Latest / USA Cabinet Store Remodeling Podcast / RTA Kitchen Cabinets Explained: Types, Sizes, Costs and How to Plan (2026)

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RTA Kitchen Cabinets Explained: Types, Sizes, Costs and How to Plan (2026) · USA Cabinet Store Remodeling Podcast

• 0:04
  Welcome to the USA Cabinet Express podcast. I'm
• 0:09
  Chris, and I'm here with Jessica. Today we're
• 0:12
  talking about RTA kitchen cabinets. What they
• 0:15
  actually are, what they're made of, the standard
• 0:18
  sizes, what a kitchen really costs, and how to
• 0:21
  plan one without the usual headaches. Jessica,
• 0:25
  let's start at the very beginning. What does
• 0:27
  RTA even mean? RTA stands for Ready to Assemble.
• 0:31
  The cabinets ship flat packed with the sides,
• 0:34
  bottom, back, shelves, drawer parts, doors, and
• 0:36
  all the hardware in the box. You or your installer
• 0:39
  put each box together, and then you hang and
• 0:42
  level them exactly like pre -assembled cabinets.
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  You'll also hear them called flat pack, knock
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  down, or KD cabinets. And here's the part people
• 0:51
  miss. RTA describes how the cabinet ships. It
• 0:55
  tells you nothing about quality on its own. So
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  if the name doesn't tell me anything? How do
• 1:00
  I tell a good RTA cabinet from a cheap one? Start
• 1:03
  with the box material. Plywood is what you want
• 1:06
  for the box and shelves. It's thin wood layers
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  glued in alternating directions, so it holds
• 1:11
  screws and hinge plates well and handles kitchen
• 1:14
  humidity. Solid wood shows up in face frames,
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  door frames and drawer sides. MDF is smooth and
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  takes paint well, so it works as a center panel
• 1:24
  in painted doors, but it swells if water gets
• 1:27
  in. and particle board is the cheapest and weakest.
• 1:31
  Once it gets wet, it swells and loses its grip
• 1:33
  on screws, which is a real risk under a sink.
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  One more tip. If a product page says engineered
• 1:40
  wood or wood composite and never says plywood,
• 1:43
  it usually means particle board. Good to know.
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  So what do we actually carry? We keep a plywood
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  RTA shaker line in stock in three colors, shaker
• 1:53
  white, shaker blue, and shaker gray. Let's talk
• 2:17
  about what goes into a kitchen. When I look at
• 2:19
  a quote, it's a long list of cabinet names. Break
• 2:22
  it down for me. Base, wall, and tall. Base cabinets
• 2:28
  sit on the floor and carry the countertop. You've
• 2:31
  got the standard base with a drawer on top and
• 2:34
  doors below. The drawer base, which is usually
• 2:37
  three drawers and the most useful storage in
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  the kitchen, the sink base and corner cabinets
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  like a lazy Susan or a blind corner. Wall cabinets
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  hang above the counter. They're shallower and
• 2:48
  come in a few heights to match your ceiling,
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  and they're the quickest boxes to assemble. then
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  tall cabinets like a pantry or an oven cabinet.
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  A tip there. Tall boxes are awkward to stand
• 3:00
  up once they're built, so a lot of people assemble
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  them upright, right where they'll go. And don't
• 3:05
  forget fillers, end panels, toe kick and crown
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  molding. Those are the pieces people forget to
• 3:11
  order. Okay, sizes. Is there actually a standard?
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  There is, and RTA follows the same standard kitchen
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  cabinet sizes as assembled cabinets. Base cabinets
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  are 34 .5 inches tall, which is 36 with the countertop
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  and 24 inches deep. Wall cabinets are 12 inches
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  deep and come in 30, 36 or 42 inch heights. Widths
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  step up in 3 inch increments. So yes, 27 inches
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  is a standard width, and a 30 inch cabinet really
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  does take 30 inches of wall. Fillers and end
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  panels are extra. 42 -inch wall cabinets are
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  the usual choice if you want your uppers to run
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  up to an 8 -foot ceiling. Now the big one, what
• 3:53
  does an RTA kitchen cost? For a typical 10 by
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  10 kitchen, cabinets only, economy RTA and particle
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  board runs about $1 ,200 to $2 ,500. Plywood
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  RTA is about $2 ,800 to $5 ,000. Stock preassembled
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  is roughly $3 ,500 to $6 ,500. And if you compare
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  the same cabinet line both ways, RTA comes in
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  about $500 less before labor. My advice, compare
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  plywood against plywood and always ask for a
• 4:24
  delivered price. Our RTA cabinets are sold at
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  wholesale prices, and our price match guarantee
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  means if you find a lower price, we'll match
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  or beat it. You mentioned a 10 by 10. What does
• 4:37
  that actually mean, and how should someone plan
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  their own kitchen? A 10 by 10 is just the industry's
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  yardstick for comparing prices. An L -shaped
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  kitchen with 10 feet of cabinets on each of two
• 4:47
  walls. Your real number depends on your walls.
