The world of cabinets is generally broken up into two categories: Ready-to-assemble cabinets, or RTA cabinets, and “custom” cabinets, or traditional assembly options.
At Cabinet Corner, we specialize in high-quality RTA cabinets for the bathroom, kitchen and other areas of the home. We also work to inform our clients of the true differences between RTA and custom options, including the distinct possibility that the “custom” option you’re spending lots more money on isn’t really that “custom” at all. Let’s take a look at some basics here.
Defining “Custom Cabinets”
Many businesses advertising their cabinets as “custom” are really offering what we refer to as “semi-custom” options – options that still come from a store or catalog, whether online, in person or even offered by a contractor. Essentially, these are standardized cabinets that are pieced together before they ever reach you to create a fully customized kitchen, rather than just the cabinets themselves.
However, the production of these cabinets is virtually always nearly identical to ours. They’re made in factories and then either shipped whole (risky) or assembled by personnel in the store (also risky) – if you’re lucky, your custom option will be assembled by a professional contractor at least. But they work the same way as RTA cabinets – so why do they cost more?
Genuine Custom Cabinetry
Now, there are still a few vendors out there who truly do offer genuine custom cabinetry. These are products that are hand-crafted with a specific home space in mind, then installed or even manufactured on-site by a master craftsman. These options do indeed bring the highest quality imaginable in terms of cabinetry, but here’s the kicker: They’re exponentially more expensive, often ranging into the tens of thousands of dollars.
Why RTA Often Makes More Sense
Over the years, manufacturing processes for our RTA cabinets have only gotten better and better – in many ways, the gap between these and genuine custom cabinets is not truly that large. And when it comes to the “semi-custom” options we went over earlier, there’s a lot of evidence on the market today that there’s truly no difference in quality. In fact, the simple freedom of assembly offered by our choices often makes them preferable for many customers, who would rather put them together themselves than risk a faulty job done by a teenage Home Depot employee or damage to a pre-assembled model during shipping.
For more on why our RTA cabinets make sense for you, or to shop RTA cabinets today, contact the pros at Cabinet Corner.
