RTA (ready to assemble) Cabinets Any experience?

[fidowanttobe]

Many different brands out there. Looking for anyone that has had experience with them. They are our only option at this time as custom built are WAY out of our price range. Thanks.

 

[Jchonline]

Are these going in a home or a garage? What brands have you looked at?

 

[3Ts]

Not RTA, but I've used the cheapest particle board cabinets from Lowes that I could get. We had them in our house for a few years before we built a bigger house, no complaints. I still have some of those in my barn as well and I have one spot on the edge where the laminate needs to be re-glued, otherwise they work fine for me. We replaced the ones in the previous house (turned it into her studio) recently with the more expensive Kitchenaid which have nicer drawer slides and adjustable hinges and shelves.

A caution on custom cabinets: We are not pleased with the custom cabinets we got but the contract was with the house builder and only says that he will provide cabinets. We went and talked with the cabinet builder and gave him drawings and internet pictures of what we wanted. Those were ignored. Dimensions of the cabinets were all wrong, the raised panels were not of the style we specified, and no ability to put in drawer pulls (?!?) but none of that was in writing. I suggest you have the custom cabinet builder actually build you a cabinet that has all the features you want (doors, drawers, trim, hinges, slides, etc) to see what you're going to get.

 

[EddieWalker]

Lowes used to sell RTA cabinets in the store. I think they where called Mills Pride or something like that. It's been over 15 years, so I'm not sure. When I was flipping houses, I used them all the time. Solid wood doors that looked great, metal drawer slides that where very smooth, and a nice finished look. I used them in my house when I built it in 2005 and overall, they have held up pretty good. I had dishwasher leak that caused unrepairable damage, so it's something I've been living with. My plan is to gut the kitchen, convert it into a second master closet, and then move the kitchen to the other end of the house. When I do that, I'll probably go with RTA cabinets again. I just haven't done any research into who to buy from.

 

[2manyrocks]

Surprised you can still buy unassembled cabinets? Or do you mean cabinets that are pre-assembled but come in individual boxes

Home Depot has an in store service where they will take your kitchen measurements and print out a suggested kitchen cabinet layout with their cabinets. I did this one time for a customer and it all installed with no problem according to plan. It helps if the kitchen floor is level, the walls are square and plumb, and the location of studs has been marked.

I suspect few kitchens will have dimensions that perfectly measure out to factory cabinet sizes without some spacer pieces.

Besides box stores, you might look for a cabinet manufacturer in your area that builds cabinets for spec houses that will sell direct to you. Their cabinets are stock catalog items so you know what you're getting. Usually, there area also countertop makers who will cut your countertops to size.

One thing I suggest you put on your list is a silicone undersink drain mat similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/Under-Sink-Silicone-Waterproof-Bathroom/dp/B09Z1K9C67/ref=sr_1_10?crid=32GC1BBLDQERF&keywords=under+sink+drain+mat&qid=1664029488&sprefix=undersink+drain+mat,aps,106&sr=8-10

 

[Oaktree]

Never knew there was such a thing, though in the past I've bought unfinished furniture/cabinetry.

When we re-did our kitchen & bathroom, I built all the new cabinetry myself. Solid wood, no particle board. One of the challenges was that this house was built in the 1830s, and "level" and "square" were concepts the builder was not familiar with. Therefore, everything had to be built crooked in order to look square when installed.
I'm far from a cabinet maker, but it came out pretty good if I do say so myself.

 

[Have tractor did travel]

I owned company for 30 years that provided materials to cabinet makers to build custom cabinets. Like you, did not want to pay the price for custom cabinets. Ordered from linked below, our entire kitchen, and recommend to you.

Dallas/Fort Worth kitchen cabinets - Nelson Cabinetry

nelsonkb.com

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Many different brands out there. Looking for anyone that has had experience with them. They are our only option at this time as custom built are WAY out of our price range. Thanks.

I've installed hundreds. Get the ones with wood on the face. Not completely particle board.

 

[jyoutz]

I have installed some of the Home Depot cabinets with oak facing and doors. They are fine. But the problem is finding the correct size combination of units to fit your kitchen layout.

 

[t1kilo]

Rtastore dot com

They have what you’re looking for, but we used their preassembled cabinets for our barn apartment which we lived in for two years while we built our house. Prices were reasonable and they typically run sales. I seem to recall that we got free shipping too. Good quality and nice features like soft close hinges and drawer slides.

 

[KWentling]

barkercabinets.com

We used Barker RTA cabinets in our kitchen and master bathroom. Widths in 1/4" increments. Plywood boxes. Dovetail drawers. Blum hardware. Very pleased with them.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I have installed some of the Home Depot cabinets with oak facing and doors. They are fine. But the problem is finding the correct size combination of units to fit your kitchen layout.

That's why you buy some wood to add onto sides of fronts to adjust to fit area. I have put them in many kitchens and have never had a problem.

 

[Hay Dude]

Many different brands out there. Looking for anyone that has had experience with them. They are our only option at this time as custom built are WAY out of our price range. Thanks.

When my wife and I were first married (late 90’s), we had little money and bought our first home. Friends of mine who owned a lumber company offered me ready to assemble cabinets for dirt cheap. I mean it was like 25 cabinets for about $2500. I am a carpenter, so it wasn’t too bad, but I thought at the time they would be difficult for an amateur to assemble. That was the only one I did.
I have installed probably 100 kitchens where the cabinets came assembled & finished.

Maybe they have become easier to assemble.

 

[IndyIan]

We did the IKEA ones 15 years ago, and a friend just put them in his $700+k house to save a few 10's of thousands, and they look like an expensive kitchen to me. They were easy to assemble, good adjustable hardware, and we got solid birch doors, which are a touch thin is my only complaint really. The finish, hardware, everything has held up pretty well for 15 years.
They also have a good metal rail system for the upper cabinets which makes them all aligned and easy to hang. Even if you don't use IKEA, they have a good online kitchen design software for you to have a look at your ideas.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

In the cabinet business RTA doesn't mean IKEA-style particle board cabinets that screw together with camlock fittings. There are manufacturers that make cabinets for cabinet shops, who assemble them and install them. They also sell straight to the public. There are lots and lots of these manufacturers. Assembling these cabinets is like doing one third of the work of making your own -- you don't have to cut them or finish them, but you have to clamp and glue them.

I've done two projects with these kinds of cabinets. One was a simple kitchen, nine cabinets, six base and three wall, all stock sizes and colors, it was about $2300. At the other extreme I did a project that was 56 cabinets, a kitchen and three bathrooms, every cabinet was a custom size and a custom finish, that was about $44,000. On both projects for that money I got solid wood faces, plywood cabinets, solid wood drawers with dovetail joints and full extension slides.

Assembly is pretty straightforward. The pieces are precisely cut with dado joints and you glue them together. Hidden sides can be held together with a pneumatic stapler, sides that show need to be clamped until the glue dries.

I don't buy cabinets enough to know how the price compares. What I like about RTA is that they fit much better into my workflow. Cabinets are big and bulky and they're a pain to transport and store. I often work alone and it can take me a while to get them all installed, with RTA it's easier to set them out of the way and assemble them as I'm ready to install them. With a big bath double vanity it's much easier to carry the pieces up into the bathroom and assemble it there than to get the assembled cabinet up the stairs by myself.

 

[LouNY]

I used this outfit for a couple of base units to make an Island for our kitchen.
They assembled quite well there was no gluing required screws only.
They seem to be decent cabinets. I got a full kitchen of custom cabinets which is in the
process of getting installed at this time.
The quality of the RTA and the Custom are comparable the customs are a touch better built.
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