If you plan on doing cabinet replacement all by yourself, it’s no surprise you’re asking this question.
Considering it takes an average of 20 minutes to assemble a single unit of a complex cabinet such as the base or Lazy Susan, you’d want to really know whether the cabinets from the stores will come assembled — to save you a lot of time.
So, do kitchen cabinets come assembled?When it comes to assembly, kitchen cabinets are of two types, the Preassembled cabinets and the Ready to assemble cabinets. Preassembled kitchen cabinets have their carcass formed already and come delivered with the hardware installed on them. Ready to install cabinets on the other hand, are delivered in parts and assembled in your home.
What are ready to assemble cabinets?
Ready To Assemble cabinets (RTA) as the name implies are cabinets that have not been assembled in the store but rather will be assembled in your home.
So the cabinets have not been formed into their carcass and everything just exists as an individual part for instance the door, top, side and back panel, the hardware, the screws, toe kicks, legs, etc.
What is a pre-assembled cabinet?
Pre-assembled cabinets are cabinets that have been assembled in the store and all that remains is to fit perfectly into your space.
Most often, there will be some installations that will still happen in your end probably because the item is too fragile to be transported in an assembled state, will shift position when assembled, or simply cannot be pre-installed.
These types of items include: toe kicks, molding, fillers, glass inserts, shelves and doors.
The most important difference between a Pre-assembled kitchen cabinet and a Ready To Assemble kitchen cabinet is that the former is already formed into its carcass right from the store, whereas the latter will be formed into its carcass when it gets to your home. All other onsite installations will come after.
A classical example of your pre-assembled kitchen cabinet is the cabinets you ordered “custom” from a woodworker.
The woodworker comes over to your house, takes measurements in your kitchen and goes back to the shop to create the cabinet to size. Then assemble the cabinet in the store before transporting it to your home for installation.
Do IKEA cabinets come assembled?
IKEA cabinets do not come assembled. All IKEA cabinets both the ones for the kitchen and bathroom, are “ready to assemble”, meaning that they come in parts and will be assembled in your home.
IKEA cabinets come with an assembly instruction card that teaches you how to properly assemble the cabinets yourself.
You can go through these cards and try to assemble the cabinets yourself or, handover the leaf to a professional to do the work for you, for cash, obviously!
Do Home Depot Cabinets Come assembled?
Home Depot does offer cabinets that have been preassembled so the stress of installation is reduced. At the same time also, they offer cabinets that are ready to assemble to carter for those that wish to assemble themselves.
It’s very good to understand that some of these cabinets may not have the hardware displayed (on the product image) with them. So you might have to check carefully with the product description to confirm what comes with the cabinet and what doesn’t.
It’s also important to take note of an important factor called the cabinet assembly time. These days, it’s exaggerated by cabinet manufacturers (in multiples), and it’s basically an indication of how easy a cabinet assembles when compared to the existing competition out there.
You can find cabinet manufacturers claiming their cabinets assemble 1x or even 2x faster than their competition, so if assembly time is something you really care about, you might want to consider this carefully.
Are Ready To Assemble Cabinets Cheaper?
Ready to assemble cabinets are cheaper to purchase than pre-assembled cabinets because the former requires an after delivery assembly which you’re going to have to do yourself or pay someone else to do it for you.
Additionally, for pre-assemble cabinets, the cost of moving the bulk items will be reflected in the shipping fee, whereas with the ready to assemble cabinets, they’re much easier to transport and as such have a much lower shipping fee.
With that said, it’s still important to note that when you’re doing the installation by yourself, you’re going to have to get all the necessary tools and equipment in order for the assembly to be successful.
Some cabinets require special tools and materials like glues or screws for a successful job, and if you don’t have these at hand already, it’ll mean extra cost from your end.
If you end up hiring a third party for the assembly though, or even purchase “a cabinet assembly plus installation service” from the store you bought the cabinet from, then the extra amount saved up on buying “ready to assemble cabinets” will blow out completely.
So really, purchasing a ready to assemble cabinet may be cheaper at first, but when you compare the total cost at the end of assembly, there might not be anything significant to save up on (depending on your situation).
How much does it cost to assemble and install a cabinet?
Cabinet assembly cost is typically tied up with the overall installation cost.
The overall installation cost of a kitchen cabinet depends on several factors which include (but not limited to):
- Kitchen layout which can dictate how easy or difficult installation would be.
- The size of the kitchen will dictate how long the project will take and much labor would be required.
- Number of cabinets.
- Availability of special cabinets.
- Special additions like trims and molding: and the degree of details required etc.
- Location
- Additional renovation to existing structures in order to accommodate the new cabinets (if any).
All of these when factored in, give rise to the price range of $3,500-$25,000 for kitchen cabinet installation.
Is it cheaper to assemble your own cabinets?
It is definitely cheaper if you assemble your own cabinets as well as install it. You’ll get to cut the cost of assembly from the total installation cost which could save you some bucks. (Note though that you must have the necessary assembly tools at hand, otherwise you’ll have to purchase, or rent, or borrow: which i guess is smarter).
Most ready to assemble cabinets actually come with an assembly and installation manual. So all you have to do is follow the manual to assemble and install your cabinets the right way.
For the latter, installation, If you’re not really experienced with it, or get overwhelmed easily, it’s best to call in a professional as cabinet installation is work that requires details and special care.
How long does it take to assemble a cabinet?
A single ready to install cabinet shouldn’t take a professional more than 10 minutes to install. More complex cabinet cabinets like the base cabinets having accessories in them or the Lazy Susan cabinet types can take as much as 30 minutes to fully assemble.
So do the math yourself. Multiply the total number of upper cabinets you have by 10 minutes and that should give you the rough total duration of time it will take you to complete the upper cabinetry.
For the base cabinets, the Lazy Susan cabinets or the more complicated type of cabinets, do a 20 to 30 minutes times the total number of the cabinets to get a rough total estimate of the total time it will take to complete the project.