What Upgrades Give You the Most Value for Your Money?

When planning your cabinet project, some upgrades deliver excellent value by improving both functionality and appearance—without adding a significant cost. Below are a few of the most worthwhile upgrades we recommend.

Hardwood Dovetail Drawer Boxes

Upgrading to our hardwood dovetail drawer boxes is more affordable than you might think. For a standard 4-inch deep by 20-inch wide drawer box (typically used for top drawers), the upgrade costs just $10 per box. If your project includes 10 of these, the total cost increase is $100.

For deeper drawers, like an 8-inch deep by 20-inch wide box (often used as bottom drawers), the upgrade is $20 each. With four of those, the added cost is $80. Altogether, you could upgrade 14 drawers for just $180.

This is possible because you're already paying for drawer boxes and hardware—this is simply an upgrade in material quality.

Pantry Roll-Outs

Pantry roll-outs are a functional and convenient upgrade. Instead of standard fixed shelves, you can add roll-out boxes for easier access and storage. For example, a pantry with three 20-inch wide roll-outs would cost about $250 to upgrade.

These come with press-to-open drawer guides, allowing you to tap the front of the drawer for it to open automatically—no bending or pulling required.

Press-to-Open Drawer Guides

If you like the press-to-open guides used on the pantry roll-outs, you can upgrade your entire project with them. They cost $15 extra per drawer box, so for 14 drawers, the total upgrade cost would be $210.

This upgrade enhances convenience and creates a clean, modern user experience.

Door Panel Finished Ends

Adding door panels to the exposed sides of your cabinets makes a noticeable visual impact without a large price tag.

Using Armorite doors, paneling two base and two upper cabinets typically adds around $300. Wrapping a 6-foot island (back and both sides) would be approximately $700. For a full panelized kitchen based on this example, the total cost is around $1,000.

Panelized ends give your cabinetry a timeless, high-end appearance.

Solid Wood Framed Doors

Upgrading to solid wood framed doors is another way to elevate your cabinetry. Solid wood doors are lighter, more durable, and stay true to traditional cabinet construction.

The price difference between Armorite and solid wood doors is approximately 60%. For instance, if your Armorite door quote is $2,000, upgrading to solid wood would cost about $1,340 more, bringing the total to $3,340.

Cabinet Accessories

There are countless accessory options to enhance your cabinetry. The most common is a trash pull-out, which can vary in price. We recommend Rev-A-Shelf brand, which we can source through our vendors, or you’re welcome to supply your own.

We can also design cabinets around your specific accessories, such as microwaves, spice racks, built-in ovens, and more. We just ask for a complete list of accessories before we begin building your cabinets to ensure everything fits seamlessly into the design.

Pulls and Knobs

You can also personalize your cabinetry by adding pulls and knobs. We are an authorized distributor of Hardware Resources knobs and pulls. If you would like to see a sample, let us know and we can bring them to the consultation. Prices vary so much on this, it would be hard to give an amount.