How do you get affordable kitchen cabinets that look custom?
Affordable kitchen cabinets look custom when the details are right: a full overlay shaker door, a real paint or stain finish, fillers and panels that close every gap, trim that finishes the run, and a layout planned to the inch. None of those needs custom pricing; they need the right stock cabinets and a careful plan. RTA Cabinets Plus sells ready to assemble shaker cabinets with full overlay doors on a plywood box, in real paint and stain, priced below comparable cabinets with the same build: a typical 10 x 10 kitchen (13 cabinets) runs about $2,470 in Sterling Snow before freight and tax. The free design checks every filler and toe kick.
Seven details that make stock cabinets look custom.
Most people cannot tell a custom kitchen from a well planned stock one. What they notice is a gap at the wall, a raw cabinet side, a door that does not line up, or a finish that looks printed.
- A full overlay shaker door
- Full overlay doors cover almost all of the cabinet frame, so the front of the kitchen reads as a wall of doors and drawers with tight, even gaps. We sell two shaker doors: Sterling, with a wider frame for a classic look, and Studio, with slim rails for a cleaner, more modern line.
- A real finish, not a wrap
- Paper, thermofoil and melamine wraps photograph well and look flat in person, especially at the edges. Real paint and real stain have depth, and a stain on real wood shows the grain. Every finish we sell is real paint or real stain, from Snow to Coastal, a greige stain on genuine white oak.
- Fillers where the run meets a wall
- A cabinet run almost never comes out to the exact length of the wall. Fillers close the difference, and a filler next to a wall lets doors and drawers open past the trim and the handles.
- End panels on every exposed side
- Wherever the side of a cabinet shows, at the end of a run, beside the refrigerator or on an island, an end panel in the same finish makes it look built in rather than boxed.
- Trim that finishes the run
- Crown molding on top of the wall cabinets closes the gap to the ceiling, light rail under them hides under-cabinet lights, scribe molding covers the line where a cabinet meets a wall that is not quite straight, and toe kick in the matching finish finishes the base.
- Drawers where you reach
- Drawer bases put pots by the range and utensils by the prep space. A 5/8" solid wood dovetail drawer box on soft-close, full-extension glides is standard on our kitchen cabinets.
- A layout planned to the inch
- Every filler, panel and trim piece has to be on the order before it ships. Send your measurements for a free design and a designer lays out the room, checks every filler and toe kick, and prices it, with no obligation to buy.
Save on shipping and labor, never on the box.
- Shipping a built box. An assembled cabinet is mostly air, and air is expensive to ship. A flat packed cabinet takes a fraction of the space.
- Labor to build it. Someone has to build an assembled cabinet before it ships. Ours go together by hand on the licensed SnapCore system in under 2 minutes a box, so building it yourself costs minutes.
- Showrooms. Display kitchens and a long quoting process are real costs that land on the buyer. There is no showroom here, and every price is printed on the product page.
- The cabinet itself. The box material, the finish, the drawers and the hinges. This is where a low priced cabinet stops being a good one, so keep the plywood box and the real finish.
What people ask next.
Can RTA cabinets look custom?
Yes. Once they are built and installed, nobody can tell how a cabinet shipped. The look comes from the door, the finish, the trim and the plan.
What makes kitchen cabinets look cheap?
Gaps at the walls, raw exposed sides, printed wraps, doors that do not line up and missing trim.
Do I need an interior designer?
Not for the cabinets. Our free kitchen design lays out the room, checks every filler and toe kick, and prices it, with no obligation to buy.
What do affordable cabinets that look custom cost?
At RTA Cabinets Plus a typical 10 x 10 kitchen (13 cabinets) runs about $2,470 in Sterling Snow before freight and tax, with full overlay shaker doors on a plywood box in real paint. Trim, panels and fillers are priced on their own product pages.
Can I see a finish before I order?
Yes. A full sample door is $19.99 and a quarter door sample is $4.99, shipping included on both. What you paid for sample doors is credited toward your cabinet order when you ask within 30 days of delivery. It is not refunded as cash, and you keep the doors.
Who we areRTA Cabinets Plus is an online retailer that sells ready to assemble kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities direct to homeowners, remodelers and trade buyers.
What are the best RTA bathroom vanities?
How to choose an RTA bathroom vanity: plywood or particle board, a real finish or a wrap, depth and width, furniture or floating, and the three kinds we sell.
What are the best white shaker kitchen cabinets to buy online?
Best white shaker kitchen cabinets online: real paint or a white wrap, a cool or warm white, wide or slim rail, and what to check behind the door.
Where can you buy white oak kitchen cabinets online?
White oak kitchen cabinets online: real oak under a real stain or a printed wrap, grain that varies, and Coastal, our greige stain on genuine white oak.
Want a person to check your plan?(305) 782-7587, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm ET. Or send your measurements for a free design.