You may not know you can save money on Shaker cabinets for your kitchen or bathroom by ordering them directly from the manufacturer. Your local home improvement store or design center does not want you to know this information, because it cuts them out of the picture. But, why should you have to pay higher prices for your cabinets? The reason cabinets cost so much more is because they have passed through several handlers in the supply chain. Each time the cabinets change ownership, each handler places a small mark up on the cost the manufacturer charges.
By the time Shaker kitchen and bathroom cabinets reach your local design center or home improvement store, prices are overly inflated. For instance, for a basic Shaker style in an average-sized kitchen, the costs from these places can easily exceed $10,000. However, by purchasing directly from the manufacturer, your costs average around $2,500 for the same style and size.
The only difference, other than the substantial savings, is that cabinets ordered directly from the manufacturer are shipped ready to assemble, rather than arriving preassembled. One reason the manufacturer ships the cabinets this way is to help keep shipping costs lower. It costs more to ship large and oversized boxes of preassembled cabinets. This means you do have to put the cabinets together yourself, or hire an experienced contractor, if you lack the ability or tools to do it yourself. Even if you are a DIYer, with the additional money you saved, wouldn’t it be nice to hire someone else to do all the work, for a change, while you relaxed?
