This kitchen cabinets cost guide breaks down what you will pay in 2026 by cabinet grade, material, and construction quality. Kitchen cabinets cost between $4,000 and $25,000 for a typical 10-by-10-foot kitchen, depending on whether they are stock, semi-custom, or fully custom. Stock cabinets from a big-box store cost $100 to $300 per linear foot installed. Semi-custom cabinets cost $300 to $800 per linear foot. Fully custom cabinets cost $800 to $1,500 per linear foot. Cabinets are typically the single largest line item in a kitchen remodel, accounting for 30% to 40% of the total budget.
The price difference between a $5,000 cabinet job and a $25,000 cabinet job is not about paint color or door style. It is about the box construction, the door material, the hardware quality, and whether the cabinets were built in a factory, assembled in a workshop, or cut and fitted on-site by a craftsperson who has been doing it for thirty years.
Stock, Semi-Custom, and Custom — the Three Tiers
| Cabinet Grade | Cost/Linear Foot | 10×10 Kitchen Total | Lead Time |
| Stock (big-box) | $100 – $300 | $4,000 – $8,000 | In stock to 2 weeks |
| Stock (RTA — ready-to-assemble) | $80 – $200 | $3,000 – $6,000 | 1–3 weeks |
| Semi-custom | $300 – $800 | $8,000 – $18,000 | 4–8 weeks |
| Custom (local shop) | $800 – $1,500 | $18,000 – $35,000 | 8–16 weeks |
| Refacing (existing boxes, new doors) | $150 – $400 | $4,000 – $10,000 | 2–4 weeks |
Stock cabinets are built in standard sizes — widths in 3-inch increments, heights fixed at 30, 36, or 42 inches — and shipped from a warehouse. You get what is on the shelf. The boxes are typically particleboard with a melamine or laminate interior. The doors are MDF with a veneer or thermofoil wrap. The drawers ride on epoxy-coated metal slides. For a rental property, a flip, or a budget remodel where the kitchen just needs to look clean and function for ten years, stock cabinets are the right call.
Semi-custom cabinets start with the same factory-built boxes as stock but allow you to modify dimensions, door styles, finishes, and interior fittings. Need a cabinet that is 29 inches wide instead of 30? Semi-custom. Want soft-close drawers and pull-out trash bins integrated into the cabinetry? Semi-custom. The boxes are typically plywood with a wood veneer interior — an upgrade over particleboard in both durability and moisture resistance. For a kitchen in a house you plan to live in for more than five years, semi-custom is the value sweet spot.
Custom cabinets are built to order by a local cabinetmaker or a high-end manufacturer. Every dimension is made to fit the space. The boxes are furniture-grade plywood or solid wood. The doors are solid wood, maple, cherry, walnut, oak, or painted poplar. The drawers are dovetailed. The hinges are Blum or Salice soft-close. The finish is sprayed lacquer or conversion varnish applied in a booth, not rolled on in a garage. Custom cabinets are the right choice when the kitchen has an irregular footprint, the homeowner wants a specific wood species and finish that is not available in semi-custom lines, or the budget allows for cabinetry that will outlast the house.
Box Construction and Door Materials, What the Price Is Buying
The single largest quality differentiator between cabinet grades is the box material. Particleboard boxes, standard in stock and some semi-custom lines, are made from wood particles bonded with resin. They are heavy, dimensionally stable, and susceptible to water damage. A single sink leak that saturates the bottom of a particleboard sink base cabinet will cause the material to swell and crumble. Particleboard cannot be repaired. The cabinet must be replaced.
Plywood boxes, standard in better semi-custom and all custom lines, are made from layers of wood veneer cross-laminated for strength. Plywood resists moisture better than particleboard, holds screws more securely, and can survive a minor water event without structural failure. The upgrade from particleboard to plywood boxes costs $50 to $150 per cabinet. Over a 20-cabinet kitchen, that is $1,000 to $3,000, real money, and almost always worth it if the cabinets will be in the house for more than ten years.
Door materials follow a similar hierarchy. Thermofoil, a vinyl wrap heat-bonded to an MDF core, common on stock cabinets, is durable and easy to clean, but it cannot be repainted and it peels if exposed to heat from a nearby oven or toaster. Wood veneer over MDF gives the appearance of solid wood at a lower cost and with better dimensional stability, veneered doors do not warp the way solid wood doors can. Solid wood doors are the premium option: they can be sanded and refinished decades later, they develop a patina with age, and they cost $100 to $300 more per door than veneer.
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) publishes cost-of-construction data that consistently shows cabinets as the single largest material expense in a kitchen remodel. Understanding what drives cabinet pricing, box construction, door material, and hardware, is the difference between paying for quality and paying for a brand name on a particleboard box.
Installation, the Labor Behind the Cabinets
Cabinet installation costs $100 to $300 per linear foot for labor alone, or $2,000 to $6,000 for a typical kitchen. The cost depends on the number of cabinets, the complexity of the layout, and whether the installer is also handling countertop coordination, appliance integration, and trim work. Installation labor is typically 20% to 30% of the total cabinet budget.
