Outside of the appliances, our kitchen is a time capsule from the early 80’s. We’re tearing it all out later this year and have started looking at cabinets. Had a couple of designers from local companies out to begin the measuring process/put it in a kitchen design program so we can play around. I’m in the insurance resotoration industry and have tore out and put back countless kitchens for other people. Spending insurance money is easy, spending my own money sucks. To keep costs down I’ve started looking closer at RTA cabinets as an option. Lots of positives out there and negatives sprinkled in as I research. As with most anything else, I’ll seek advice here too from anybody that has opted for or has experience with RTA cabinets. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

We just remodeled our kitchen from the same time period. We looked hard at RTA cabinets. Wee even had samples sent to the house and worked up two separate quotes. We also got quotes from local cabinet builders.

The owner of a local shop came to my house. He then sent me very detailed plans and 3d pictures. We even toured his shop and saw his work. Ultimately we we went with the local guy. When we factored in assembly and install time as well as quality He was the best value for us.

We just did some RTA for my business kitchen. There is a wide variability in quality mostly regarding the backing materials. I went with a local outfit that sells to builders. They are Chinese cabinets but the quality is good enough that i would use them in a high end kitchen. We made sure to fully glue and clamp and tack all joints. They are about 4 years old now and holding up well to 20 employees pounding on them. Saved quite a bit of money on them assembling and installing on our own.

You're not getting full dovetail joints but you're not paying for it either. If I had a local cabinet builder I would have definitely looked him up.

I’ll continue to shop local vendors/companies, but unfortunately here in Charleston things are booming out of control in the housing industry. A contractor I know who builds his own cabinets starts at $375 a linear foot. A few other local small shops I’ve spoken to over the phone aren’t far behind his starting price. Hell the going rate for install is around $100 a box. I was paying subs $35-50 a box for install prior to moving here.

Our kitchen would be an easy install and if it saves me ~$1,500 I’ll gladly do it myself. Hoping to get in the designers places next week to start getting some prices down. That’ll be the main deciding factor in whether or not I continue to look at RTA’s.

Check your local Home Depot and Lowe's. They can order cabinets in particle board, plywood sides, or full plywood. Most times they have at least 10% off but sometimes 20% or free upgrades.

We went with American Woodmark ordered from Home Depot. They have a PDF of all of the cabinets they offer with the dimensions listed. I was able to measure our old kitchen and lay out the new design within the measurements. I then took the plan to the guy at the desk and we were in and out in about an hour.

OP:

If you are looking at price only and assemble and install for free, then that should be the cheapest. Use some of your savings to buy nice counters, sink and appliances.