Discount Kitchen Cabinets on Long Island

Cheap cabinets come from about five places, and they are not equally good. Two of them are genuinely worth buying from and the rest are how people end up replacing a kitchen twice.

Where discount cabinets come from

• Cancelled and changed orders. A homeowner ordered, then moved, divorced, ran out of money, or changed the design after the cabinets were already built. The boxes are brand new and still boxed, and somebody has to move them. This is the best source there is — full-price product at a discount for reasons that have nothing to do with quality.
• Showroom displays. Real cabinets from real lines, often high end, sold off when a showroom refits or closes. Usually excellent. Check for handling damage and confirm the set is complete, because displays are frequently missing interior parts.
• Overstock and discontinued lines. Fine quality, but you cannot reorder. If a box is damaged in transit or you miscounted, there is no matching replacement. Buy with a margin.
• RTA, ready to assemble. Flat-packed, you or your installer build them. Genuinely cheap and the quality ranges from decent to poor. The hardware is where the cheap ones give themselves away.
• Liquidators and auction lots. Highest risk. Frequently incomplete sets, mixed dye lots, no recourse. If you buy here, buy in person and count everything.

The three things to check before paying

• Is the set complete? Count the boxes against a layout. An incomplete set is the single most common problem with discount cabinets, and a missing 15-inch base in a discontinued line ends the project.
• What are the boxes made of? Plywood is best. Furniture-grade particleboard is fine. Thin particleboard fails under the sink within a few years and takes the counter with it. Open a cabinet and look at the cut edge.
• What hardware is on them? Soft-close hinges and full-extension drawer slides are the difference between a kitchen that feels good and one that does not. This is where cheap cabinets are cheapest, and hinges are the hardest thing to upgrade later.

Also worth confirming

• Same dye lot. Painted and stained doors vary batch to batch. Two sets combined from different runs will not match under kitchen lighting, and you will see it every day.
• Doors and boxes together. Some liquidation lots are boxes only.
• Where the units have been stored. A damp garage or an unheated storage unit swells particleboard and warps doors. Ask.
• Whether anyone will install them. Some contractors will not install cabinets they did not supply, because they inherit the warranty problem. Confirm before you buy.

What we sell, and where it came from

Our installed kitchens run $20,000 to $30,000 — cabinets, quartz counters, an island, a new sink and the plumbing, demo and haul-away, and labor. Not included: backsplash, appliances, flooring, and handles on most sets. The price works for a specific and finite reason: the cabinet sets came from projects that were cancelled after the cabinets had already been ordered, so they are paid for and sitting in our warehouse. When they are gone the price goes back to market.

They are cancelled-order sets — the first and best category on the list above. Brand new, still boxed, complete, and stored indoors. You can come to East Patchogue and look at them before deciding anything. What is available right now.

Two ways to buy: the boxes on their own for cash pickup, or the complete kitchen installed at $20,000 to $30,000 including quartz counters, an island, a new sink and the plumbing.

The trap in buying cabinets alone

Buying cheap boxes is only a saving if the rest of the job is priced. Counters, plumbing, electrical, demolition, disposal and installation are the majority of a kitchen budget, and a set of $3,000 cabinets in a garage is not a kitchen.

Price the whole thing before you buy the boxes. What belongs in a full kitchen quote has the checklist.

Permits

Buying cabinets needs no permit and installing them in the same layout is finish work. It is the plumbing that follows a layout change that needs filing. The line, in plain language.

Towns we do kitchens in

We are based in East Patchogue and most of our kitchen work is in Brookhaven and Islip, but we go where the job is. If you are inside an incorporated village, the village building department governs rather than the town.

• Brookhaven — Patchogue, East Patchogue, Medford, Holbrook, Farmingville, Coram, Selden, Bellport, Shirley, Mastic, Centereach
• Islip — Islip, Bay Shore, West Islip, East Islip, Sayville, Bohemia, Oakdale, Brentwood
• Smithtown — Smithtown, Nesconset, Commack, Kings Park, St James, Hauppauge
• Huntington — Huntington, Northport, Dix Hills, Melville, Greenlawn, Huntington Station
• Babylon — Babylon, West Babylon, North Babylon, Lindenhurst, Copiague, Deer Park
• Brookhaven villages — Port Jefferson, Patchogue village, Bellport and Lake Grove run their own building departments

If your town is not on the list, call anyway — the list is where we work most, not a boundary. Anything from Nassau through the Twin Forks is fair game; we tell you honestly if travel makes a small job uneconomical.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I buy discount kitchen cabinets on Long Island?
The best sources are cancelled or changed orders and showroom display sell-offs, because both are full-quality product discounted for reasons unrelated to the cabinets. Overstock and discontinued lines are fine if you buy with a margin. RTA and liquidation lots carry the most risk.

Are discount kitchen cabinets good quality?
It depends entirely on the source. Cancelled-order and showroom sets are usually the same product sold at full price elsewhere. Check the box material, whether the set is complete, and the hinges and drawer slides before buying anything.

What should I check before buying discount cabinets?
Whether the set is complete against a layout, what the boxes are made of, and what hardware is on them. Also confirm the doors are from the same dye lot, that doors are included with the boxes, and where the units have been stored.

Can I buy just the cabinets and install them myself?
Yes. We sell sets on their own for cash pickup. Bear in mind that counters, plumbing, electrical, demolition and installation make up most of a kitchen budget, so price the whole job before deciding the boxes are the saving.

Do discount cabinets come with a warranty?
It varies by source. Cancelled-order sets from a contractor usually carry the installation warranty if that contractor installs them. Liquidation and auction lots generally carry none at all.

Related Reading

• What $25,000 buys — boxes versus a finished kitchen
• Cheapest way to redo a kitchen — five moves, ranked
• Cabinet lead times — why in-stock exists at all
• Who installs kitchen cabinets — after you have bought them
• Refacing vs replacing — the other cheap route