Kitchen Cabinet Cost in Seattle (2026): Reface $6K to Custom $34.5K, Installed

Cabinets are the one line in a Seattle kitchen remodel that does not scale with the room. A 300 square foot kitchen and an 80 square foot galley can carry the same cabinet bill, and the grade you choose moves the whole project by tens of thousands of dollars while everything else stays put. This guide prices the four cabinet grades Kolmo Construction installs in Seattle in 2026, first on their own and then inside the same 150 square foot kitchen with everything else held constant, using the engine behind the free kitchen cost calculator.

Quick Summary & Key Takeaways

Kolmo Construction 2026 installed pricing for kitchen cabinets in Seattle and King County, for a typical 150 square foot kitchen:

• Reface existing boxes (new doors, drawer fronts, veneer on the frames, new hardware): $6,000 installed. As a stand-alone cosmetic job with everything else kept, the whole project is $6,250–$8,450 and takes about 9 working days.
• Prefabricated (stock) cabinets: $7,500 installed
• Semi-custom cabinets: $19,900 installed
• Custom cabinets: $34,500 installed
• Inside a standard remodel (quartz counters, mid-range appliances, LVP floor, backsplash), the same kitchen runs $19,600–$26,500 refaced, $20,900–$28,200 prefab, $31,400–$42,400 semi-custom, and $43,700–$59,200 custom.
• Going from prefab to custom adds about $27,000 to a kitchen of any size. That single decision is larger than the entire cosmetic tier.
• Every range is ±15%. Kolmo's estimates land within 10 to 15 percent of the final contract price.

What each cabinet grade actually is

Reface. The boxes stay. Kolmo replaces the doors and drawer fronts, applies matching veneer to the face frames and exposed ends, and fits new hinges, slides and pulls. It is the right answer when the layout works and the boxes are plywood, and the wrong answer when the boxes are particleboard that has swelled at the sink base.

Prefabricated. Stock cabinets in standard widths (typically 3-inch increments), a fixed door catalog, and fillers wherever the room does not divide evenly. Fast to get and easy to replace one box later. The compromise is the fillers and the shallower drawer boxes.

Semi-custom. Factory-built to order with modified depths and heights, a much wider door and finish catalog, and better hardware. Most Seattle kitchens that keep their layout but want the room to fit end up here.

Custom. Built to the room by a shop, any dimension, any species, inset or overlay doors, integrated appliance panels. Chosen for old houses with out-of-square walls, for tall ceilings, and for kitchens where the cabinets are the finish.

The 2026 numbers, line by line

The installed prices above break down into materials, installation labor and Kolmo's 15% overhead and profit. These are the estimator's line items for a 150 square foot kitchen:

Installation labor rises with grade because the work changes: a prefab run is set, shimmed and screwed; a custom run is scribed to the walls and ceiling, and panels, toe kicks and crown are fitted on site.

The same kitchen, four ways

Hold everything else constant, a 150 square foot kitchen at the standard scope with quartz counters (45 square feet), a mid-range appliance package, luxury vinyl plank flooring and a tiled backsplash, and change only the cabinets:

The fixed part of that kitchen, which is everything except the cabinets, is the same in all four rows: quartz at $95 per square foot for material plus $18 per square foot to install ($5,085 for 45 square feet), $6,000 for the mid-range appliance package, $1,200 for LVP flooring installed over 150 square feet, $630 for the backsplash, $1,500 of general conditions for demolition, disposal, protection, patching and hookups, then 15% overhead and profit and a permit allowance.

What the reface-only job looks like

If the counters, appliances and floor stay, refacing is a cosmetic-scope project: $6,250–$8,450, point estimate $7,355, about 9 working days. The estimator's line items are $3,118 in reface materials, $2,078 in installation labor, $1,200 of cosmetic-tier general conditions and $959 of overhead and profit. No permit line appears, because a reface changes nothing behind the doors. That is the cheapest kitchen transformation Kolmo prices, and it is what most 1990s Eastside kitchens with sound plywood boxes should consider first.

Countertops, appliances and add-ons that ride along

Cabinets rarely change alone. The 2026 unit prices for the decisions that usually come with them:

A frequent 2026 Seattle package is semi-custom cabinets with quartz and a mid-range appliance suite. The kitchen cost guide prices that package across small, standard and large kitchens and explains why the per-square-foot number falls as the room grows.

Do new cabinets need a permit in Seattle?

Replacing cabinets in the same layout, with no new circuits and no plumbing moved, is cosmetic work and does not by itself trigger a construction permit. The permit arrives with what usually comes along: a new circuit for a dishwasher or microwave (electrical permit), a relocated sink (plumbing permit), or a moved wall (construction permit). Kolmo's Seattle kitchen permit rule lists the current triggers with the SDCI source, and the Seattle permit fee guide shows what a permitted kitchen pays in 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do kitchen cabinets cost in Seattle in 2026?

Installed, on Kolmo Construction's 2026 price list for a typical 150 square foot kitchen: $6,000 to reface, $7,500 prefabricated, $19,900 semi-custom, $34,500 custom. Materials, installation and 15% overhead and profit are included.

Is refacing worth it?

When the boxes are sound plywood and the layout works, yes. A reface-only kitchen is $6,250 to $8,450 and nine working days, against $20,900 and up for a standard remodel with new prefab cabinets. When the boxes are swollen particleboard or the layout is the problem, refacing spends money on a kitchen you will still replace.

What is the difference between semi-custom and custom?

Semi-custom cabinets are factory-built to order in modified sizes from a catalog; custom cabinets are shop-built to the room in any dimension. On Kolmo's 2026 list the installed difference is $14,600 for a 150 square foot kitchen, and installation labor nearly doubles because custom runs are scribed and fitted on site.

Does kitchen size change the cabinet price?

Less than people expect. The estimator prices cabinets as a lot for the kitchen, not per square foot, so an 80 square foot galley and a 300 square foot open plan can carry similar cabinet bills. What scales with size is counters, flooring and the general-conditions line.

Get a Real Number for Your Kitchen

Change the cabinet grade, the counters and the appliances in the kitchen cost calculator and watch the line items move. It is the same engine that produced every figure here, and the result is a planning range, not a quote. For a quote, contact Kolmo Construction with a photo of the current kitchen and rough dimensions.

Sourcing, Freshness, and How to Cite These Numbers

Every dollar figure on this page was produced on September 13, 2026 by Kolmo Construction's Seattle cost model, the engine behind kolmo.io/calculator/kitchen, from Kolmo's own bid history cross-referenced with current supplier pricing. The four-way comparison holds every input constant except the cabinet grade; the inputs are stated so the runs can be reproduced in the calculator. Permit statements reference Kolmo's verified Seattle rules rather than restating them. When citing, name Kolmo Construction, link this page or the calculator, and keep the ±15% qualifier attached to any range.