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Many retailers advertise RTA cabinets with enticing pricing, is it really such a great deal?
For many years I did business with RTA only manufacturers. Their product was a pure import and designed for easy assembly, still in the original overseas box. You could load up a kitchen or 2 on the back of a pickup truck. Then the fun began.
Those cabinets designed for easy assembly often where not of the highest quality and ¼ turn latch system did not make for solid fully square cabinetry. Those of higher quality and assembled with “L” brackets meant you screwed about 100 screws into any single cabinet to get a strong square assembled cabinet. It takes 15-30 minutes per cabinet to properly assembly. Then if you need to deliver the cabinets, you’ll need to re-box and deliver those cabinets adding additional time, tape and fuss to complete the job.
If you’re a DIY (do it yourselfer) perhaps you don’t have to consider that an hour’s labor is worth $30-$60. Ensuring that your cabinets are fully square however, is priceless. Moreover, unless you get help from a professional that ensures that the sizes you purchased will fit in your space correctly, it can require reordering and / or trashing some of those cabinets. Don’t forget that kitchens often need a touch up kit, fillers, toe kicks and moldings to make it a finished job.
Start with the floor. The proper way to install base cabinets in on a finished floor, it needs to be level and solid and totally finished, before you begin. BTW, hanging cabinets is not a trivial pursuit. Besides ensuring that they are secure on the wall you’ll need to make them straight & flush. Ceiling are never perfectly straight and walls not necessarily, either.
Don’t forget to add the cost of freight from your supplier to you. I recently had a request for a few closeout cabinets to be shipped to Alaska; the freight costs far outweighed the savings and ultimately killed the deal. Similarly, I just priced a special-order cabinet, to match an existing kitchen, the FEDEX charges alone were $90/cabinet.
Next on your list is the countertop & sink. In most cases you contract with a countertop supplier to measure, cut & install your countertop, including the sink. With the multitude of countertop products & colors you’ve entered an additional learning experience to make the right decisions.
You can’t ignore the floor either! Make sure your floor is strong, smooth and level.
Finally, you’ll need to source and install a faucet, cabinet handles and appliances.
The Pros and Cons of RTA Cabinets What Every Homeowner Should Know
