A kitchen remodel is one of the best investments you can make in your San Diego home. There are few home improvement projects that can add the amount of value to your home that a kitchen remodel can. But a kitchen remodel can also be one of the more complex home improvement projects you can take on. There are so many details and things to consider. One of the first things you should think about is from where you will purchase your kitchen cabinets. You have several options:
Ready-Made Kitchen Cabinets
The least expensive option is to buy ready-made cabinets. These cabinets come in stock sizes and can be purchased through a San Diego big box store like Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Ikea, or a building supply store. With ready-made cabinets, you can get your pieces delivered rather quickly, however your options are somewhat limited. The style you want may not come in the type of wood you’re looking for. Or you may have to compromise on the exact sizes of cabinets you were hoping to install in your kitchen. But if you’re looking for a way to give your kitchen a relatively inexpensive facelift with a quick turnaround time, this is the way to go.
Semi-Custom Kitchen Cabinets
Semi-custom kitchen cabinets are the next step up from ready-made cabinets. You’ll have a lot more options and features available to you, such as pull-out shelves, crown moulding, or cabinet feet, as well as many more finish options. However, your costs and timeline will increase considerably over ready-made cabinets.
Custom Cabinets Ordered Online
If you want custom cabinets, one option is to order them online. There are many websites out there that sell custom kitchen cabinets, and the prices can vary quite considerably from one company to another, so make sure you shop around. Some of the larger online retailers will have things like virtual planning tools on their websites that can give you a good idea of what your kitchen will look like before you place your order.
One of the downsides to ordering custom cabinets online is that you’re doing the measuring yourself. Because of this, you are responsible for the cost of replacing any cabinets that don’t fit because your measurements were off. And with kitchen cabinets, just a slight mismeasurement can throw off the entire layout. Having to re-order a cabinet because of a mismeasurement on your part can put a big dent in your budget and timeline.
With cabinets ordered online, you are also responsible for your own installation, or you can hire someone to install them for you. If you will need to hire an installer, make sure you factor that into the overall cost of your project.
Custom Kitchen Cabinets Made by a San Diego Cabinet Maker
When you think about having custom kitchen cabinets made locally in San Diego, you may think it will be prohibitively expensive. However, this isn’t necessarily the case.
Jerry Lund, the owner of Wine Country Woodworks in Temecula, says
Our prices are often very competitive with the quotes people receive from the big box stores, which surprises a lot of people. When you truly compare apples-to-apples, you may find that custom cabinets built by a local shop are even more affordable than custom or semi-custom cabinets purchased from a large, national chain.”
Lund continues,
You also tend to get better customer service when you work with a small, independent cabinet company. For us, satisfied customers are the lifeblood of our small business, so we make sure we go above and beyond for every customer that trusts us with their project. You also get the exact look you are going for when you work with a custom cabinet builder. We’ve built custom kitchen cabinets based on pictures from Pinterest, as well as from drawings by kitchen designers. We’ve also helped homeowners come up with their own one-of-a-kind designs.”
With custom cabinets, you get exactly what you want when it comes to the style, the wood, the paint or stain, and any custom features you desire. Your budget is your only limitation. Just make sure you go with a company that has been in business for a reasonable amount of time and has a good reputation for quality work and customer service.
Another benefit to using a San Diego cabinet shop is that often, the same people who measured, designed, and built your cabinets will be the ones installing them. Not only will this mean your installation will likely be handled more efficiently (meaning, less time for you to be without a functioning kitchen), it also means that they are responsible to correct any problems that result from a mismeasurement.
