How much do custom kitchen cabinets cost?

Custom kitchen cabinets typically cost $500 to $1,500 per linear foot installed, or $15,000 to $45,000 for a full kitchen remodel. A small kitchen (10 to 15 linear feet) with solid hardwood cabinets in maple or white oak runs $12,000 to $25,000. A large kitchen (20 to 25 linear feet) in premium species like walnut or cherry runs $28,000 to $60,000 or more. These prices reflect custom shop work including materials, hardware, finishing, installation, and a standard profit margin of 25 to 35 percent.

How do you price custom kitchen cabinets per linear foot?

To price custom kitchen cabinets per linear foot, calculate your total material cost for the run (lumber, plywood, hardware, finish), divide by total linear feet, add labor hours per foot at your shop rate, add overhead at 15 to 25 percent of labor, then apply a 25 to 35 percent profit margin. A typical mid-range custom cabinet shop lands between $600 and $900 per linear foot for solid hardwood cabinets with full-overlay doors. Break the pricing down by individual cabinet box first, then convert to a per-foot rate for your proposal.

How long does it take to build custom kitchen cabinets?

A single custom kitchen cabinet box (base or wall) takes 6 to 14 shop hours to build from rough lumber, including milling, joinery, assembly, and finishing. A full kitchen with 15 to 20 boxes, doors, and drawer fronts typically takes 120 to 250 shop hours from start to installation. Breaking this down: box construction runs 8 to 12 hours per unit, door and drawer front construction adds 3 to 6 hours per opening, and finishing runs 2 to 4 hours per unit including sanding, priming, and topcoat. Installation adds another 1 to 2 days for a full kitchen.

What wood is best for custom kitchen cabinets?

Hard maple is the industry standard for painted kitchen cabinets because of its smooth, tight grain and excellent paint adhesion. For stained or natural finishes, white oak and cherry are the most popular choices. White oak offers a contemporary look with distinctive ray fleck figure. Cherry develops a warm amber patina over time and suits traditional and transitional styles. Hickory and alder are cost-effective alternatives. Walnut is the premium option for a rich, dark appearance. Avoid softwoods like pine for kitchen cabinets in high-traffic areas as they dent easily.

What is the difference between custom and semi-custom kitchen cabinets?

Custom kitchen cabinets are built to your exact dimensions and specifications by a custom shop or craftsperson. Every box is sized to fit the space, every detail is specified by the customer, and there are no standard sizing constraints. Semi-custom cabinets come from a factory in standard width increments (typically 3-inch steps) with some modification options for door style, finish, and interior fittings. Custom cabinets cost more, take longer to produce, and offer unlimited design flexibility. Semi-custom cabinets are faster and less expensive but cannot fill irregular spaces without filler strips.

How much does a single custom cabinet box cost to build?

A single 24-inch wide base cabinet in solid maple or white oak costs $300 to $700 in materials (including face frame, plywood box sides, drawer box, hardware, and finish) and 8 to 12 labor hours to build. At a $85 per hour shop rate, that puts the production cost at $980 to $1,720 per box before overhead and margin. A 30-inch wall cabinet is smaller and costs less, running $180 to $400 in materials and 5 to 8 labor hours. A tall pantry or utility cabinet (84 inches) costs $500 to $1,000 in materials and 12 to 18 labor hours.

Custom Kitchen Cabinet Cost

Sale price ranges by cabinet type and wood species, how long a full kitchen takes to build, and how to price custom cabinetry for your clients in 2026.

Updated April 2026

Custom Kitchen Cabinet Cost by Type

The table below shows typical material costs and sale prices for individual custom kitchen cabinet boxes and full kitchens. Sale prices include materials, labor at $75 to $95 per hour, overhead at 25 percent, and a 30 percent profit margin.

