We would love to tell you that BluePrint Cabinets is perfect for absolutely everyone.
But that would be complete and utter nonsense.
Every cabinet company has a lane. Ours is providing high-quality plywood cabinetry, attractive styles, practical design options and exceptional value without charging custom cabinetry prices.
For most kitchens, that combination works remarkably well. Occasionally, though, we simply aren’t the right fit. We would rather tell you that honestly than try to jam a square cabinet into a round floor plan.
So let’s make this easy. Here are 10 legitimate reasons NOT to choose BluePrint Cabinets, followed by 10 common concerns we get, that deserve a clear answer. By the end of this post, you should know whether we belong on your shortlist, or whether you should confidently keep looking somewhere else.
10 Legitimate Reasons BluePrint Cabinets Might NOT Be Right for You
1. You want a completely custom colour
We offer a carefully selected collection of popular colours and door styles. What we don’t offer is the ability to walk in with a paint chip called “Whispering Eucalyptus at Sunset” and have every cabinet manufactured to match it.
We hope to offer custom refinishing options down the road. For now, if your cabinets must be one extremely specific colour, a fully custom cabinetmaker may be the better fit.
2. You need completely custom door sizes
Our cabinets are manufactured in standardized sizes. We can use different cabinet sizes, panels, fillers and smart design techniques to make them work beautifully in most rooms, but we don’t manufacture every door to a unique fraction of an inch.
If your plan requires a 17 3/32 inch door, you may need custom cabinetry.
One important caveat: many custom cabinetmakers use standardized sizing too. Research carefully, “custom” doesn’t always mean quite as custom as you might think.
3. You want wildly customized cabinet construction
We can create beautiful, highly functional kitchens… but there are limits.
If you want curved doors, secret compartments and a velvet-lined drawer designed specifically for your collection of antique soup spoons, you are wandering into custom-cabinet territory.
We respect the vision. We just might not be the ones to build it.
4. You want the absolute cheapest kitchen possible
At BluePrint Cabinets we are all about value, not simply achieving the lowest possible number on a piece of paper.
Our cabinets use quality materials, including real plywood boxes and buttery-smooth drawer slides. If your only goal is to find the cheapest cabinets available, regardless of material, construction or lifespan, there are less expensive options.
A cardboard box will also hold your plates. We still don’t recommend renovating your kitchen with Amazon packaging.
5. You specifically want to support a local artisan cabinetmaker
We understand this one completely.
A talented local cabinetmaker can build an entirely bespoke kitchen and tailor nearly every detail to your home. That level of craftsmanship, labour and customization deserves to be supported and priced accordingly.
We aren’t here to take food out of that person’s mouth. But that cabinetmaker generally doesn’t work cheap.
6. Your kitchen is extremely small or unusually shaped
Standard-sized cabinetry can be adapted to an impressive range of spaces. Occasionally, however, a room contains so many strange angles, narrow openings and uneven walls that it begins to fall outside the realm of where we can help.
If every cabinet needs to be custom-sized to capture every last inch, a custom shop may be the better solution.
7. You need your cabinets today
Our cabinetry generally arrives in just two to four weeks, well ahead of many industry timelines.
Still, ordering and delivery take longer than your favourite DoorDash burrito. If you need a complete kitchen before your in-laws arrive tomorrow afternoon, our best professional recommendation is to cancel dinner at home and make a reservation somewhere.
8. You want European-style frameless or traditional inset cabinetry
BluePrint Cabinets specializes in framed, full-overlay cabinetry. We believe this construction provides a premium look with excellent strength and durability.
If you specifically want European-style frameless cabinetry or true inset doors and drawers, those are fundamentally different cabinet styles. We would rather be upfront about that than pretend they are “basically the same.”
Most people don’t know…or particularly care about the difference. But to the one person reading this who has spent 8,726 hours watching HGTV and is smugly nodding right now: we see you. We respect the game.
9. You need to perfectly match existing cabinets
Matching older cabinetry can be surprisingly difficult.
Colours fade, finishes change, manufacturers discontinue styles, and your existing “white” cabinets may now technically be “vaguely cream with twenty years of character.”
We may be able to find something complementary. But if you require a perfect match, we hate to be the bearer of bad news: there is no honest way for us, or really anyone, to guarantee it.
10. You only want factory-assembled cabinets
Our cabinets are supplied ready to assemble. That is one of the ways we provide stronger materials and excellent value without attaching a luxury price tag.
If you specifically require every cabinet to arrive fully assembled from the factory, our product model may not be right for you.
That is fair. Some people enjoy assembling things. Others become furious while opening the box. Know thyself.
For the record, we know plenty of people who genuinely love assembling cabinets and will happily exchange their services for currency. Even currency that has spent the last nine years shoved inside a tube sock, cash is cash.
10 Reasons You SHOULDN’T Rule Out BluePrint Cabinets
Now we move into the myths, assumptions and occasional works of fiction that customers bring to us regularly, so that you can be armed with the knowledge you need to make the right decision on your project.
