New Cabinet Installation

Cabinets That Survive a Busy Household

Kitchen cabinets in a family home take more abuse than almost anything else in the house. Drawers get yanked open with a full load of pots, the sink base sees drips and the occasional leak, and the cabinet nearest the garage door becomes a shelf for keys, phones and whatever came out of a backpack. Builder-grade cabinets from the 1990s and 2000s, common across La Costa, Calavera Hills and Rancho Carrillo, were often made from particleboard with stapled drawer boxes and side-mount slides. Twenty or thirty years on, many of them are done.

New cabinet installation is the right move when the boxes themselves have failed or when the layout has no room for the storage your family needs. It is a bigger commitment than refacing, so we start by checking whether you actually need it.

When to Replace Rather Than Reface

Refacing puts new doors and drawer fronts on existing boxes and can add pull-outs inside. It is a good choice when the boxes are square, dry and solid. Replacement is the better choice when:

• The sink or dishwasher base has swollen, delaminated or smells of old water damage.
• Face frames are loose or boxes have racked out of square, so doors never close evenly.
• Shelves bow and drawer bottoms have dropped out.
• The layout has no tall pantry unit, no deep drawers for pots, or no sensible spot for a drop zone.
• You are moving the sink, range or a wall anyway, which disturbs the cabinets regardless.

What Goes Into a Good Cabinet

Box Construction

We recommend plywood boxes for sink bases and any cabinet near water, because plywood holds screws and resists swelling far better than particleboard. Framed cabinets have a face frame around the box opening and suit traditional door styles. Frameless cabinets give slightly more interior access and suit a clean modern look. Inset doors sit flush inside the frame and look beautiful, but they cost more and need precise installation. Full overlay doors cover the frame and are the practical default for most family kitchens.

Drawers and Hardware

Full-extension, soft-close drawer slides let you reach the back of every drawer and stop the slamming. Deep drawers in base cabinets usually beat doors with shelves, because you pull the contents out to you instead of kneeling to dig. Near the coast we lean toward stainless or well-coated hinges and slides, since plain steel corrodes faster in salt air.

Storage Units That Serve the Family

This is where the angle of our work shows up. We plan tall pantry cabinets with roll-out trays, a trash and recycling pull-out near the prep sink, a charging drawer with an outlet, a low drawer kids can reach for their own plates and cups, and, where the floor plan allows, an end-of-run cabinet and bench that becomes the drop zone at the garage entry.

The Installation Sequence

A full cabinet replacement follows a set order. We protect floors and the path to the door, remove the old cabinets and counters, and check walls for plumb and damage. Any plumbing or electrical changes are roughed in and inspected where permits apply. Cabinets are set, leveled and fastened to studs, with base cabinets shimmed level before anything else goes on top. Countertops are templated only after the cabinets are fixed, then fabricated and installed, which is usually the longest wait in the job. Backsplash, hardware, door adjustment and trim finish it.

Cabinet lead time drives the schedule more than labor does. Semi-custom lines commonly take several weeks after ordering, and full custom longer. We order before demolition so your kitchen is not torn apart while you wait for boxes.

Cost

New cabinet installation for a typical Carlsbad kitchen commonly falls between $32,000 and $75,000 including removal, installation and hardware, with the range moving on cabinet line, box material, door style, the number of drawers and specialty pull-outs, and whether counters and plumbing are part of the job. We give you an itemized written estimate after measuring.

Call (442) 904-5798 to have us look at your cabinets.