Cabinet Type	Description	Material Cost	Labor Hours	Sale Price
24-in base cabinet, maple	1 door, 1 drawer	$300 to $500	8 to 12 hours	$950 to $1,600
24-in base cabinet, white oak	1 door, 1 drawer	$380 to $620	8 to 12 hours	$1,100 to $1,900
30-in wall cabinet, maple	2 doors, 2 shelves	$180 to $320	5 to 8 hours	$560 to $1,050
Tall pantry cabinet, maple (84 in)	2 doors, 4 shelves	$520 to $850	12 to 18 hours	$1,500 to $2,800
Full kitchen, 15 LF, maple	~15 boxes, painted	$5,500 to $9,000	130 to 180 hours	$14,000 to $26,000
Full kitchen, 20 LF, white oak	~20 boxes, stained	$9,000 to $15,000	170 to 240 hours	$23,000 to $42,000

Note: These ranges assume face-frame construction with full-overlay doors in solid hardwood. Frameless (European-style) construction runs slightly less per box. Specialty cabinets with pull-outs, lazy Susans, or custom inserts add $100 to $400 per unit. Use the cabinet pricing guide to build a precise cost for your project.

Kitchen Cabinet Cost by Wood Species

Wood species is the largest driver of material cost in custom kitchen cabinetry. The table below shows rough lumber cost per board foot, workability, appearance, and best applications for each species commonly used in kitchen cabinet work.

Species	Cost/bf	Workability	Appearance	Best For	Tier
Hard Maple	$4 to $7	Excellent	Smooth, tight grain	Painted cabinets	Budget
Alder	$4 to $6	Excellent	Uniform, even grain	Stained or painted	Budget
White Oak	$7 to $11	Very good	Ray fleck, distinctive	Natural or stained finish	Mid-range
Cherry	$8 to $13	Very good	Warm amber patina	Traditional, Shaker	Mid-range
Hickory	$5 to $8	Moderate	Bold, varied grain	Rustic, farmhouse	Budget
Walnut	$12 to $18	Good	Rich dark brown	Modern, contemporary	Premium

Hard maple: the painted cabinet standard

Hard maple is the most widely used species for painted kitchen cabinets. Its extremely tight, consistent grain sands to a glass-smooth surface that accepts primer and paint without telegraphing wood texture. Maple is harder than most hardwoods commonly used in cabinetry, making it resistant to denting from daily use. It is the default choice for any kitchen where the client wants painted white, gray, or black cabinets. See hardwood prices per board foot for current maple pricing.

White oak: the most popular stained finish option

White oak has become the dominant species for natural and stained kitchen cabinets over the past five years. Its ray fleck figure, neutral warm tone, and open grain accept wire-brushed and lightly fumed finishes that have become extremely popular in contemporary kitchen design. White oak is priced between maple and walnut, making it accessible for mid-range custom projects. The open grain does require a grain filler before paint, making it a less ideal choice for painted applications than maple.

What Drives Custom Kitchen Cabinet Costs

Wood species and plywood grade

High impact

Switching from maple to walnut on a 20-linear-foot kitchen adds $3,000 to $6,000 in material cost for face frames, doors, and drawer fronts alone. Plywood grade for the cabinet boxes also matters: cabinet-grade hardwood plywood at $70 to $90 per sheet is standard; furniture-grade Baltic birch at $80 to $110 per sheet adds cost but looks better on open shelving and glass-door cabinets.

Door style and construction

High impact

A simple flat-panel (slab) door takes 1 to 2 hours to construct. A five-piece raised-panel door takes 3 to 5 hours and requires shaper or router table work for the profile and cope-and-stick joinery. Inset doors, where the door sits flush inside the face frame opening, require precise fitting and add 30 to 60 minutes per door. Door complexity is one of the highest-impact variables in cabinet labor cost.

Number of drawers and pull-outs

High impact

Drawer boxes add significant labor. Each drawer box takes 1 to 2 hours to build and fit, plus the cost of full-extension soft-close drawer slides ($20 to $60 per drawer). A base cabinet configured with three drawers instead of one door takes 3 to 5 additional hours and $60 to $180 more in hardware. Kitchens with all-drawer base cabinets cost 20 to 35 percent more than the same layout with door-over-drawer configurations.

Kitchen size and linear footage

High impact

Labor scales roughly linearly with the number of cabinet boxes, but setup time (milling all species at once, spraying all doors in a single session) creates some economy of scale on larger kitchens. A 25-linear-foot kitchen does not cost exactly 25 percent more than a 20-linear-foot kitchen. Kitchens with more boxes in the same linear footage (more wall cabinets, corner units, tall cabinets) cost more than open layouts.

