Kitchen cabinet cost.
Cabinets are usually the biggest line in a kitchen remodel. Price runs per linear foot by construction quality.
Kitchen cabinet cost by type
| Stock (off the shelf) | $2,000 – $6,000 |
| Semi-custom | $6,000 – $13,000 |
| Custom | $14,000 – $24,000 |
Typical installed range for a 20 lin ft project. Adjust the estimator above for your own size and options.
Per linear foot is a quoting habit, not a standard
Cabinets are quoted per linear foot of wall run, counting uppers and lowers together, so a 10 by 10 kitchen is roughly 20 linear feet. Nothing standardizes what that number contains. One bid's linear foot is a particleboard box with a stapled drawer and no installation. Another's is a plywood box with dovetailed drawers, soft-close hardware, crown, and labor. Installation alone commonly runs $50–$300 per linear foot. Before comparing two per-foot prices, make each one list what is inside it.
What moves the price on this one
What the box is made of
Particleboard and MDF boxes are standard at the value end and perform fine while dry, but they swell irreversibly once water reaches the core, which in a kitchen means the sink base and the dishwasher run. Plywood boxes cost more, hold screws better, and survive a slow leak. This is the largest quality difference two cabinets can have while looking identical on a showroom floor.
Framed or frameless, which changes access as well as price
Face-frame cabinets put a wood frame across the front of the box, the traditional American construction. Frameless, often called European, skips it, giving wider drawers and full-height openings, and typically costs around 15% more. Frameless also demands more precise installation, because there is no frame edge to absorb a wall that is out of square.
Drawers, where cost and daily experience concentrate
A drawer box can be stapled particleboard on epoxy-coated side-mount slides, or dovetailed plywood on full-extension undermount slides with soft close. Soft-close hardware adds roughly $20–$40 per cabinet. Drawers also cost more than doors to build and hang, so a drawer-heavy base run prices above a door-heavy one of identical length, which is worth knowing before you redesign the layout.
The 3-inch rule and filler strips
Stock cabinets come in 3-inch width increments: 12, 15, 18, 21 and so on. Real walls are not multiples of 3 inches, so the leftover gap is closed with filler strips. Semi-custom lines will modify widths and depths for a premium. Custom is built to the actual dimension. Whether it matters comes down to how visible the fillers will be in your specific run.
Lead time, which is a schedule cost
Stock ships in roughly one to two weeks. Semi-custom typically runs four to eight weeks from order approval. Custom often runs ten to sixteen. Because countertops cannot be templated until the boxes are set, cabinet lead time sets the critical path for the entire kitchen. Choosing the tier is a scheduling decision before it is a finish decision.
What the quote has to spell out
- Box material stated: plywood, particleboard, or MDF, with the panel thickness
- Framed or frameless construction
- Drawer box construction and slide type, with soft close named if it is included
- Whether the price is cabinets only or cabinets installed, and the install rate either way
- Removal and disposal of the existing cabinets, commonly $300–$800
- Crown, light rail, toe kick, fillers, and finished end panels, which most lines price separately
- Written lead time measured from final order approval, not from your deposit
Where this goes wrong: A cabinet price with no installation line. Installation commonly runs $50–$300 per linear foot on its own, and higher when boxes have to be scribed to walls that are out of square. A cabinets-only number set beside a competitor's installed number is not a comparison, and it is the most common reason a cabinet budget lands thousands over what was approved.
Kitchen cabinet cost: FAQ
How much do kitchen cabinets cost?
Installed, cabinets run about $100 to $1,200 per linear foot by quality. A typical 20-foot kitchen lands near $4,000 for stock up to $24,000 for custom.
Are new cabinets or refacing cheaper?
Refacing (new doors and veneer over your existing boxes) usually costs 30 to 50 percent less than all-new cabinets, if your current boxes are sound.
What makes custom cabinets cost more?
They're built to your exact sizes with better joinery, wood, and finishes, and there's no mass-production discount. Semi-custom is the common middle ground.
Are plywood cabinet boxes worth the upgrade?
In the sink base and any run near a dishwasher, yes. Particleboard and MDF hold up fine in dry conditions but swell permanently once water reaches the core, and a slow supply-line drip is a normal thing to happen across twenty years of ownership. Some homeowners split it: plywood on the wet runs, particleboard elsewhere, which most manufacturers will quote.
What is the difference between framed and frameless cabinets?
Framed cabinets carry a solid wood frame across the front of the box, and the doors mount to that frame. Frameless cabinets attach doors directly to the box sides, which gives wider drawers and unobstructed access to the interior. Frameless typically costs around 15% more and is less forgiving of out-of-square walls, since there is no frame edge to hide the discrepancy.
How long do new kitchen cabinets take to arrive?
Roughly one to two weeks for stock, four to eight weeks for semi-custom, and ten to sixteen weeks for custom. Countertops cannot be templated until the boxes are installed, so cabinet lead time generally sets the finish date for the whole kitchen. Ordering before demolition begins is how most schedule overruns get avoided.