Before purchasing ready-made cabinets for your kitchen, make a thorough assessment of your replacement needs. Determine your preference for type and style and the quality of the cabinets you desire. Cabinets are heavily used storage spaces that are going to take a lot of abuse so they’ll need to be durable. You’ll pay much more for solid wood cabinets or for high-quality construction details like dovetailed drawers, adjustable hinges, or ball bearing drawer guides. The purchase of new cabinetry is a sizeable investment. To save money, we recommend that you consider Updating Your Cabinetry versus buying new. Rockler has many surprisingly affordable options available to reface, refinish, or paint your existing cabinetry for an all new look. We also have a fine assortment of affordable hinges, knobs and pulls, and other accessories for complimenting your ready-made cabinetry.

Available Material Choices

Sheet Products

Most newly constructed cabinets are made from particleboard or other engineered sheet products such as strawboard or medium density fiberboard (MDF). Surfaces may be covered with high-pressure laminates, melamine, or paint. Particleboard, strawboard, or MDF is more economical but is prone to water damage and structural weakness. When shopping for new cabinetry, make sure that laminates are of sufficient quality that they will remain well adhered to their surfaces. Cheaply constructed cabinets will deteriorate quickly in a kitchen application where there is lots of heat and moisture.

Plywood
Hardwood plywood is often used in the construction of higher quality cabinetry but will require more of an investment. Plywood surfaces are covered with high-pressure laminates, Rigid Thermo Foil (RTF), or wood veneers.

Door frames and drawer fronts are usually matching solid wood. They are more durable than cabinets made from sheet products.

Solid Wood

Cabinets made of solid lumber—hardwoods such as cherry, maple, ash, oak, or elm, are durable and long lasting, but will require a significantly larger out-of-pocket expense.

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