Finish type

Medium impact

Sprayed conversion varnish or catalyzed lacquer is the standard for kitchen cabinetry because of its hard, durable surface and stain resistance. An oil-wax finish is beautiful but not appropriate for painted cabinets or high-moisture kitchen environments. Spray finishing requires a spray booth, specialized equipment, and proper ventilation, which drives up shop overhead. Finishing labor runs 2 to 4 hours per cabinet box including sanding, priming, and topcoat.

Hardware selections

Medium impact

Hardware costs vary dramatically based on client preferences. Budget hinges and pulls run $5 to $15 per opening. Mid-range soft-close hinges and bar pulls run $20 to $40 per opening. Premium European hinges, heavy-cast pulls, or integrated touch-latch systems can run $60 to $150 or more per opening. For a 20-linear-foot kitchen with 30 doors and 15 drawers, hardware alone can range from $800 to $5,000 depending on selection.

How to Price Custom Kitchen Cabinets

Kitchen cabinets are one of the largest single-project categories in custom woodworking. Use the steps below to build an accurate cost from a kitchen layout rather than guessing at a per-linear-foot number.

Step 1

Take off quantities by cabinet type

Start with a scaled kitchen layout and list every cabinet box: base cabinets (24-inch depth), wall cabinets (12-inch depth), tall pantry or oven cabinets, and any island or peninsula boxes. Note each cabinet's width, height, and whether it includes a drawer, pull-out shelf, or specialty insert. Count the total number of doors and drawer fronts. This takeoff is the foundation of your materials list and your labor estimate. A full kitchen typically has 15 to 30 individual cabinet boxes.

Step 2

Calculate your material cost per box

For each box, price out: face frame lumber (1x solid hardwood at $4 to $15 per board foot depending on species), plywood for box sides and shelves (3/4-inch cabinet-grade at $60 to $90 per sheet), drawer box material (Baltic birch plywood or solid secondary wood), and door and drawer front lumber (matched to the face frame species). Add hardware: hinges ($8 to $25 per door pair), drawer slides ($20 to $60 per drawer), and pulls or knobs ($5 to $40 each). Sum materials per box, then add a 15 to 20 percent material markup.

Step 3

Estimate labor hours by phase

Break labor into phases: milling and dimensioning all lumber (8 to 15 hours for a full kitchen), face frame construction and fitting (1 to 2 hours per cabinet), box assembly and joinery (3 to 5 hours per cabinet), door and drawer front construction (2 to 4 hours per opening), sanding and finishing (2 to 4 hours per cabinet), and delivery and installation (1 to 2 full days). Multiply total hours by your shop rate ($65 to $120 per hour). Labor is typically 55 to 65 percent of the total project cost for custom cabinetry.

Step 4

Add overhead

Overhead covers fixed shop costs not tied to a specific project: rent, utilities, equipment payments, insurance, and consumables. A standard overhead rate for cabinetry shops is 20 to 30 percent of total labor cost. Cabinet work involves more equipment time (wide-belt sander, panel saw, shaper, spray booth) than furniture work, so overhead rates tend to run on the higher side. If you spray finish in a dedicated booth with ventilation and heating, your overhead rate should reflect that equipment cost.

Step 5

Apply your profit margin and present the quote

Apply a profit margin of 25 to 35 percent on top of your total production cost (materials plus labor plus overhead). Break the final quote into line items by cabinet: each box, doors, drawer fronts, hardware, and installation. Itemized quotes show clients where their money goes and reduce haggling on the total. CraftQuote generates itemized PDF quotes you can share with clients as a professional shareable link or download for review.

