RTA, or Ready to Assemble cabinets are becoming more popular for homeowners. RTA cabinet dealers will send homeowners flat-packed cabinets so they can assemble them on their own. This means homeowners save money on hiring a contractor to install cabinets and on shipping because there is less volume and weight of the shipment.
When shopping for RTA cabinets, make sure to not only compare prices of cabinets but also compare features. Compare every point of the features. Make sure the cabinet dimensions are that same, along with door styles, box and door construction materials, and drawer slide and hinge mechanisms.
When considering price, consider the whole-kitchen shipping costs, not the per-item shipping costs. Per item, the costs are deceptive. Sometimes shipping per cabinet will cost $350, but once people order above a certain amount the shipping costs go down considerably.
Prices change very rapidly in the RTA world because it is a highly competitive industry. Actual cabinet manufacturers change their prices, which therefore changes dealers’ prices. When gas costs rise, so do the price of the cabinets. There are hundreds of other things that influence the price.
What is more important than the price of cabinets, however, is the dealer. If homeowners like the way a dealer operates, has read many great customer testimonies, and have experienced excellent customer service, then choose that dealer no matter how expensive their cabinet prices are. Some dealers have a price match guarantee to make the order more affordable.
When browsing, homeowners may feel like they are seeing the same cabinet over and over again. This is because dealers recycle popular names, such as Sienna Rope and Hampton. Sometimes the same product code is recycled between dealers as well.
Shaker is another thing homeowners are going to see often when cabinet shopping. Shaker cabinets are simply a generic style that can be a different product between dealers, even if it looks the same. Also look at the dealer’s website. It should have an easy user interface and excellent dealer communication and performance.
To find great RTA cabinets, first determine the complete order. The only way to get a full price on the order is to fill an online cart with the full kitchen or bathroom cabinets. Do this for multiple dealers until you find one with the correct price. Homeowners can start with a brand name RTA store with an easy interface to create a shopping cart. Print that cart out, but don’t order anything. Just use the cart to find better RTA cabinets elsewhere from smaller dealers.
Use the printed cart sheet as a reference guide. Price out the order from other dealers based off this cart. Homeowners may not be able to find the exact items, but there are always cabinet options that are similar to what is needed.
As homeowners are researching, they need to price out shipping costs. This happens when a “cart” is created and people click through enough screens to get to the estimated shipping costs. This is usually the deciding factor to order from a certain dealer.
If the dealer is awesome, despite the prices of their cabinets, try to go for a price match guarantee. After all of this research, homeowners should have a good feel for which dealers are excellent and which are only okay. A higher cost dealer may offer a price match guarantee. Even if they don’t offer it, talk to customer service and see if the price can be met.