If you are looking for cabinets for your home, you’ve probably heard people talk about these terms, “Stock”, “Semi-Custom” and “Custom” cabinetry.  Although they are common terms in the cabinet industry, many do not understand the difference between them.  Many think they understand the difference, but are confused by what the different manufacturers try to say the definition is.

We’ll explain them for you clearly here so you can go into your new home or remodel with a true understanding and ability to get what you really want.

Stock Cabinets

This term has become almost an undesirable term in the industry.  This is because the term connotes cabinets that come in very limited sizes, with limited options (or possibly no options). The term “stock” comes from the days when cabinet dealers used to “stock” a warehouse full of cabinets, and they would be a very limited number of skus, colors, and styles with no optional features.  They did this so they could quickly deliver cabinets because they already had them in the warehouse.

Stock cabinets are what you would typically call “cookie cutter” cabinets, where the focus is to build a lot of cabinets the simplest way possible without much flexibility.

Semi-Custom Cabinets

With the increase in demand for more options and features in cabinets, manufacturers of “stock” cabinets began standardizing options and features they wanted to offer for their cabinets to make their line more complete for consumer’s demands.  This could be a range of dimensional modifications, like reducing the depth of a base cabinet, or increasing the depth of a wall cabinet. It could also be options to increase the quality of the cabinet, like making it plywood instead of particleboard.

These options are limited to the set of options that the manufacturer is able to build into their manufacturing process. So although there ARE increased options and features compared to stock cabinets, they are still limited to the number of options the manufacturer chooses to offer.

Custom Cabinets

“Custom” cabinets are best known by consumers to be the “if you need it we can build it” philosophy. Custom cabinet manufacturers typically are setup to make anything you need, even if it’s something a consumer dreams up out of nowhere.  These types of requests are rarely, if ever possible with Semi-Custom and Stock cabinet manufacturers.

Even without unusual requests from consumers, custom manufacturers have a broad range of options and features that are built into their manufacturing process.  These manufacturers offer a vast array of things that can be done to make a cabinet special, well beyond what Semi-Custom manufacturers will ever attempt to do.

Some of these differences are:

• No need to use unsightly “fillers” to fill the space – Custom Manufacturers build the cabinets to fit perfectly
• Full plywood standard construction at ¾” compared to common ½” particleboard at many Semi-Custom manufacturers
• Local manufacturing, delivery and support which simplifies and speeds up the entire process
• Custom manufacturers are price competitive with Semi-Custom manufacturers, making it compelling to look at the greater quality, options and flexibility offered by Custom

The following graphic represents the general placement of a few key cabinet parameters and how each type of manufacturer compares. 

Brakur Custom Cabinetry is a Custom manufacturer that offers consumers the ability to get exactly what they want with their new kitchen or bathroom.  We use only the best quality products and process when manufacturing our cabinets, and are second to none in the Chicagoland area.

To begin the process of learning what we can do for you, contact one of our cabinet experts here.