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Where to Buy the Best Kitchen Cabinets in 2023

Lee Wallender By
Lee Wallender
Lee Wallender
Lee Wallender

Lee has over two decades of hands-on experience remodeling, fixing, and improving homes, and has been providing home improvement advice for over 13 years.

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Updated on 09/16/22
Reviewed by
Johnathan Brewer
Johnathan Brewer
Reviewed by Johnathan Brewer
Johnathan C. Brewer II is a licensed general contractor specializing in kitchen, bath remodels, and general construction with two decades of professional experience.
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Fact checked by
Elizabeth Berry
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Fact checked by Elizabeth Berry
Elizabeth Berry is a Fact Checker for The Spruce and has three years experience copyediting and researching content for lifestyle publications. She has also written evergreen and SEO articles for digital and printed publications.
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In a full kitchen remodel, choosing new cabinets is a dominate part of the planning process, and an even bigger part of the budget. While the urge to save money is enormous when it comes to the kitchen cabinets, it pays to remember that the cabinets will be among the most heavily used of all kitchen elements, and thus you need to choose cabinets that are both attractive as well as durable and hardworking.

While the very best way to get exactly what you want is to hire a high-end custom cabinet maker to build and install your cabinetry, this can be astronomically expensive. Most of us will instead be purchasing cabinets from a manufacturer of preassembled or RTA (ready to assemble) cabinets. But this is no easy choice, either. Because this is such a competitive market with a potential for great reward, kitchen cabinet makers and retailers often flourish for a moment, then disappear just as quickly.

A Note on Terminology

Kitchen cabinet manufacturers are often categorized according to how the cabinets are ordered and manufactured:

Pre-assembled cabinets are purchased as preassembled cabinet boxes with the drawers, doors, and hardware preattached. They are shipped in large crates, and the cabinets are simply pulled from the box and installed. These cabinets are manufactured in a large number of stock sizes and configurations, but it's usually impossible to get specialty cabinets made to fit unique spaces, as you can with true custom cabinets.

Ready-to-assemble cabinets are exactly like preassembled cabinets, but they are shipped with parts broken down and packed in flat crates. The buyer must assemble these on-site. While this sounds like a lot of work, RTA cabinets are quite a bit less expensive and shipping costs are much less.

Semi-custom cabinets are essentially pre-assembled cabinets, but they are offered with many, many different style options. You may have a choice of dozens of different wood species, stain colors, and door styles to choose from. These are more expensive, but you have many more options than with standard pre-assembled cabinets.

Custom cabinet manufacturers build each and every cabinet to the exact size and style you specify. Custom cabinets are often crafted by hand, which allows you to have control over how your cabinets look, as these cabinets are made to fit your space and design specifications. These are often the most expensive.

Here are 10 cabinet manufacturers and suppliers who have been solidly present in the business for at least a decade and are well-regarded both for the quality of their products and for long-term customer satisfaction.

Tip

While you can save money on the product itself, you can also hire someone to assemble cabinets for you, saving you time and possibly even more money if your construction skills aren't up to the task.

KraftMaid

Kraftmaid contemporary cabinets

Kraftmaid

KraftMaid is one of the biggest names in kitchen cabinets, owing to its association with Home Depot, Lowes, and other home centers. KraftMaid's semi-custom kitchen cabinets can be found at local kitchen design companies, too. Initially offering only a few types of cabinets, KraftMaid has enriched its product lines to appeal to all tastes. This is one of the better names in semi-custom cabinets.

Merillat

Merillat cabinetd

 Merillat

Like KraftMaid, Merillat is another mainline kitchen cabinet manufacturer available through many retail channels, such as local kitchen design companies and home centers. A Michigan-based company, Merillat rarely makes dramatic changes in its product lines, preferring to stick to tried-and-true styles that appeal to a broad base. These cabinets tend to be slightly more affordable than KraftMaid, since the product options are narrower.

Snaidero

Snaidero cabinets

Snaidero

Named after founder Rino Snaidero, kitchen cabinet company Snaidero is known for its high-end, Euro-styled cabinetry strongly flavored by Italian design aesthetics. Products from Snaidero's Way Collection is a great choice for premium residences and commercial properties that seek super-high-end kitchen cabinetry.

