centers of
population in the U.S. with convenient store hours and delivery options.
Home centers provide a broad range of price points for different home improvement
budgets; however, the U.S. Census Bureau recently reported average markups for retail
sales, and the percentage remains quite significant for home furnishings. For stock
cabinetry at the home center, your style choices are limited to what is readily
available at the store; out-of-stock units can delay your project. Home centers’
semi-custom brands offer some cabinet luxury feature options such as glazing, soft-close
hardware, and architectural detailing, but are considered significant upgrades to
their starting prices. For semi-custom cabinets, you must also realize that your
options to satisfy unusual applications, spaces, or personal tastes are limited.
2. Kitchen and Bath Dealerships
Kitchen and bath dealerships are specialty stores that typically carry cabinets
from a number of manufacturers; sometimes with territory or other rights to exclusive
labels. Dealership personnel often have a high level of expertise and can provide
a complete turn-key service. Managing your project every step of the way from space
and kitchen design planning to product selection and installation, the cabinet dealer
takes pride in focusing on the details, freeing you up to focus on the big picture;
life in your new kitchen. If you prefer to be professionally guided through the
entire cabinet purchasing process, then working with a kitchen and bath dealership
may be a great fit for you.
Ensuring a pleasurable experience for each customer, it is widely agreed that dealerships
provide a highly knowledgeable and comprehensive set of products and services; however
with one real drawback in terms of affordability. In addition to the costs associated
with maintaining a prominent retail location for their business, dealerships rely
on skilled and highly paid personnel, expensive display systems and extensive local
advertising campaigns. Their services are typically bundled together with the sale
of the product to ensure adequate profit levels. For the trusted fully custom brands
that they carry, you will find them to be the most expensive option by far.
3. Members-Only Retailers
Members-Only retailers catering to home furnishings such as DirectBuy are springing
up as the search for affordability intensifies for consumers. Many times, these
club groups offer the consumer the ability to choose from a selection of several
brand name cabinet choices and a limited selection of decorative features like crown
moldings and architectural accents. For each line carried, respective manufacturers’
warranties are included. Pricing is moderate and some membership clubs also have
many conveniently located showrooms where you can go touch and feel the product.
The prospect of a special “members-only” price that’s advertised to be close to
the factory-direct, manufacturer’s price is very appealing. We all want to save
wherever we can – especially when it comes to big-ticket kitchen and bath projects.
While members only companies do offer discounted merchandise, the several thousand
dollars it can cost to become a member may outweigh the savings you realize from
just a cabinet purchase. You should take this important total cost of ownership
factor into consideration if you plan to purchase from a members-only retailer.
4. Online Cabinet Sites
Online cabinet retailers have sprung up over the last decade across many industries
initially to help companies better communicate who they are and what they have to
offer. Online cabinet providers offer the monetary advantages of not having to fund
stand-alone showrooms, pay for traditional advertising or carry excess inventory
– all savings which they can pass on to their customers. Online sites primarily
provide stock or ready-to-assemble (RTA) cabinetry that is mass produced in a limited
number of door styles and wood species. As a result, the speed of delivery and price
are the greatest advantages offered. You will need to know exactly what you want,
provide accurate measurements, and it is advised that you thoroughly review the
return and restocking terms if what you’ve ordered is not delivered to your specifications.
If you are searching for stock or RTA cabinetry, a reputable online provider may
be right for you. However, you must be careful that the site has been modernized
to ensure accurate communications and secure information sharing, particularly with
any sensitive personal data. As far as quality of product is concerned, if you are
a homeowner who plans on living at your residence for many years, a higher class
of cabinetry would simply be a better choice. And, if you desire personalized service,
realize that you get what you pay for with online providers of stock cabinetry.
5. Custom cabinet shops.
Before the advent of the industrial revolution, the cabinet maker was responsible
for making every piece of furniture. Even as the traditional cabinet shop ceased
to be the main source for cabinetry in the new world, Americans have always yearned
for historic roots; consequently, the traditional cabinet maker remains an important
part of the fabric of American culture. Cabinet shops exemplify the fine wood working
traditions from centuries past as cabinet craftsmen possess very technical, concise
skill needed to create unique furniture grade cabinetry for the home. As important
investment as a work of art, a custom cabinet maker can transform artistry and refinement
of old-world craft into beautifully sculpted cabinetry for your home.
Fully appreciating the time-honored wood working traditions of the custom cabinet
shop, the disadvantages primarily relate to the cost and time to produce their product.
Typically not relying on innovations in production, fully custom shops also may
not have certain factory technologies such as specialized baking ovens to seal the
finish with a modern catalytic top coat proven to create a durable protection against
scuffing, dents, and fading to name only a few. Fully custom cabinets are indeed
the crème de la crème with unlimited possibilities to satisfy the most discerning
of customers; they come with a premium however, as fully custom cabinetry is by
far the most expensive option and lifetime warranties may not be included.
6. Lumber Yards
Lumber yards came into being almost two centuries ago to meet the need for a common
understanding between the mills and the markets as they were increasingly distanced
from rail or water transportation. Today, lumber yards are typically multi-generational,
family-owned businesses that have earned the trust over the years from local patrons,
many times providing everything from flooring to handy-man type services. Some have
grown to have multiple locations and even regional chains. These very resourceful
establishments most likely carry stock and RTA cabinetry and some may also carry
semi-custom cabinetry albeit lesser-known brands.
Lumber yards derive much of their business furnishing supplies to various trade
businesses. So, while lumber yards can have conveniently on-hand valuable supplies
for a trade professional, they typically are not geared toward serving the average
homeowner looking to do a complete kitchen remodel. For their stock cabinetry products,
the availability at lumber yards is subject to what’s in stock and wood and color
options as well as warranties are limited to the brands, stock or semi-custom, which
they carry. Really for the do-it-yourselfer, if you intend on going to a lumber
yard, you should prepare to provide your own kitchen design, measurements and plans.
Good contracting services are often found, but service levels vary greatly from
one lumber yard to another.
7. Webinetry.com
Webinetry.com is a new online channel for fine cabinetry that gives you all the
cost advantages and convenience of purchasing kitchen and bath cabinets online with
the high quality configuration options similar to custom cabinetry. Affordability
and quality of product are the most powerful advantages at webinetry.com—with a
large selection of designer inspired styles, finishes, and accessories. Sizes can
be modified in any dimension providing flexibility to accommodate space requirements.
Once you provide accurate measurements for your kitchen, you can request complimentary
kitchen design services. Webinetry.com is an exceptionally user-friendly site that
allows you to browse a wide range of styles with advanced product visualization
applications all within a very secure and controlled environment; and, all cabinetry
at webinetry.com comes with a Lifetime Warranty to the original owner.
While webinetry.com has features similar to custom brands at pricing significantly
lower than semi-custom typical of home centers, all orders are built-to-order. Webinetry.com
is supported by a cabinet specialist team and factory-direct showrooms; however,
for complex home improvement projects, homeowners should consult a home improvement
professional.