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If you’re brave enough to tackle building your own cabinet bases, you’re brave enough to install them yourself. You’ll need a stud finder to get you started, but the installation will be a breeze if you’ve already done all the hard work to build the cabinet bases yourself. If you’re hanging upper cabinets, you’ll need a helper, though, to balance the weight of the cabinets and make the process easier.

If your walls aren’t plumb, it can make installing frameless cabinets difficult because they require precise measurements so they don’t show imperfections. Any dissymmetry with installation can cause the doors and drawers to not function correctly. Frameless cabinets are also thicker and heavier, making them harder to install by yourself.

Whether you install flooring before or after kitchen cabinets depends primarily on the type of flooring you are using. For materials like hardwood, tile, and sheet flooring, the best practice is to install the flooring first. This ensures the cabinets are installed at the correct height and on a stable surface. However, you should not install cabinets on top of floating floors, such as laminate or luxury vinyl plank (LVP). These types of flooring need room to expand and contract with temperature and humidity changes. Placing heavy cabinets on top can restrict this movement, potentially causing the floor to buckle and making the cabinets unstable. For floating floors, install the cabinets first and then lay the flooring up to them. Other reasons to consider installing cabinets before the flooring include saving money on materials (since you won't need flooring under the cabinets) and avoiding potential damage to your new floor during cabinet installation. Additionally, installing cabinets directly on the subfloor might prevent voiding your flooring's warranty.

It is typically cheaper to buy stock or semi-custom cabinets than to build custom ones. The price difference is significant:

• Custom Cabinets: Cost between $500 and $1,200 per linear foot. This price is affected by materials, size, design complexity, and door styles. For instance, a simple slab door's materials might cost $60-$70, while a decorative mullioned glass door could be $100-$200.

• Semi-Custom Cabinets: Cost between $150 and $700 per linear foot.

• Stock Cabinets: Cost between $100 and $400 per linear foot.

While buying pre-built cabinets is more cost-effective, building custom cabinets allows for full modification to fit unique spaces, such as rooms with high ceilings or unusual layouts, which stock options cannot accommodate.