Types and materials

Stock Cabinets

Ready-made cabinets in standard sizes: where they work and where they do not.

Published: August 6, 2026

What Stock Cabinets Are

Stock cabinets are built in advance in standard widths, usually in three-inch steps, and in a limited range of door styles and finishes. They are sold by home centers and dealers, either in stock or with short lead times, and come assembled or ready to assemble.

Where They Work

Straightforward layouts, tight budgets and schedules, rental and resale properties, laundry rooms, garages and basements. Filler strips take up the gaps that standard sizes leave.

Stock kitchen cabinets work best when the room can use standard sizes without awkward gaps or lost storage. If you need more size or finish choices, compare semi-custom cabinets before moving to a fully custom design.

What to Check

Quality varies widely. Look at box material and thickness, how the drawers are built, and the hinges and slides. A well-made stock cabinet will outlast a poorly made cabinet of any category.

Confirm the delivery condition, fillers and panels required, and who is responsible for installation.

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Semi-Custom Cabinets

Manufactured cabinets with room to adjust sizes, styles and finishes. Semi-custom cabinets are built by a manufacturer after you order, from a catalog of door styles, finishes and box sizes. Unlike stock cabinets, widths, depths and heights can usually be adjusted, and there is a wider range of storage fittings and decorative options. They suit most kitchen remodels: more choice and a better fit than stock, at less cost and usually less time than fully custom work. They are sold through dealers and showrooms, who handle design and ordering.

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Custom Cabinets

Cabinetry designed and built for your home alone: what it is, how the process works, and why it fits any space. Custom cabinets are designed for a specific room and built to order. Nothing is pulled from a warehouse. The cabinetmaker measures the space, draws each cabinet, and builds it to those drawings, usually in a local shop. Because every dimension is open, custom cabinets can fit rooms that standard sizes cannot, and can be made in almost any wood, door style or finish. Because nothing is a standard size, custom cabinetry works where stock cabinets leave gaps: kitchens with odd corners, bathrooms with short walls, mudrooms, laundry rooms, home offices, closets, and the space under a staircase or a sloped ceiling. The same shop can build all of it to match, so the house reads as one design.

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Cabinet Installation

What professional installers do, and what to have ready before they arrive. Installers find the high point of the floor, set a level line, and work from there. Boxes are shimmed, fastened to the wall studs and to each other, and filler strips are scribed to uneven walls. Doors and drawers are adjusted at the end, and hardware is fitted. On a well-run job the difference shows in even gaps and doors that line up across a run. The room should be empty, with rough plumbing and electrical complete and walls repaired. Flooring may go in before or after the cabinets depending on the type; ask your installer which they prefer. Check the delivery against the order before anything is installed.

Types and materialsAugust 25, 2026

Cabinet Materials

Solid wood, plywood, MDF and particleboard, and what each is used for. Cabinet boxes are usually plywood or particleboard. Plywood is lighter, holds screws well and tolerates moisture better. Particleboard, often faced with melamine, is less expensive and stable when kept dry. Either can make a durable cabinet when it is thick enough and well assembled. Solid hardwood such as maple, oak, cherry, hickory or walnut is standard for stained doors and face frames. MDF is common for painted doors because it is smooth and does not expand and contract the way wood does, so paint is less likely to crack at the joints.

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Cabinet Replacement

When to tear out and start over, and what a full replacement involves. Replace cabinets when the layout no longer works, when boxes are water-damaged, sagging or coming apart, or when the existing cabinets were poorly made to begin with. If the boxes are sound and you like the layout, refacing or painting may do the job for less. Removing cabinets usually means removing countertops, and often the backsplash. Plumbing and appliances are disconnected and reconnected. If the new layout moves the sink or range, plumbing, gas and electrical work are added. Flooring may need patching where the old cabinet footprint was different.

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Cabinet Hardware

Knobs, pulls, hinges and drawer slides, and why the parts you cannot see matter most. Decorative hardware is the easiest part of a kitchen to change. Knobs need one hole; pulls need two at a fixed spacing, so replacements have to match the existing holes unless the doors are being refinished. Choose a size in proportion to the door or drawer. Concealed, soft-close hinges are standard on most new cabinets. Drawer slides matter more: full-extension, soft-close slides let a drawer open completely and carry real weight. Ask which brands a cabinet company uses.

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