Measure the room in linear feet
Cabinetry is priced off linear feet of cabinets, not the square footage of the kitchen. Walk the room with a tape and record wall by wall: the total run of base cabinets, the total run of wall cabinets, and any tall units like pantry or oven cabinets. Ceiling height matters too, since stacked uppers or a soffit change the material count.
Note everything that fights the layout: window and door casings, appliance openings and their widths, where the plumbing and outlets sit, and how square the corners are. A kitchen that is out of square adds filler strips, scribing, and install time. Photograph every wall before you leave, because you will build the estimate from those photos.
Stock, semi-custom, or custom sets the whole cost structure
Before any numbers, pin down which product level the job actually is, because the three work completely differently behind the scenes. Stock cabinets are bought by the box from a catalog, and your cost is mostly product plus install. Semi-custom is a manufacturer's catalog with size and finish options, so freight and lead time join the list. Custom means the boxes come out of a shop, and shop hours dominate the estimate.
- Stock: count boxes by size and type, then add trim and fillers
- Semi-custom: configure each cabinet from the catalog, and price freight and lead time
- Custom: estimate shop hours per linear foot from your own production history
- Any level: doors, drawer fronts, and finish are separate decisions from the boxes
Mixing levels is fine, but price each part at its real source. A semi-custom kitchen with one custom hood cabinet is two different cost structures on one estimate.
Break the estimate into boxes, doors, finish, and hardware
The most common cabinetry underbid is one lump number for cabinets. Separate the components so each carries its real cost. Boxes are the carcasses. Doors and drawer fronts are priced by count and style. Finish is its own line: painted finishes take more prep and shop time than stain, and both take more than a factory finish you buy already applied.
Hardware is where small numbers pile up. Hinges, drawer slides, and pulls are per-piece costs multiplied across every door and drawer, and soft-close hardware costs more than standard. Decorative extras like crown molding, light rail, and finished end panels are linear-foot or per-piece items that belong on the list, not in your head.
| Component | How you size it |
|---|---|
| Boxes | Count or linear feet at supplier or shop cost |
| Doors and drawer fronts | Count by size and style |
| Finish | Paint or stain, priced from your finishing time |
| Hardware | Per-piece counts for hinges, slides, and pulls |
| Trim and fillers | Linear feet of crown, light rail, scribe, and fillers |
| Install labor | Hours per linear foot from your past jobs |
Price install labor from your own history
Install time depends on the site as much as the cabinets. Floors out of level, walls out of plumb, a third-floor walkup, and a customer living in the home all slow the work. Estimate install hours per linear foot from jobs you have actually run, then adjust for what you saw on site.
Your loaded labor cost is wages plus the true cost of employment, and the trip to receive or stage delivery counts as time too. Overhead and profit go on top as your markup, set from your own books. If you have not worked that number out yet, the contractor markup guide walks through the method.
Cabinetry mistakes that eat margin
- Quoting a per-box price that ignores fillers, scribe, and trim
- Letting hardware ride as an allowance instead of a counted list
- Pricing a painted finish the same as stain or a factory finish
- Assuming square corners and level floors without checking
- Forgetting freight, delivery, and the time to receive and stage cabinets
- No line for removing and hauling away the old cabinets
What the estimate should show the customer
The customer-facing estimate reads as plain scope: the cabinet level and layout, what is included for boxes, doors, finish, and hardware, install labor, removal of the old cabinets if included, and the total. State your assumptions about wall and floor condition, note exclusions like countertop templating or plumbing reconnection, and give the price a validity window.
EstimateBook, an iOS and Android app, can draft this on site: describe the kitchen by voice or attach photos of the walls, and it produces itemized line items you can edit for quantities, prices, and markup before sharing a PDF through Messages or Mail. The draft is a starting point; check it against your own measurements and supplier pricing before it goes to the customer.