When beginning the process of choosing your new kitchen, you have a few choices to make. RTA cabinets, custom cabinets, or preassembled. You nix the idea for custom cabinets right off, due to the fact that you are a smart consumer and know that you can get the same, if not better, quality RTA cabinets for about 20 to 30% of the price of custom, or even less.
But what about premade and assembled cabinetry that you would find at some of the brick and mortar stores out there? It would seem to be a no-brainer, and much easier for you to work with. Read on to find out what the differences are between RTA cabinets and already assembled cabinets in terms of price, quality and ease of installation.
Preassembled Cabinets
You can find preassembled cabinets at just about any furniture store you go to. The good part is that they are easy; instead of having to take the time to assemble them, it has already been done for you! They are relatively inexpensive as compared to custom cabinets, and oftentimes you can get them pretty quickly, once you place an order. It’s a matter of what the store has in stock, as most stores don’t have the capacity to keep a lot of furniture-size merchandise on hand. They usually order it once they make a sale, and it will often come within a week.
Quality, on the other hand, is an issue. Preassembled cabinets, when made at the factory, tend to use the lowest common denominator when being put together. They are oftentimes put together with dovetailed joints with some glue, or, more rarely, put together with screws. A lot of the things you see in stores use sub-standard cabinet materials as well, including thin plywood and particle board, to help keep costs down. After all, the stores are paying for an entire overhead system of a physical place, employees, etc. These have to be factored into the costs of the cabinets.
RTA Cabinets
RTA Cabinet Store realized something a long time ago. If you keep high standards for your products and are picky about your suppliers, if you have great customer service and keep your overhead costs down, you can offer competitively priced products, as you will be able to source great goods without huge additional fees piled on top.
As the business got bigger, prices came down (instead of increased, as is common with big box stores) due to the increased demand from buyers. More sales mean being able to negotiate a lower price, and passing that on to the customer. Not only that, but being a one-stop kitchen creation shop means lots of cool accessories that all are guaranteed to fit!
Translation? You save money, period, and get a much better product. RTA cabinets are very easy to put together as well, and the joining methods have been designed to last a lifetime … that is, unless you want to take them back apart, in which case it’s very easy to reverse the process.
For Time, Money and Quality, a Clear Winner
RTA cabinets are the clear winner in terms of price and time of delivery (typically less than one week, sometimes one day!), and they definitely hold the crown for quality, provided you get your RTA cabinets from a reputable seller.
Our advice is that before you make the final decision of where to buy your new kitchen cabinets, be sure to download The Consumer’s Guide to Kitchen Cabinets and our free bonus reports, The Kitchen Remodel Survival Guide and Our Top 12 Most Popular Design Ideas. They will give you a much better understanding of all of the ins and outs of today’s cabinetry.
