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Kitchen Cabinet Cost Calculator
Cabinets are the largest line in almost every kitchen budget. This calculator prices all three routes — repaint, reface and replace — by the linear foot, so you can see what the same kitchen costs three different ways.
Why your estimate is what it is
What drives cabinet installation costs in Encinitas
Cabinet pricing sounds simple and is not. The same 22-foot kitchen can carry $1,500 of paint or $25,000 of custom cabinetry, and everything in between is a legitimate answer depending on what the existing boxes are like and how long you plan to stay.
Near the Encinitas coastline one detail deserves more attention than it usually gets: box material. Particleboard and MDF are perfectly serviceable in a dry inland kitchen and behave badly when humidity or a slow leak reaches them. Plywood boxes cost roughly 10–15% more and are the upgrade most worth its money west of the 5.
Which route you take
Repainting sound boxes runs about $70 a linear foot. Refacing runs $150–$450. New stock, semi-custom and custom run roughly $150–$300, $300–$650 and $700–$1,200 per linear foot installed in California.
Box construction
Particleboard is the default on stock lines. Plywood boxes add roughly 10–15%. All-plywood construction with solid hardwood doors and face frames adds 20–25%. Coastal humidity makes this a functional decision, not a cosmetic one.
Door style and finish
A painted shaker or flat slab is the baseline. Stained hardwood adds around 8%. Two-tone schemes, specialty colours and textured laminates add up to 15%, because they need separate production runs.
Interior fittings
Soft-close hardware, pull-out shelves, a blind-corner solution, a concealed trash pull-out and a pantry system. Individually small; together they routinely add several thousand dollars and are what makes a kitchen actually work.
Island cabinetry
Island boxes cost more than perimeter boxes because the back and both ends are visible and have to be finished, and because islands attract specialty inserts.
Removal and site conditions
Old cabinets have to come out and go somewhere. And almost no wall in a house built before 1990 is straight — the scribing and filler work that makes a factory box look built-in is real labor.
What could push your price higher
- Discovering the existing boxes are not sound enough to reface or repaint, which turns a $7,000 job into a $20,000 one.
- Walls badly out of plumb, requiring extensive scribing, filler strips and custom-cut end panels.
- Specialty finishes and two-tone schemes, which need separate production runs and often longer lead times.
- Panel-ready appliances, which need matching panels made and fitted precisely.
- Rush orders and mid-order changes. Once a custom cabinet order is released to the shop, changes are expensive.
- To-the-ceiling uppers, which add material, crown work and a lot of ladder time.
What could bring it down
- Refacing rather than replacing, when the boxes are square, solid and the layout already works.
- Choosing semi-custom over custom. Modified stock sizes cover most real kitchens at roughly half the price of a bespoke shop build.
- Keeping the existing layout so no boxes need to be custom-width.
- Standard 30–36 inch uppers instead of running to the ceiling.
- Buying hardware yourself. Pulls at $12 versus $38 apiece adds up fast across forty pieces.
- Ordering early. Rush charges and schedule overruns on a cabinet order are entirely avoidable.
Turn the estimate into a real number
The calculator works from published 2026 cost data for San Diego County. It cannot see your walls, whether the boxes are sound, or how far out of plumb the room is — and those are exactly the things that decide a real price. We will come out, measure, and give you a written scope with no pressure attached.
Book your free consultationFrequently asked questions
How much do kitchen cabinets cost per linear foot?
In California, roughly $150–$300 per linear foot for stock, $300–$650 for semi-custom and $700–$1,200 for fully custom, installed. Refacing runs $150–$450 and repainting around $45–$90. A typical Encinitas kitchen has 20 to 25 linear feet.
Is refacing cabinets worth it?
When the boxes are structurally sound and the layout already works, yes — refacing costs roughly 40–50% of replacement and delivers most of the visual change, because everything you actually see is new. It is the wrong answer if you want to change the layout, add storage, or if the boxes are water-damaged or sagging.
Should I get plywood cabinet boxes near the coast?
It is the upgrade we would prioritise for homes west of the 5. Plywood tolerates humidity and the occasional leak far better than particleboard, which swells and does not recover. The premium is roughly 10–15%.
How long do kitchen cabinets last?
Well-built cabinets with plywood boxes and solid doors commonly last 25 to 50 years — often longer than the homeowner's taste in door styles. Particleboard boxes in a humid kitchen may show swelling at the toe kick and around the sink well before that.
What are cabinet lead times?
Roughly 6 to 8 weeks for stock, 8 to 12 for semi-custom and 12 to 20 for fully custom. Order early: the cabinet delivery date sets the whole construction schedule, and a late cabinet order idles every trade behind it.
Does this include installation?
Yes. Every per-linear-foot figure in this calculator is installed cost — cabinets, delivery and fitting. Countertops are priced separately; use our countertop calculator for those.
Related calculators
Planning the whole project? Start at the Encinitas kitchen cost calculator hub, or read more about our Cabinet Installation service.