Kitchen Cabinets & Custom Cabinet Makers in Asheville

Showroom or custom shop

This is the decision that shapes everything else, and most people don’t know they’re making it.

A showroom carries cabinet lines from manufacturers. The designer measures your kitchen, draws it with the line’s standard box sizes and fillers, prices it, and orders it. Most showrooms carry several lines at different price points, which is the real advantage. You can see the same kitchen priced two ways.

A custom shop builds the cabinets itself. Every box is sized to your room, and the shop can match a trim profile, build around a chimney, or make a piece of furniture that happens to hold dishes. Expect it to cost more and take longer. In some rooms it’s the only thing that fits.

Stock, semi-custom, custom

Showrooms use these three words constantly, and they mean something specific.

• Stock cabinets come in set sizes, usually in 3-inch steps, with a short list of finishes. They’re the fastest and least expensive option. Fillers close the gaps.
• Semi-custom cabinets start from standard boxes but let you change depth, height and width within limits, with a much longer list of finishes and interior options. Most kitchens in this area land here.
• Custom cabinets are built to the inch, in any material and finish. They come from a custom shop or from a manufacturer’s custom line.

The word doesn’t tell you how well a cabinet is built. A stock line can be sturdy and a custom one can be flimsy. The Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association runs an independent cabinet certification program that tests things like shelf load, drawer cycles and finish durability. If you’re comparing two lines you can’t tell apart, asking whether either one is KCMA-certified is a fair tiebreaker.

What the process looks like

Most showroom projects follow the same order, and knowing it ahead of time keeps you from paying for changes.

1. Visit and measure. A first meeting at the showroom, then a site measure. Bring photos and rough dimensions to the first visit, along with the appliances you plan to keep.
2. Drawings. The designer draws the kitchen and prices it. One or two rounds of revisions are normal. Use them.
3. Sign-off. You approve final drawings and place the order. This is the line that matters, because changes after it cost money and time.
4. Lead time. The cabinets are built. This is the 2-week-to-4-month part, depending on the line.
5. Delivery and install. Then countertops are templated on the installed cabinets, which is why counters come after cabinets and not alongside them.

Ask about the inside, not just the doors

People spend weeks on door styles and minutes on the parts they’ll touch every day for twenty years. Before you choose between two quotes, open the drawers in the showroom.

• Drawer boxes. Solid wood with dovetail joints, or particleboard stapled together? This is one of the clearest quality differences between lines.
• Slides and hinges. Soft-close is standard now. Full-extension drawers that open all the way out are worth asking for.
• Box material. Plywood or particleboard. Plywood holds screws better and survives a slow leak under the sink better.
• Finish. Painted cabinets show chips at the edges over time. Ask what the touch-up process is.

Older homes and mountain homes

A lot of houses around Asheville were not built square, and some never were. Craftsman-era homes in Montford and West Asheville, farmhouses in Leicester and Fairview, and mountain homes built around a view all tend to have walls that lean, floors that slope, and corners that aren’t 90 degrees.

None of that rules out showroom cabinets. A good designer measures carefully and plans scribe strips and fillers to close the gaps. It’s worth asking how they handle an out-of-square wall before you sign, though. If the answer is vague, or the room has a stone chimney, a curved wall or a sloped ceiling over the cabinets, talk to one of the custom shops as well.

The companies on this page

CDI Cabinets (Fletcher). Showroom on Mills Gap Road carrying about ten cabinet lines, from budget-friendly stock to fully custom, including Crystal, Showplace, Wellborn and Shiloh. CDI’s own designers draw the kitchen and its own crews install it, and it works with homeowners, builders and designers. Weekdays.

Packard Cabinetry (Hendersonville). Kitchen and bath design firm on South King Street since 2010, led by John and Rae Packard. Rae is a Certified Kitchen Designer. High-end lines including Rutt, William Ohs and Draper DBS, with countertops and appliance selection handled in the same design.

LUXE Kitchen & Bath Design (Waynesville). Showroom on South Main Street that started as a cabinet dealer and grew into full design-build. 3D cabinet layouts before demolition, and countertops and finishes chosen in the showroom. A good fit if the cabinets are part of a larger kitchen or bath remodel.

