Which RTA Brands Are Most Recommended by Contractors or Installers?

Ask ten installers which ready to assemble cabinet brand they recommend and you will hear several names. There is no independent ranking to settle it, and we are not going to invent one. What installers agree on is the list of things they check, because they are the ones who live with the result. Use that list on any brand, including ours.

What contractors and installers check

1. The box material

Plywood or particle board. Plywood holds a screw, carries weight on a shelf without sagging and survives a wet sink base. Particle board swells once water gets in. Installers also check the back, the bottom and the shelves, not only the sides. How to tell the two apart.

2. The finish

Real paint or stain can be touched up after a ding on the job. Paper, thermofoil and melamine wraps cannot, and they can peel or lift. Painted vs stained, and why wraps are different.

3. The hardware and the drawers

Concealed soft-close hinges that adjust in three directions make door lines quick to set. A solid wood dovetail drawer box on full-extension glides does not rack or rattle loose.

4. How the box goes together

Assembly time is labor. Traditional RTA boxes are built with cam locks, dowels and glue, and often a second pair of hands, which eats into the day before a single cabinet is hung.

5. Clear pricing and a clear parts list

A price that is published, and a catalog with the fillers, panels and trim to finish the job, keeps a bid accurate and saves a second trip.

6. A warranty you can read

Installers want to know what is covered before something goes wrong, not after.

How our cabinets measure up

• Box: a plywood box with a solid wood face frame and 3/4" plywood shelves, on every cabinet.
• Finish: real paint and stain finishes, never paper, thermofoil or melamine, with a touch-up kit for each finish.
• Hardware: concealed soft-close hinges, full overlay doors, and a 5/8" solid wood dovetail drawer box on soft-close, full-extension glides, standard.
• Assembly: SnapCore, our licensed click system. The box clicks together in under 2 minutes, about 10x faster than traditional RTA cabinets built with cam locks, dowels and glue, with no glue, no screws and no second person. The only parts that need screws are the metal ones: hinges, glides and pulls.
• Pricing: every price is on its product page, with no login and no quote to request.
• Warranty: a five year limited warranty, published in full, exclusions included.

We do not publish customer reviews yet, and we will not borrow anybody else's. The way to judge us is the same way an installer would: hold a door, read the spec and look at a box.

For contractors, builders and designers

Our Trade Pro program gives trade buyers a separate discount tier on the same catalog. Ordering by item code is quick with quick order, and our designers will lay out a kitchen from your measurements through the free kitchen design service. Cabinet terms are in the glossary, and the full hanging sequence is in our installation guide.

Want to see the build before you put it in front of a client? Order a sample door. A full sample door is $19.99 and a quarter door sample is $4.99, shipping included, and the sample price is refundable.