Cabinet Cost Calculator

A 24-linear-ft kitchen — HomeAdvisor's average — prices out around $7,092 in stock grade, $11,748 in semi-custom, and $22,224 in custom, professionally installed with mid-range hardware, soft-close glides, crown and haul-away of the old boxes. HomeGuide's published replacement range for a stock or semi-custom kitchen is $4,500–$15,000, and $15,000–$30,000 for custom.

Refacing the same kitchen runs about $8,748 versus $11,748 for new semi-custom — roughly a quarter off — and the kitchen stays usable the whole time. It only makes sense when the existing boxes are square, dry and solid plywood or furniture board you actually like, and the layout stays put. Water-swollen or sagging boxes have to go.

Yes on price: self-assembled RTA boxes land near $6,444 for this kitchen — about half the installed semi-custom number — because you absorb the assembly labor on boxes that already ship at a discount. Quality is all over the map, so buy on specs: plywood sides, dovetail drawers, blended-hardwood doors and full-extension soft-close glides, not just the per-linear-foot sticker.

One linear foot is a foot of run combining base cabinets below with wall cabinets above, measured along the wall — so a 10-ft run of base plus a 10-ft run of wall counts as 10 linear ft, not 20. Suppliers quote per-linear-foot rates on that combined run; an average kitchen is about 24 linear ft including an island if you have one.

HomeAdvisor pegs hanging labor at $50–$450 per linear foot because installers level every box against out-of-plumb walls, scribe fillers, shim, and align doors and drawers so reveals are even — slow, unforgiving work that shows forever if rushed. Labor is about 40% of this model's installed price; HomeGuide puts all-in labor at 60%–80% once demo and haul-away are counted.

A like-for-like cabinet swap needs no permit anywhere in the US — same boxes, same sink location, nothing electrical touched. Pull one once the scope moves the sink or a gas range, adds circuits or lighting, or removes a wall; the one that surprises DIY installers is that anything hardwired — a disguised refrigerator, above-cabinet lighting — or any relocated receptacle inside the new run counts as electrical work of its own. HomeGuide pegs kitchen-remodel permits at $500–$1,500, and your contractor usually pulls it for you.

Countertops, sink, appliances, backsplash, lighting, floor repair, moving plumbing or electrical, and drywall patching behind removed cabinets (HomeAdvisor prices that patching at $300–$900). Designer pulls can exceed this model's $30/piece top tier — high-end hardware runs up to $200 a piece installed.

Delivery is the long pole: stock cabinets typically arrive in 1–2 weeks, semi-custom in 4–8, and custom in 8–12 or more — the whole project queues behind that order, so get the lead time in writing before demo day. Once boxes are on site, a two-person crew usually hangs an average kitchen in 2–4 days: base boxes first, then wall boxes, then a full pass leveling doors and aligning reveals. The sequence matters downstream — countertop templating happens only after the cabinets are set and leveled, so cabinets and counters run back-to-back, not in parallel. Refacing runs 2–4 days with no countertop or appliance disconnection at all.