Key Facts All Homeowners Should Know Before Buying Kitchen Cabinets

By Author: Jason Delmar
Total Articles: 335
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Tackling our first renovation project, my wife and I discovered some really good ways to save money on kitchen cabinets, while also getting an education in differences between all the products on the market. As most people who are "do-it-yourselfers" we were looking to save money, but not sacrifice quality. We didn't have a huge budget for the kitchen renovation, so we were hoping to squeeze new cabinets, counter tops, and maybe a new refrigerator out of it. What we found not only saved us money, but it also opened our eyes to other methods of saving money on our next house project.

The first thing we learned is that not all kitchen cabinets are created equal. We thought we were in the market for "all wood kitchen cabinets". What we found out was that no kitchen cabinet is made completely from solid wood. There are those custom cabinets out there that might come close, but in this day and age the best cabinet for your dollar and the most complete product is the: solid wood faced kitchen cabinet with plywood sides. Stay far away from particle board kitchen cabinets. These cabinets from stores like IKEA, Home Depot, ...
... and Lowe's might look good, but the life expectancy and quality is very low. A trained big box retail store salesperson will try to tell you differently but particle board cabinets will eventually absorb wood and BREAK DOWN. And one other side note to that ridiculous particle board idea is that if you are trying to re-sell your house; remember that a potential buyer could look to see what the kitchen cabinets are made of. If the buyer is a smart home shopper, you could potentially have a liability on your hands; with the inferior particle board kitchen cabinet. Basically, you might think particle board is the good idea at the time, but later on it will hurt you in many ways, including resale value. So we learned to stay clear of particle board kitchen cabinets and go for solid wood fronted cabinets that contain plywood sides.

We learned about kitchen cabinets from the internet. We discovered that there is a type of cabinet called "RTA kitchen cabinets". This is not a brand name but instead it is an industry term for - READY TO ASSEMBLE cabinets. These RTA kitchen cabinets usually come with solid wood fronts (check a few RTA kitchen cabinet sites) and you will find that the better kitchen cabinets are wood fronts and plywood sides. We quickly learned that plywood sided cabinets are very strong and will do the trick nicely for any style of kitchen. We then compared RTA kitchen cabinet prices online with retail store prices of the same cabinets. We were shocked to see that the online websites charged about 30 to 40% less than any retail store including the Home Depot. We decided to do some more research and found that a few of the bigger RTA kitchen cabinets websites import their own cabinet lines and therefore can easily beat the big box retail stores in quality and price!

Our kitchen cabinet quote from a retail store was $9143.00 the same cabinets from an RTA kitchen cabinet website was $4751.00. We took the obvious savings and from that, we had enough money to buy other big ticket items we wanted for our kitchen, including the fridge, stove, and even a small wine cooler. From all this we learned that going to the big box chain stores was not always a good idea. Instead you can find just as many deals on the internet or even from local stores. Our next house project is the master bath and luckily we also discovered RTA bathroom vanities and other bathroom accessories. Once again we should be able to save some money and put it towards our next luxury
item: the shower spa combo!
Looking for high quality kitchen cabinets Pennsylvania? RTA Cabinet Store, located in King of Prussia, can save you thousands on kitchen cabinets in Pennsylvania. As the direct importer of high quality cabinets, they are able to sell cabinets for 30-40% below retail. Follow the links to find out more...