1. “Ready-to-assemble (RTA) cabinets must be lower quality.”
RTA describes how a cabinet is delivered, not its quality.
A poorly made cabinet can arrive assembled. A well-made cabinet can arrive flat-packed. Assembly status tells you very little about the materials, hardware or construction.
Our cabinets use real plywood boxes. Many more expensive assembled cabinets use particleboard or melamine.
A cabinet does not become stronger simply because someone else put it together before you saw it.
2. “The options must be extremely limited.”
We offer numerous cabinet sizes, configurations, colours, door styles, mouldings, panels and organizational options.
Can we manufacture absolutely anything your imagination can produce? No.
Can we design a beautiful, functional kitchen for the overwhelming majority of homes?
Abso-freaking-lutely.
With our 3 inch incremental sizing options, we can build extremely custom configurations to fit almost any space.
3. “I want a turnkey renovation, so RTA cabinets won’t work.”
Ready-to-assemble does not mean you must personally design, order, assemble and install your entire kitchen while following a questionable YouTube tutorial.
Cabinet assembly is simply one stage of the project. Professional design, countertops, trades and installation can all be incorporated into a larger renovation plan.
If you’re looking for a turnkey renovation, just ask. We work regularly with extremely capable contractors and can coordinate visits to develop a master plan for your project.
Then you can show off your magazine-worthy kitchen to your jealous neighbours. Everyone wins, except perhaps the neighbours.
4. “Plywood cabinets are too expensive.”
Plywood generally costs more than particleboard or melamine because it is a stronger, more durable material. But that does not automatically make the finished kitchen unaffordable.
Our business model is designed to deliver plywood construction at a highly competitive price. More of your budget goes into the cabinetry and less into layers of overhead, elaborate showroom displays and complimentary sparkling water.
In many cases, our plywood cabinetry costs significantly less than custom cabinetry made with melamine boxes. We regularly can even outpace the pricing on local box stores as well.
5. “The competitor has a prettier showroom.”
A beautiful showroom can be helpful. It can also be expensive and someone eventually pays for it. (You. You are paying the overhead, whether you like it or not)
Judge cabinets by their materials, construction, hardware, design, warranty, service and overall value. A showroom with chandeliers and cappuccino machines is lovely, but won’t stop a particleboard sink cabinet from swelling after a leak.
Our showroom was designed intentionally so we can offer better pricing without billing you for the diamond-encrusted Keurig machine.
But dang, that coffee is a nice touch.
6. “The competitor costs more, so their cabinets must be better.”
Price and quality are not the same thing.
A higher price can reflect better materials and construction. It can also reflect larger facilities, franchise fees, sales commissions, advertising costs or a more expensive operating model.
Compare what you are actually receiving. Look inside the cabinet box. Ask what it is made from. Inspect the hardware and construction.
A larger invoice is not a building material.
7. “RTA cabinets aren’t durable.”
Despite what your uncle says about your handyman skills, assembling RTA cabinets is straightforward and once ours are assembled, they’re built like a brick you-know-what.
We’re exceptionally proud of our sliding-dovetail construction and heavy-duty brackets. In our YouTube testing, our cabinets withstood more than six times the side-impact force of a comparable cabinet from a popular unnamed Scandinavian brand.
When you’re assembling the cabinet yourself, it is also fairly difficult for us to hide inferior fasteners or bubble gum inside it.
Being assembled by someone else doesn’t automatically make something good, just like that aunt’s cooking. You know the one.
8. “RTA cabinets are bad for your health.”
Our cabinets are CARB Phase 2 compliant, meaning they meet strict formaldehyde-emission standards. We also had them independently tested for lead and mercury by RPC in Fredericton, New Brunswick and they passed marvelously.
In other words, they don’t come with mysterious odours, questionable coatings or a complimentary side of heavy metals.
You could literally eat off them, although a plate is probably more practical.
9. “There must be a catch because I don’t believe the price.”
This is one of our favourites.
People sometimes assume that if our pricing is lower than a traditional cabinet retailer’s, something important must be missing.
The difference comes from the business model: standardized cabinetry, efficient ordering and lower overhead not from secretly replacing your cabinet backs with cereal boxes when nobody is looking.
Good value can be real.
Suspiciously, wonderfully real.
10. “If it comes in boxes, I’m basically buying IKEA cabinets.”
Flat packaging is a shipping method, not a brand, material or construction standard.
Two cabinets can both arrive in boxes while being completely different in their materials, thickness, joinery, hardware, doors and overall durability.
That is like saying every vehicle delivered on a transport truck must be the same vehicle.
The packaging is not the product, even if your uncle Steve is convinced of that fact.
So, Is BluePrint Cabinets Right for You?
BluePrint Cabinets may not be the perfect fit if you need completely custom sizes, unusual construction, an exact colour match or cabinetry delivered yesterday.
But if you want a beautiful, thoughtfully designed kitchen with quality plywood construction, plenty of options and pricing that leaves some money in your bank account, we should probably talk.
We won’t claim to be perfect for everyone.
We just might be perfect for you.