How Much Do New Kitchen Cabinets Cost?
"Just give me a number" is the first thing most people want when they start pricing new kitchen cabinets, and it's the one thing nobody can honestly hand over without seeing the kitchen. The cost of new kitchen cabinets swings wildly — a few thousand dollars for a small galley kitchen in stock cabinetry, five figures for a custom build with an island. LMO Kitchens LLC sells and installs cabinetry across Alpharetta and the greater metro Atlanta area, and this post walks through what actually moves that number, so you're not guessing in the dark before you call anyone.
No sales pitch here. Just the math behind the quote.
The Three Price Tiers: Stock, Semi-Custom, Custom
Cabinet pricing breaks down into three rough tiers, and most of the confusion homeowners run into comes from comparing quotes across tiers without realizing it.
Stock cabinets come pre-built in standard sizes — typically 3-inch increments — and ship fast, often within a week or two. They're the least expensive option, usually running $100 to $300 per linear foot installed. Fine for a straightforward layout. Less fine if your kitchen has an odd dimension, a bumped-out wall, or anything that doesn't fit a standard box.
Semi-custom cabinets are the real sweet spot for most Alpharetta kitchens. Same base construction as stock, but with more size options, finish choices, and storage accessories — pull-out trays, deeper drawers, that kind of thing. Expect somewhere between $150 and $500 per linear foot, depending on material and features. Most of the jobs we quote land here.
Custom cabinets are built to your exact specs, no standard sizing at all. That's where you get into $500 to $1,200+ per linear foot. Worth it for an unusual layout, a high-end finish package, or cabinetry that has to do something architectural — floating shelves around a vent hood, say. Not worth it if a semi-custom line would've done the job for a third of the price.
What Actually Drives the Number Up or Down
Material is the obvious one — solid wood costs more than MDF, plywood boxes cost more than particleboard. But material alone doesn't explain the spread you'll see between quotes. A few other factors matter just as much:
Kitchen size and layout complexity. More linear feet, obviously, means more cost. But an L-shaped kitchen with a corner cabinet and an island is more expensive per foot than a straight run, because corner solutions and waterfall edges eat labor and material in ways a flat wall doesn't.
Hardware and soft-close features. Full-extension, soft-close drawer slides and hinges add real cost over builder-grade hardware — maybe 10 to 15 percent on a full kitchen. We think it's worth it. Slamming cabinets wear out faster, and the difference is obvious the first week you live with it.
Finish and door style. A flat-panel painted door costs less to produce than a raised-panel stain-grade door with detailed millwork. Thermofoil and laminate sit at the lower end; hand-finished wood sits at the top.
Installation complexity. Removing old cabinets, patching walls, rerouting electrical for under-cabinet lighting — all of that adds labor hours that a cabinet-only quote from a big-box store or online wholesaler won't include. That's often where DIY cabinet purchases get more expensive than people expect, once they're paying someone else to hang what they bought.
Why a Quote From One Place Beats Piecing It Together Yourself
Here's the trap a lot of Alpharetta homeowners fall into: order cabinets online or from a warehouse because the per-box price looks good, then separately hire an installer once the boxes show up. Looks cheaper on paper. Often isn't, once you factor in delivery damage, mismatched trim pieces, and an installer charging extra because the boxes weren't measured against your actual walls.
Buying through a company that sells and installs — which is what we do — folds measurement, ordering, and installation into one process. We measure before anything gets ordered, which catches the issues that turn into expensive change orders later: a wall out of square, an appliance opening a half-inch too tight, outlets that need to move for a new layout. That upfront work costs nothing extra and saves real money down the line.
It also means one point of contact if something's off. No finger-pointing between the manufacturer and the installer about whose fault a quarter-inch gap is.
What to Expect When You Call LMO Kitchens LLC
First conversation is just that — a conversation. What's not working in your current kitchen, rough budget range, whether you're doing a full remodel or cabinets alone. From there we schedule an in-person walkthrough, because photos and a tape measure over the phone only get you so far.
After the walkthrough, you get a real number tied to your actual kitchen — not a per-square-foot estimate pulled from a national average. If the budget doesn't match the vision yet, we'll say so and talk through where to adjust: material tier, hardware package, scope. We'd rather have that conversation up front than hand you a quote that balloons once we're on site.
Once everything's locked in, we handle ordering, delivery, and installation start to finish. Most cabinet-only projects run two to four weeks from order to install, depending on whether the line is stock, semi-custom, or fully custom — custom orders add lead time, sometimes six to eight weeks on top.
New Cabinets vs. Cabinet Repair or Refacing
New cabinets aren't always the right answer, and we'll tell you that even when it costs us the bigger sale. If your existing boxes are structurally sound — no water damage, no sagging shelves, no cabinets pulling away from the wall — and it's really just the doors, hardware, or finish that look dated, cabinet repair can get you most of the visual change for a fraction of a full replacement. Refacing or repair work typically runs well under half the cost of new cabinetry.
On the other hand, if the boxes themselves are failing, you're changing the kitchen layout, or the existing cabinetry just can't hold what you need it to anymore, new cabinets are the honest recommendation. We go through that exact comparison on our cabinet sales page, and we've written more on the broader tradeoff in cabinet refacing vs. replacing if you want the longer version.
Areas We Serve
LMO Kitchens LLC sells and installs kitchen cabinetry for homeowners and businesses across:
- Lawrenceville
- Atlanta
- Duluth
- Buford
- Gwinnett County
- Alpharetta
- Metro Atlanta
Pricing out new cabinets in Alpharetta or a nearby community? Reach out through our contact page and we'll give you a number based on your actual kitchen, not a guess.
Frequently Asked Questions About New Kitchen Cabinet Costs
Q: How much do new kitchen cabinets cost on average? A: It depends heavily on tier and kitchen size, but most full-kitchen projects in the Alpharetta area land somewhere between $8,000 and $25,000 for semi-custom cabinetry, with custom builds running higher. We'll give you an exact figure after an in-person walkthrough — square-footage guesses aren't reliable enough to quote off of.
Q: Is it cheaper to buy cabinets online and hire a separate installer? A: Sometimes on paper, rarely in practice. Once you account for delivery damage risk, measurement mismatches, and an installer charging more to work around boxes that weren't measured for your kitchen, buying and installing through one company often comes out even or ahead — and with a lot less hassle.
Q: Do I need new cabinets, or would repair and refacing work? A: If the boxes are structurally sound, repair or refacing is usually the smarter financial move. We'll give you an honest read during the walkthrough rather than steering you toward whichever option costs more.
Ready to Price Out New Kitchen Cabinets?
Give us a call or send us a message — we'll set up a walkthrough and get you a real number, not a ballpark.
📞 Call us at (678) 672-3746 or schedule online.
Helpful Resources
For homeowners researching cabinet costs and materials, these sources offer useful background:
- NKBA Kitchen Planning Guidelines — Industry standards on layout and storage that influence how much cabinetry a kitchen actually needs.
- EPA Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Products — Relevant background if you're comparing MDF or particleboard cabinet construction against solid wood.
About LMO Kitchens LLC
LMO Kitchens LLC is a locally owned kitchen cabinetry company serving Alpharetta, GA and the surrounding Lawrenceville, Atlanta, Duluth, Buford, Gwinnett County, and Metro Atlanta area. We sell, design, and install cabinetry as one process, so the measurements, materials, and installation all come from the same team.
{/* schema: BlogPosting, LocalBusiness — inject via page component, NOT inline */}
Ready to Get Started?
Contact LMO Kitchens today for a free consultation. Serving Alpharetta, Atlanta, and all of metro Georgia.