Mass produced kitchen cabinets may not rival the craftsmanship of custom made ones, but they do offer consistency.  They undergo stress tolerances during production by highly sophisticated machinery that the small cabinet maker shops are unable to match.

One main advantage of buying stock cabinets, is that you can inspect them before you buy.  Shopping around can help you separate the sheep from the goats, and puts you in a position to judge the quality of the kitchen cabinets.  Kitchen cabinets that have been heavily discounted through lumberyards and some kitchen cabinet wholesalers please proceed with caution.  Be weary of paper thin laminates, photo simulated wood grain, low quality or woods that don’t match.  Check the joinery.  If the work is sloppy and haphazard move on.

The drawers are usually the best indication of the quality of the cabinets.  Check the joinery, quality of inner surfaces and how well the pieces fit.  Slide the draws back and forth a couple of times.  Do they seem to slide effortlessly or are they hard to pull and push.  How far out do the draws extend?

Another crucial thing to check are the kitchen cabinet doors and hinges.  Check any edge banding around the perimeter for workmanship.  Are the hinges adjustable and how far will it allow the doors to open.

Doing on the spot checks of these cabinets before you purchase will save you lots of grief in the future.  Once installed, there is very little you can do at that point.  You’re pretty much stuck with the flawed kitchen cabinets until you decide to change them again or live with them.