Two cabinet quotes, same price: a local shop or a factory brand?

Why two quotes at the same price can buy very different kitchens

When two cabinet quotes land within a few percent of each other, the total stops telling you anything. What matters is what each number buys. One quote might include painted maple doors, a sprayed finish and thicker boxes. The other might include a longer list of upgrades that are standard on the first. Neither is wrong; they are just not the same kitchen.

A local custom shop and a semi-custom factory brand are built differently as businesses. A factory brand makes cabinets in fixed sizes and offers modifications, with a dealer or designer selling and often arranging installation. A custom shop builds each box for the room, usually with the people who quote it also building it. Both can produce an excellent kitchen. The checklist above is how you find out which one is giving you more for the same money.

How do I compare the quotes line by line?

Ask both for a line-item quote, not just a total, and put the answers side by side. The items that change how a kitchen lasts are mostly the ones you cannot see in a showroom photo.

• Boxes. Material and thickness. Plywood holds screws and resists water better than particle board, and thicker sides are stiffer. A difference like 3/4-inch against 5/8-inch sides is real, but ask what the back and bottom are too. Our guide to cabinet box materials explains what each one does over time.
• Finish. The product name and how it is applied. More on this below, because it is where most of the arguments start.
• Drawers. How the corners are joined and what the sides are made of. Drawers are the part of a kitchen that wears first.
• Hardware. Whether soft-close hinges and full-extension glides are standard or added at extra cost.
• Sizing. Whether boxes are built to your room or chosen from standard widths with filler strips to close the gaps.
• Lead time. When the clock starts, and whether it covers delivery and installation or only manufacturing.
• Installation. Whether it is in the price, and if not, who does it and who you call if a door needs adjusting.
• Warranty. The written terms, and who stands behind them.

Will a small shop be around to honor the warranty?

This is a fair worry, and the main reason people lean towards a factory brand. A large manufacturer is likely to exist in fifteen years. But a manufacturer’s warranty covers the product, not the installation, and claims usually go through the dealer who sold it. So the question for both quotes is the same: who will actually answer the phone?

For a local shop, you can check rather than guess:

• Get the warranty in writing. What it covers, for how long, and what it excludes. A shop that won’t put it on paper has answered the question.
• Ask how long they have been in business, and under what name.
• Look up their license. In California, anyone installing cabinets in your home needs a contractor’s license for all but the smallest jobs. You can look it up for free at cslb.ca.gov, which shows whether it is active, how long it has been held, and any complaints.
• Ask for references with photos of past jobs, ideally kitchens a few years old, so you can see how the finish and drawers have held up.
• Visit the shop. A real shop has machines, finished boxes and a spray area. Seeing where your cabinets will be built tells you more than any brochure.

Do factory finishes really outlast a local shop’s?

Sometimes, and sometimes not. It depends on the coating and how it is applied, not on whether a factory or a local shop does it. A good finish sprayed in a clean booth, in the right number of coats and cured properly, will outlast a poor finish anywhere. A factory has consistency on its side. A good custom shop can match it with the right product and a disciplined process.

Do California rules force local shops to use weaker finishes?

Partly true, and worth understanding. California’s air districts set limits on the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in wood coatings, and those limits do restrict some solvent-heavy finishes for shops working here. What the rules don’t do is leave shops with nothing good to spray. Modern water-based cabinet coatings are engineered specifically for cabinets, and the better ones are tested against the cabinet industry’s own finish standard.

So instead of arguing about which kind of finish is better in general, ask each shop:

• What is the topcoat, by name? A shop that knows its finish will tell you the product and the maker.
• Is it sprayed in the shop or applied on site? Shop-sprayed doors and boxes, cured before delivery, are the standard to look for.
• Does it meet the KCMA test? KCMA is the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association, and its finish test covers heat, moisture, stains and household cleaners.
• How do you touch it up if a door gets chipped in five years?

We wrote up the trade-offs in detail in water-based paint vs conversion varnish, including where conversion varnish is genuinely harder.

Is the longer lead time a problem?

Only if it doesn’t fit your schedule, or if it doesn’t include what you think. A factory lead time is usually counted from when the order is placed and covers manufacturing; shipping, delivery and installation come after. A custom shop’s lead time may start from design approval. Ask both when the clock starts and what date you can expect cabinets installed, and compare those dates rather than the headline numbers.

What answers would we give to this checklist?

Here is how Crafted Cabinetry would fill in the left-hand column, so you can see what a complete answer looks like:

• Boxes: plywood. 3/4-inch on frameless cabinets; 1/2-inch behind a solid face frame on framed, with 3/4-inch available as an upgrade. Every box is cut to your measurements in 1/16-inch increments.
• Finish: painted cabinets get EVO Eclipse by Gemini, a water-based finish sprayed in our Concord shop: primer plus two topcoats, sanded between coats, and cured before delivery.
• Drawers and hardware: full-extension dovetail drawers and soft-close hinges are standard on every order.
• Lead time: about eight weeks in the shop after design approval, and about twelve weeks from first call to installed.
• Delivery: fully assembled, never flat-packed.
• Price: a fixed-price quote, locked before production starts. See the cost guide for how a custom kitchen is priced.
• Warranty: a limited lifetime warranty on materials and workmanship, backed by the shop that built the cabinets.

Want a second quote to compare?

If you are holding two quotes and want a third set of answers, send us your plans or measurements. We will give you a line-item, fixed-price quote from our shop in Concord, and you are welcome to visit and see where your cabinets would be built. You can also call Sean directly on (925) 849-4110.

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

• Water-based paint vs conversion varnish: why we spray water-based on painted cabinets