--- title: "Cabinet Installation: What to Expect | Best Cabinets" url: https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/cabinet-installation description: "Learn what cabinet installers do, how to prepare the room and who handles the work. Know what to ask before scheduling your cabinet installation." lang: en --- Skip to content Service guide # Cabinet Installation What professional installers do, and what to have ready before they arrive. **Published:** March 3, 2026 Image: installer leveling base cabinets (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/__l5e/assets-v1/ed33587b-04de-4060-9771-d99e523e6b6f/kitchen-white.jpg) ## What Installers Do Installers find the high point of the floor, set a level line, and work from there. Boxes are shimmed, fastened to the wall studs and to each other, and filler strips are scribed to uneven walls. Doors and drawers are adjusted at the end, and hardware is fitted. On a well-run job the difference shows in even gaps and doors that line up across a run. ## Before Installation Day The room should be empty, with rough plumbing and electrical complete and walls repaired. Flooring may go in before or after the cabinets depending on the type; ask your installer which they prefer. Check the delivery against the order before anything is installed. ## Who Does the Work Some cabinet companies use their own crews. Others subcontract, or leave installation to your contractor. Ask who is responsible if a cabinet arrives damaged or a measurement is wrong, and whether installation is covered by the warranty. ## What Affects the Cost to Install Custom Cabinets? Installation depends on the number and size of cabinets, wall and floor conditions, access to the room, and the fitting and finishing included in the job. Ask for a written scope that identifies removal (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/cabinet-replacement), delivery, installation, hardware adjustment and touch-ups. If plumbing, electrical work or countertops are involved, confirm who coordinates them and whether they are included. The cabinet plan itself begins with the choices explained in the custom cabinets guide (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/custom-cabinets). ## Find Cabinet Companies Near You Each company in our city rankings lists the services it offers. Browse all states and cities (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/states), or start with Huntsville (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/alabama/huntsville), Nashville (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/tennessee/nashville), Atlanta (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/georgia/atlanta) or Tampa (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/florida/tampa). ## Recommended Guides kitchen with old cabinets removed (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/cabinet-replacement) Service guide March 19, 2026 ### Cabinet Replacement: https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/cabinet-replacement When to tear out and start over, and what a full replacement involves. Replace cabinets when the layout no longer works, when boxes are water-damaged, sagging or coming apart, or when the existing cabinets were poorly made to begin with. If the boxes are sound and you like the layout, refacing or painting may do the job for less. Removing cabinets usually means removing countertops, and often the backsplash. Plumbing and appliances are disconnected and reconnected. If the new layout moves the sink or range, plumbing, gas and electrical work are added. Flooring may need patching where the old cabinet footprint was different. Read more (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/cabinet-replacement) kitchen floor plan and elevations (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/cabinet-design) Service guide June 16, 2026 ### Cabinet Design: https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/cabinet-design How cabinet layouts are planned, and what a good designer will ask you. Design turns a room's measurements into a cabinet plan: which cabinets go where, in what sizes, with what storage inside. A good plan accounts for appliance clearances, door swings, walkways and how the kitchen is actually used. Many cabinet dealers and custom shops include design in their service; independent kitchen designers charge separately. Expect questions about how you cook, what you store, and what frustrates you about the current room. You should receive a floor plan and elevations before ordering. Read more (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/cabinet-design) custom cabinets under construction in a local shop (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/custom-cabinets) Service guide January 8, 2026 ### Custom Cabinets: https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/custom-cabinets Cabinetry designed and built for your home alone: what it is, how the process works, and why it fits any space. Custom cabinets are designed for a specific room and built to order. Nothing is pulled from a warehouse. The cabinetmaker measures the space, draws each cabinet, and builds it to those drawings, usually in a local shop. Because every dimension is open, custom cabinets can fit rooms that standard sizes cannot, and can be made in almost any wood, door style or finish. Because nothing is a standard size, custom cabinetry works where stock cabinets leave gaps: kitchens with odd corners, bathrooms with short walls, mudrooms, laundry rooms, home offices, closets, and the space under a staircase or a sloped ceiling. The same shop can build all of it to match, so the house reads as one design. Read more (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/custom-cabinets) boxed stock cabinets ready to install (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/guides/stock-cabinets) Types and materials August 6, 2026 ### Stock Cabinets: https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/guides/stock-cabinets Ready-made cabinets in standard sizes: where they work and where they do not. Stock cabinets are built in advance in standard widths, usually in three-inch steps, and in a limited range of door styles and finishes. They are sold by home centers and dealers, either in stock or with short lead times, and come assembled or ready to assemble. Straightforward layouts, tight budgets and schedules, rental and resale properties, laundry rooms, garages and basements. Filler strips take up the gaps that standard sizes leave. Read more (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/guides/stock-cabinets) drawer pulls and hinges on a workbench (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/cabinet-hardware) Service guide May 12, 2026 ### Cabinet Hardware: https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/cabinet-hardware Knobs, pulls, hinges and drawer slides, and why the parts you cannot see matter most. Decorative hardware is the easiest part of a kitchen to change. Knobs need one hole; pulls need two at a fixed spacing, so replacements have to match the existing holes unless the doors are being refinished. Choose a size in proportion to the door or drawer. Concealed, soft-close hinges are standard on most new cabinets. Drawer slides matter more: full-extension, soft-close slides let a drawer open completely and carry real weight. Ask which brands a cabinet company uses. Read more (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/cabinet-hardware) kitchen with new base and wall cabinets (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/kitchen-cabinets) Service guide January 27, 2026 ### Kitchen Cabinets: https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/kitchen-cabinets Layouts, storage, construction and finishes for the largest cabinet project in most homes. Kitchen cabinets set the layout of the room, so the first decisions are about where things go: sink, range, refrigerator, and the counter space between them. Storage comes next. Drawers in base cabinets hold more usable space than shelves behind doors, and a tall pantry cabinet often replaces several wall cabinets. Settle appliance models before ordering, because cabinet sizes depend on them. If the layout works and the boxes are solid, refacing or repainting can change the look of a kitchen for less than new cabinets. If the layout is changing, or the boxes are sagging, water-damaged or poorly built, replacement is the better investment. Read more (https://thebestcabinetcompany.com/services/kitchen-cabinets)