Blue Ridge Cabinet Connection (Mills River). Family-owned, designing and installing custom kitchen and bath cabinetry, with closet systems through its sister company Neat Nest Closets. Saturdays by appointment.

Asheville Cabinets (Arden). A family-owned cabinet design studio on Walden Drive, by appointment only. Free consultations and 3D design.

Affordable Cabinets of Asheville (Arden). All-wood cabinets and vanities with soft-close doors and drawers as standard, delivered to your home or job site. Pitched squarely at price, with design and installation available.

Asheville Cabinetry and Millwork (Weaverville). A small custom shop run by Les Dunne, who trained as a cabinetmaker in Ireland and has more than 30 years at the bench. Kitchens, pantries, built-ins, mantels, bars, vanities, and doors and stair parts. The one to call when the room needs something built from scratch.

The Cabinet Design Studio at Forest Millwork (Asheville). A custom woodworking and millwork shop with about 35 years in the area, doing residential kitchens and commercial built-ins.

How companies get listed here

Every business on this page is independent and based in Western North Carolina. We generally leave out national chains and big-box stores. That’s not because they can’t sell you a kitchen. There are already plenty of places to find them.

Listings are free. Businesses can claim a listing to keep hours, services and contact details current, and a small number have a featured slot, which moves them up the page and is labeled where it appears. Nothing else about the order is for sale. We don’t sell your contact information and we don’t charge these companies per lead.

If the cabinets are part of a bigger project, remodeling contractors handle the plumbing, electrical and walls around them. New counters go through the countertop contractors. For furniture-grade pieces, built-ins or a one-off vanity, the woodworkers page lists more custom shops.

Frequently asked questions

• Should I buy cabinets from a showroom or a custom cabinet maker?

  It depends on the room more than the budget. A showroom sells lines built by cabinet manufacturers, and a good designer can fit most kitchens with stock and semi-custom sizes, often for less money and in less time. A custom shop builds every box to your measurements, which matters in older houses where walls are out of square, around stone chimneys, and in rooms with angled walls. If you're unsure, start at a showroom. A designer there will tell you quickly if the room needs a shop.

• How long do new kitchen cabinets take?

  Anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months, depending on the line. CDI Cabinets in Fletcher quotes 2 weeks for some lines and up to 4 months for fully custom cabinetry, which is a fair picture of the range. Lead time starts when you sign off on the final drawings, not at the first visit, so the design phase adds time on top. If you have a move-in date or a holiday in mind, say so at the first meeting so the designer can steer you toward lines that will make it.

• How much do kitchen cabinets cost in Asheville?

  The honest answer is a range wide enough to be useless until someone measures the room. What moves the number is the cabinet line (stock, semi-custom or custom), the box material, the door style and finish, and how many specialty pieces you add, like pull-outs, drawer organizers and tall pantry units. The quickest way to a real figure is to bring rough room measurements and a photo to a showroom and ask for pricing on the same layout in two different lines. Seeing that spread tells you more than any per-foot estimate.

• Does the cabinet company install the cabinets too?

  Most of the showrooms on this page do. CDI Cabinets, LUXE, Blue Ridge Cabinet Connection and Packard Cabinetry all design and install, so one company is responsible from the first measurement to the last door adjustment. Ask about it either way. When cabinets are sold and installed by different companies, a gap at the wall or a door that won't line up can turn into a debate about whose problem it is.

• Can I just replace the cabinets without a full kitchen remodel?

  Yes, and it's common. Keeping the same layout, with the sink, range and dishwasher in the same spots, keeps plumbing and electrical work small, and that is where a remodel gets expensive. Plan for the countertops either way. Stone tops almost never survive removal, so new cabinets usually means new counters. Several showrooms here coordinate countertops, and the countertop contractors page lists the local fabricators.

• Can a cabinet company match my existing cabinets?

  Sometimes. A showroom can match a door style if the original line is still made, and color can often be matched with custom paint. Matching old stain on aged wood is much harder, since the original has darkened or yellowed over years. A custom shop has the best odds, because it can mill a door profile to match what's already on the wall. Bring a door or a drawer front with you if you can take one off.