Snaidero cabinets are sold only by consultation with one of its North American showrooms. There is no standard retail outlet for these cabinets.

IKEA

IKEA kitchen

IKEA

IKEA holds the rare distinction of being one of few brick-and-mortar stores that offer ready-to-assemble (RTA) kitchen cabinets in stock, on the shelf, and ready for immediate pick-up. If you have an IKEA store in your metro area, you can start setting up your flat-pack cabinets within a few hours, instead of waiting days or weeks for freight delivery. IKEA's styles range from traditional to modern. But you can always be assured of inexpensive kitchen cabinets that come paired with a multitude of other items, such as drawer fronts, and IKEA offers recommendations for items that would fit well with the kitchen cabinets, such as sinks, faucets, and even appliances.

Semi-Custom Cabinetry from Ideal Cabinetry

All Wood Cabinetry kitchen

All Wood Cabinetry

Ideal Cabinetry's Semi-Custom Cabinetry is based in Florida and makes all plywood semi-custom cabinets for kitchens and bathrooms in traditional and modern styles. The cabinets feature soft-closing doors and full-extension soft-closing dovetail drawers. All cabinets are built to order, shipping directly to your home or the construction location. They offer stain finishes in varying tones of white, cream, gray, blue, brown, and black.

Porcelanosa

Porcelanosa kitchen

Porcelanosa

Since 1973, Porcelanosa has excelled at manufacturing sleek, smooth, and inventive European-style cabinetry. Based in Villarreal, Spain, Porcelanosa's kitchen cabinets are represented by more than 400 official showrooms, associates, and dealers around the world. With solid surface countertops, tile, building materials, flooring systems, and more, Porcelanosa has become a hugely diversified company with a range of products that complement their lines of kitchen cabinets.

Porcelanosa has 30 showrooms in the United States and Canada. Their products are sold through consultation with affiliated designers and builders.

CliqStudios

CliqStudios cabinets

CliqStudios

With a history of more than 50,000 kitchen projects since 2010, CliqStudios has carved a niche in the low-cost do-it-yourself kitchen design and cabinet space. Cliqstudios' team of kitchen designers develops floor plans, photo-quality renderings, and 3D representations of cabinetry proposals for customers. Also, using their online tools, you can design, plan, and get a quick cost estimate. The company has several lines to choose from—with traditional and contemporary styling—in many hues and finishes, available in hardwood and plywood using dovetail joinery and soft-close hinges.

RTA Cabinet Store

RTA Cabinet kitchen

RTA Cabinet Store 

One way to pare down the high cost of cabinets is to purchase ready-to-assemble (RTA) kitchen cabinets--a category of cabinetry that barely existed before the internet. Shipped flat-packed, RTA cabinets assemble easily with cam-lock and bracket systems.

Established in 2007, founder Gary Nealon's RTA Cabinet Store is now one of the old-timers—and for good reason: They continually hit high marks for customer satisfaction. Also, unlike some RTA cabinet companies that are little more than online intermediaries between suppliers and buyers, RTA Cabinet Store is a full-service cabinet company that stocks all of its cabinets in its Pennsylvania warehouse. This is one of the very best of the RTA cabinet stores for DIYers.

Canyon Creek Cabinet Company

Canyon creek cabinet kitchen

Canyon Creek Cabinet Company

Based in Monroe, Washington, Canyon Creek Cabinet Company's mission is to reconcile affordable with custom cabinet manufacture. Operating since 1981, Canyon Creek creates affordable custom framed and frameless style cabinetry for the kitchen and any room in the house.

Canyon Creek Cabinets are sold through custom cabinet and kitchen design outlets, mostly in the western U.S.

Astrokraft Cabinetry

Astrokraft Cabinetry

Astrokraft Cabinetry

With a name like Astrokraft, this cabinet company might sound prototypically mid-century modern, and it is. Since 1954, this Jasper, Indiana company has been quietly and faithfully supplying American kitchens with cabinets. Astrokraft is not about pushing stylistic boundaries. Rather, this company supplies solid and basic kitchen cabinets in well-loved door and drawer styles, with both natural wood and laminate finishes.

Astokraft has wide distribution through kitchen and bath stores, flooring stores, and independent home centers throughout the U.S.

Best Kitchen Cabinet Makers and Retailers

The Spruce / Design by Amelia Manley

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