Buying custom kitchen cabinets online: how the process works, step by step

Can you really buy custom kitchen cabinets online?

Yes. The showroom used to be where custom cabinets were sold because it was where you saw the doors and met the designer. Both of those now travel. Drawings and 3D renderings come by screen, door and finish samples come by mail, and the conversations happen on a call. What does not change is that the cabinets are still drawn for your room and built to order.

Crafted Cabinetry designs every kitchen this way, from a shop in Concord, California, and delivers nationwide. Here is how it works, step by step.

Step 1: the discovery call

About 30 minutes. You talk through the room, what you want from it, your budget and anything fixed: a window that stays, a wall that cannot move, appliances you already own. Photos and rough measurements help a great deal at this stage, even if they are only approximate. At the end of the call you are matched with a dedicated designer.

Step 2: design, from home

This is where buying online stops being a compromise. In the first two weeks your designer produces:

• A layout worked out around your walls, windows and appliances, not around a catalogue of box sizes.
• 3D renderings, so you can see the kitchen before it exists.
• Material boards showing the door, finish and hardware together.
• Physical samples mailed to your home, so you judge color and wood grain in your own light rather than on a screen.

Three rounds of revisions are included. Design is free, and it is done by a designer in-house, not handed off.

Step 3: finalize and lock the price

In weeks three and four the design becomes construction-ready drawings, with every box, door and drawer sized. Openings for the range, fridge and dishwasher are drawn to the actual models, so you choose appliances now rather than at install.

Then you get a fixed-price quote. It covers the cabinets as drawn, and there are no change orders mid-build. For delivery outside California, freight is quoted for your job and included in that same fixed price.

Every dimension is checked by your designer, and the final field measurements are confirmed before anything is cut. Cabinets are built to your sizes in 1/16-inch increments, so the numbers matter.

Step 4: production

About 8 weeks in the shop after the design is approved. Standard on every order: plywood boxes (3/4-inch on frameless; 1/2-inch behind a solid face frame on framed, with 3/4-inch available as an upgrade), full-extension dovetail drawers and soft-close hinges. You get milestone updates along the way rather than silence until delivery.

Step 5: delivery and installation

The cabinets arrive fully assembled, labeled and wrapped, around week 12 from the first call. Nothing is built from flat boxes on site, so the work for your installer is fitting and fixing, not assembly.

In the Bay Area, Crafted installs. Everywhere else, your own installer or contractor fits the cabinets. Support continues through installation, and every kitchen carries a limited lifetime warranty on materials and workmanship.

Is buying custom cabinets online riskier than buying locally?

The risks people worry about are real, and each one has a step in the process that deals with it:

• “I can’t see the doors.” The samples are mailed to you. You see the actual door, finish and wood in your own kitchen before deciding.
• “I can’t picture the layout.” The 3D renderings show it, and three rounds of revisions let you change it.
• “The price will move.” The quote is fixed before production, with no change orders mid-build, and delivery is included in it.
• “It won’t fit.” The designer checks every dimension, and the final field measurements are confirmed before anything is cut.
• “I’ll be assembling boxes for a week.” You won’t. Every cabinet arrives fully assembled.

And the cabinets are backed by a limited lifetime warranty on materials and workmanship, for the original purchaser at the original install site.

What is different about buying factory-direct?

A showroom carries its own costs, and they are part of the price of every kitchen sold through it. Buying direct from the shop that builds the cabinets removes that layer. Crafted’s clients typically save 30 to 50 percent against local showroom and custom quotes, while getting the same studio-grade design, done in-house, at no charge.

It also shortens the line between you and the people building the kitchen. Design is done in-house, by the same company that builds the cabinets, rather than passed through a dealer.

What should you have ready before you start?

• Photos of the room from each corner, plus anything you want to keep.
• Rough measurements of each wall and the ceiling height.
• Your appliance list, even if it is provisional.
• A budget range, so the design starts from what you want to spend rather than working back to it.
• Pictures of kitchens you like, and a note of what you like about each. A designer reads a saved photo faster than a description.
• A contractor or installer lined up, if you are outside the Bay Area, so the room is ready the week the cabinets arrive.

How do I compare online cabinet sellers?

Ask each one the same questions, in writing:

• Are the cabinets built to my measurements, or chosen from fixed sizes?
• Do they arrive assembled, or flat?
• Do I get a designer, renderings and physical samples, and how many revisions?
• Is the price fixed before production, and does it include delivery?
• How long in the shop, and how long from first call to installed?

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

• How long does a custom kitchen take? A week-by-week timeline