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  To plan, sketch the room and mark the windows,
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  outlets, and plumbing. Measure each wall at three
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  heights because walls are rarely straight and
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  use the smallest number. Measure the ceiling.
• 5:02
  Place the range, refrigerator, and dishwasher
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  first. Then fill the rest with standard widths
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  from the corners out, leaving room for fillers.
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  And in a small kitchen, a full pantry cabinet
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  can be too big, so some owners stack wall cabinets
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  instead to get floor -to -ceiling storage. Should
• 5:18
  people buy RTA online or locally? Buying online
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  is easy, but a whole kitchen ships as dozens
• 5:24
  of heavy cartons, and freight is where a lot
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  of orders go wrong. Shipping charges added late,
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  missing parts, damage that's found after the
• 5:33
  inspection window closes. Flatpak does travel
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  better than built cabinets. One homeowner on
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  Reddit said they're, quote, less likely to be
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  damaged coming flat packed. Buying from a showroom
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  means you see the product first, there's no freight
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  surprise, and a missing part is a quick trip
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  instead of a return shipment. Our shaker cabinets
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  are in stock for same -day pickup, or we schedule
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  delivery with a pre -delivery inspection, a call
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  the day before, and unloading on site. Let's
• 6:02
  say I take them home. Any assembly tips? It takes
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  patience more than skill. Count every carton
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  the day it arrives. Dry fit the panels, then
• 6:11
  glue the joints so the box stays tight for years.
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  Check each box for square by measuring the diagonals.
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  Hang the wall cabinets first, using a temporary
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  ledger board screwed to the studs. Always fasten
• 6:24
  into studs, never drywall alone, and shim the
• 6:27
  base cabinet's level before you join them. And
• 6:30
  contractors are often surprised. One homeowner
• 6:33
  who's remodeled three kitchens wrote that each
• 6:36
  time with RTA, quote, the GC is amazed at the
• 6:40
  quality and baffled at the cost. Can you mix
• 6:43
  RTA with assembled cabinets in the same kitchen?
• 6:46
  Absolutely. Lots of people use RTA for the simple
• 6:49
  base and wall cabinets and buy the fiddly pieces,
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  like corner cabinets and big drawer stacks already
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  assembled. Alongside our RTA shaker line, we
• 6:58
  carry assembled cabinets from Fabuwood. usually
• 7:01
  ready in one to two weeks. And mantra. Those
• 7:05
  cover more colors and door styles, including
• 7:07
  modern flat slab looks like Fabuwood's frameless
• 7:10
  Illum series. And the same base, wall, and tall
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  cabinets work in bathrooms and laundry rooms,
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  too. Let's wrap up. Give me the key takeaways.
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  Three steps. Measure the room carefully. Fill
• 7:22
  the walls with standard base, wall, and tall
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  cabinets. Then... Finish with fillers and trim
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  and order the trim together with the cabinets.
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  Start with a plywood box, check the drawers and
• 7:34
  hardware, and inspect every carton when it arrives.
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  Perfect. If you're planning an RTA kitchen, bring
• 7:40
  your measurements to one of our showrooms in
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  Houston, St. Louis, Chesapeake, Fairfax, or Fredericksburg,
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  and our team will help you plan the layout, including
• 7:49
  fillers and trim. You can also read the full
• 7:52
  guide at usacabinetexpress .com. Thanks for listening
• 7:55
  to the USA Cabinet Express podcast. Thanks everyone.
• 7:59
  Happy planning and we'll see you next time.