Example: White Oak Kitchen, 18 Linear Feet

16 boxes, flat-panel full-overlay doors, sprayed natural finish

White oak face frame lumber (120 bf at $9/bf)$1,080

White oak door and drawer front lumber (80 bf at $9/bf)$720

Cabinet-grade plywood, 20 sheets (box construction)$1,600

Baltic birch drawer box material, 8 sheets$720

Material markup (18%)$740

Hinges, soft-close (32 pairs at $18 each)$576

Drawer slides, soft-close (18 pairs at $35 each)$630

Bar pulls and hardware (48 pieces at $22 each)$1,056

Finish materials (grain filler, stain, catalyzed lacquer)$480

Sandpaper, abrasives, and consumables$220

Total materials$7,822

Labor: milling and dimensioning all lumber (12 hr)$1,020

Labor: face frame construction, 16 frames (24 hr)$2,040

Labor: box assembly and dadoes (48 hr)$4,080

Labor: door and drawer front construction (32 hr)$2,720

Labor: fitting, hanging, and adjustment (14 hr)$1,190

Labor: finishing, 3 coats (36 hr)$3,060

Labor: delivery and installation (16 hr)$1,360

Total labor (182 hr at $85/hr)$15,470

Overhead (25% of labor)$3,868

Subtotal (cost)$27,160

Profit margin (30%)$11,640

Sale price$38,800

Build this quote in CraftQuote

Enter your cabinet count, lumber cost, hardware, and labor hours. CraftQuote calculates your margin and generates a professional, itemized PDF for your client.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How much do custom kitchen cabinets cost?: Custom kitchen cabinets typically cost $500 to $1,500 per linear foot installed, or $15,000 to $45,000 for a full kitchen remodel. A small kitchen (10 to 15 linear feet) with solid hardwood cabinets in maple or white oak runs $12,000 to $25,000. A large kitchen (20 to 25 linear feet) in premium species like walnut or cherry runs $28,000 to $60,000 or more. These prices reflect custom shop work including materials, hardware, finishing, installation, and a standard profit margin of 25 to 35 percent.
How do you price custom kitchen cabinets per linear foot?: To price custom kitchen cabinets per linear foot, calculate your total material cost for the run (lumber, plywood, hardware, finish), divide by total linear feet, add labor hours per foot at your shop rate, add overhead at 15 to 25 percent of labor, then apply a 25 to 35 percent profit margin. A typical mid-range custom cabinet shop lands between $600 and $900 per linear foot for solid hardwood cabinets with full-overlay doors. Break the pricing down by individual cabinet box first, then convert to a per-foot rate for your proposal.
How long does it take to build custom kitchen cabinets?: A single custom kitchen cabinet box (base or wall) takes 6 to 14 shop hours to build from rough lumber, including milling, joinery, assembly, and finishing. A full kitchen with 15 to 20 boxes, doors, and drawer fronts typically takes 120 to 250 shop hours from start to installation. Breaking this down: box construction runs 8 to 12 hours per unit, door and drawer front construction adds 3 to 6 hours per opening, and finishing runs 2 to 4 hours per unit including sanding, priming, and topcoat. Installation adds another 1 to 2 days for a full kitchen.
What wood is best for custom kitchen cabinets?: Hard maple is the industry standard for painted kitchen cabinets because of its smooth, tight grain and excellent paint adhesion. For stained or natural finishes, white oak and cherry are the most popular choices. White oak offers a contemporary look with distinctive ray fleck figure. Cherry develops a warm amber patina over time and suits traditional and transitional styles. Hickory and alder are cost-effective alternatives. Walnut is the premium option for a rich, dark appearance. Avoid softwoods like pine for kitchen cabinets in high-traffic areas as they dent easily.
What is the difference between custom and semi-custom kitchen cabinets?: Custom kitchen cabinets are built to your exact dimensions and specifications by a custom shop or craftsperson. Every box is sized to fit the space, every detail is specified by the customer, and there are no standard sizing constraints. Semi-custom cabinets come from a factory in standard width increments (typically 3-inch steps) with some modification options for door style, finish, and interior fittings. Custom cabinets cost more, take longer to produce, and offer unlimited design flexibility. Semi-custom cabinets are faster and less expensive but cannot fill irregular spaces without filler strips.
How much does a single custom cabinet box cost to build?: A single 24-inch wide base cabinet in solid maple or white oak costs $300 to $700 in materials (including face frame, plywood box sides, drawer box, hardware, and finish) and 8 to 12 labor hours to build. At a $85 per hour shop rate, that puts the production cost at $980 to $1,720 per box before overhead and margin. A 30-inch wall cabinet is smaller and costs less, running $180 to $400 in materials and 5 to 8 labor hours. A tall pantry or utility cabinet (84 inches) costs $500 to $1,000 in materials and 12 to 18 labor hours.

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