Installation quality matters more than most homeowners realize. Cabinets that are not level, off by even an eighth of an inch across a run, will have doors that do not align, drawers that do not close properly, and countertops that require shimming before the stone fabricator will install them. A good installer levels every base cabinet individually, shims where the floor is uneven, screws the cabinets together through the face frames or stiles, and checks the entire run with a 6-foot level before the countertop crew arrives. A bad installer does none of these things, and the result is a kitchen that looks fine for six months and then develops doors that swing open on their own and drawers that bind when the humidity changes.
Refacing vs. Replacing, When the Boxes Are Still Good
Cabinet refacing, replacing the doors, drawer fronts, and veneer while keeping the existing boxes, costs $4,000 to $10,000 for a typical kitchen, roughly half the cost of new semi-custom cabinets. Refacing makes sense when the cabinet boxes are structurally sound, plywood boxes with no water damage, no delamination, and no sagging shelves, and the homeowner wants a new look without the cost and disruption of a full replacement.
Refacing does not fix bad layout, inadequate storage, or boxes that are the wrong size or in the wrong place. It is a cosmetic upgrade. If the kitchen layout works and the boxes are solid, refacing is a cost-effective alternative to replacement. If the layout does not work, too few drawers, awkward corner cabinets, insufficient counter space, refacing is spending $7,000 to keep a kitchen you do not like.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do kitchen cabinets cost?
Kitchen cabinets cost $4,000 to $35,000 for a typical 10-by-10-foot kitchen, depending on the grade. Stock cabinets cost $4,000 to $8,000. Semi-custom cabinets cost $8,000 to $18,000. Custom cabinets cost $18,000 to $35,000. Installation labor adds $2,000 to $6,000.
What is the difference between stock and custom cabinets?
Stock cabinets come in fixed sizes and limited finishes. Custom cabinets are built to order in any size, wood species, and finish. The box construction differs: stock cabinets use particleboard; custom cabinets use furniture-grade plywood or solid wood. Stock cabinets are installed within two weeks. Custom cabinets take 8 to 16 weeks from order to installation.
Are expensive kitchen cabinets worth the cost?
Semi-custom cabinets with plywood boxes are worth the $8,000 to $18,000 cost for a kitchen in a home you plan to live in for more than five years. The plywood boxes resist moisture, the soft-close hardware functions quietly for decades, and the finish quality is visibly better than stock. Custom cabinets at $18,000 to $35,000 are worth it when the kitchen has an irregular layout or the homeowner wants a specific wood species and finish that stock and semi-custom lines do not offer.
Can I install kitchen cabinets myself?
Yes, if you have carpentry experience, a 6-foot level, shims, clamps, and a helper. Cabinet installation is physically demanding and requires patience with leveling and alignment, but it is not technically complex. The most common DIY installation mistake is failing to level the base cabinets before securing them to the wall. An unlevel base cabinet run causes countertop, door, and drawer alignment problems that are difficult to fix after the countertop is installed.
How long do kitchen cabinets last?
Stock cabinets with particleboard boxes last 10 to 20 years before the boxes show signs of wear, sagging shelves, delaminating surfaces, failed hardware. Semi-custom cabinets with plywood boxes last 20 to 40 years. Custom solid-wood cabinets last 40 to 75 years or longer with refacing every 20 to 30 years. Cabinet lifespan depends more on box construction and moisture exposure than on door style or finish.
Should I refinish or replace my kitchen cabinets?
Refinish, reface or repaint, if the boxes are plywood, structurally sound, and the kitchen layout works. Refacing costs $4,000 to $10,000. Replace if the boxes are particleboard and showing water damage, delamination, or structural sagging, or if the kitchen layout needs to change. A full replacement with semi-custom cabinets costs $8,000 to $18,000.
What Your Cabinets Should Cost
Semi-custom cabinets with plywood boxes, soft-close hardware, and painted or stained wood doors are the right answer for most homeowners. They cost $8,000 to $18,000 for a typical kitchen. They last 20 to 40 years. They look like custom cabinets to everyone except a cabinetmaker. They occupy the value sweet spot that stock cabinets undershoot and custom cabinets overshoot.
Stock cabinets are for flips and rentals. Custom cabinets are for forever homes and irregular footprints. For everything in between, semi-custom is the answer. The boxes are plywood. The hinges close themselves. The drawers slide like they are on ball bearings, because they are. Pay for the plywood upgrade. Skip the solid walnut doors unless your budget has room for them after the countertops and the appliances. The cabinets set the tone for the kitchen, but they do not cook the food. Spend your money on the boxes and the hardware. The doors are what you see. The boxes are what you live with. Ever opened a drawer in a rental kitchen and felt it wobble on its tracks? That is a particleboard box with epoxy slides. Do not build that kitchen. You already know what it feels like.
Last modified: July 15, 2026
