Buying Guide to Kitchen Cabinets

If your kitchen is a bit blah and in need of a makeover, installing new kitchen cabinets could give your cooking space the facelift it needs. It won’t be a cheap and painless makeover, so do some research and bargain shopping beforehand to ensure that you’re making a wise purchase.

Before you begin the search, consider whether or not your cabinets can be primed and painted, and updated with new knobs and pulls. This will be your cheapest option by far, as paint is cheap and easy to come by and new hardware can run as little as a couple dollars per cabinet pull.

If this is not an option, create a remodeling budget for yourself. It’s possible for some people to spend as much on their kitchen cabinets as others would spend on a fleet of houses or cars. But you can bargain shop and come out with an entire new unit of kitchen cabinets for several hundred dollars. Choosing pre-made, or stock cabinets, will severely cut your costs over customizing your kitchen. In addition to saving money, you can expect to shave off 2 to 3 months of the time that you would wait for custom cabinets. If you’re worried about stock cabinets fitting your kitchen, don’t. Most large cabinet-makers keep warehouses stocked with a variety of pre-made sizes and shapes, and trim panels are available to cover gaps between cabinet units.

In the lowest product category are laminates and thermoplastics/thermofoils. Both cabinet types are created by layering a finish overtop of a substrate, or MDF. This could be a wood-grain pattern with a nice tone, but the quality may be low if it’s not made on a high-end substrate. Still, laminates can be a great choice for families on a budget.