Shopping for just the right kitchen cabinets is a daunting task. At times, it is so confusing, many people simply keep finding reasons to put it off. If you are planning on renovating your kitchen, you may be able to put your project on hold until your current kitchen falls apart around you, or the last appliance stops working and you can't stand the thought of what it will cost to repair it. So, you take the plunge into the maze of shopping for kitchen cabinetry. If, on the other hand, you are building a new home, you will need to start looking at cabinetry soon after your contractor breaks ground.
Kitchen cabinets come in three general categories that directly relate to price, quality, and delivery time.
1. Stock cabinets
2. Semi-custom cabinets
3. Custom cabinets
Stock Cabinets are mass produced, generally made in standard sizes and are shipped in a cardboard box with a manufacturers label and cabinet size on the outside of the box. There are many stores in the Lehigh Valley that carry stock cabinetry. Lumber yards, such as Shellys, carry a brand known asAristocraft. The big box stores, such as Home Depot, carry Kraftmaid, and many of the smaller design showrooms will keep stock cabinetry as an offering. They may affiliate themselves with any number of brands, such as American Woodmark, Wellborn, or Norcraft, just to name a few.
Semi-custom cabinetry encompasses many more choices, and a much broader range of costs, quality levels, and lead times. It is also the category of cabinetry where most of the confusion over price to quality ratios will rear its ugly head. As a result, the semi-custom category is where most of the disputes and/or misunderstandings arise between the customer and the kitchen contractor. A few brand names are Dynasty, Seville, Greenfield, and Medallion. There are many more.
Custom cabinets are on par with fine furniture. Within this high-end category, specialized finishes, premium wood selection, and careful blanket-wrapped delivery, are the norm. Many semi-custom manufacturers like to market themselves as custom. That is why the semi-custom category lends itself to interpretation and is the most difficult range of cabinetry to purchase with confidence. Custom cabinetry, such as Rutt Custom Cabinetry, Craftmaid, Quality Custom, and KountryKraft are but a few of the choices within the custom cabinetry bracket.
In the Lehigh Valley, there are many reputable kitchen showrooms, as well as some very talented cabinetmakers who will build a kitchen for you. There are advantages and disadvantages to having a small local cabinet shop build your cabinets. The disadvantages lie in the cost to quality variable. What is meant by the cost to quality variable is that from one job to next, depending on the shop’s work load and work force, the swing in quality and lead times can sometimes, not always, be significant. If you decide to go that route, it is highly recommended you find a shop that specializes in kitchen cabinetry. There are several quality shops located in the Lehigh Valley. Three shops, each with a long standing history of integrity and consistency, are:
Braders Woodcraft
Stofanak Custom Cabinetry
Laslo Custom Kitchens
It is somewhat more common to look for your new kitchen by going to a kitchen design showroom. Kitchen design showrooms generally carry cabinetry in all three of the categories, although some will not offer stock cabinetry, they will, more than likely, have a couple of semi-custom brands that offer sizable differences in pricing, quality and delivery lead times. It is a good idea to go online and look through the web sites of some of the showrooms in the Lehigh Valley. All are working hard to fill a niche in the marketplace in order to set themselves apart from their competition, so try to define your taste and your budget before you leave the computer screen and head out for your appointment. Yes, it is advisable and thoughtful to schedule an appointment beforehand. Three kitchen showrooms with a solid reputation for design and follow-through are:
Kitchens by Design Inc.
Kitchen Dimensions
Direct Kitchen Distributors
There is a basic rule that will help you understand the differences in quality as it relates to price and lead time. Lead time, meaning the length of time you will have to wait for your cabinets from the time you place your order to the time they are delivered to your house. It is not the intention of this article to explain the many variations in kitchen cabinet construction techniques, finishing applications, or wood species selection. There are a hundred topics to write about within those areas alone. What is important to understand, is that in today’s marketplace, with the exception of some of the very high end cabinet companies, the added cost for product branding and prestige has all but gone away. Therefore, the old adage, “you get what you pay for”, applies to kitchen cabinetry today more than ever. The rule which will help you determine what level of cabinetry you should purchase, or will end up purchasing, is a simple rule of economics.
Pricing, Quality, and Lead times – Pick two. In other words, if you negotiate your kitchen contractor to a rock-bottom price for high-end custom cabinets, you are, more than likely, going to wait a long time for the cabinets to be delivered, because the contractor is going to complete his profitable jobs before yours. On the other hand, if your kitchen designer, or contractor, tries to convince you he or she is going to give you the highest quality custom kitchen for an unbeatable low price, and have the cabinets installed in less than four weeks, you had better run for the door.
You cannot have all three in your favor - only two. A final example may explain it best. If you buy stock cabinetry, you are going to pay a comparably low price for your cabinetry. That is a good thing. You should be aware, however, that you are purchasing a low quality cabinet. That is not to say poor quality. But, by no stretch of the imagination are the cabinets built to last a lifetime. A one year warrantee is usually standard. And stock means exactly that. The cabinets are kept in-stock and can generally be delivered to the site within days. In summery, you received a very favorable price, thequality was not the best, but the delivery was the best it could be because you loaded the cabinets onto your pick-up truck and took them home that day; two out of three.
By first learning about the differences between the cabinetry catagories, and then applying this rule to your final desision, you will be able to keep the process of choosing the right product to fit your particular set of circumstances on a solid footing.
For more information on the different levels of kitchen cabinetry go to: The sexy kitchen
