Cabinet Installation Cost - Licensed & Insured, Written Fixed-Price Quotes

How Much Does Cabinet Installation Cost in Houston?

Cabinet installation in Houston typically runs $4,000 to $13,000 for a standard kitchen in 2026. That range covers labor, materials, and the removal of old cabinets in most mid-size homes across the metro. The final number depends on cabinet type, kitchen size, and whether you’re doing a basic swap or reconfiguring the entire layout. Bradford Remodeling Co Houston gives every homeowner a written price before any work starts, so the number you’re quoted is the number you pay.

For a full kitchen remodel that includes cabinets, countertops, and appliances, Houston homeowners should expect to spend $14,000 to $45,000. If you’re only replacing cabinet boxes and doors, you’ll land on the lower end of the $4,000 – $13,000 range. If you’re adding custom cabinetry, soft-close hardware, or reworking the kitchen footprint, you’ll push toward the top.

Key Takeaways

• Standard cabinet installation in Houston costs $4,000 – $13,000 in 2026.
• Stock cabinets run $100 – $300 per linear foot; semi-custom runs $150 – $650; fully custom runs $500 – $1,200.
• Labor alone typically runs $50 – $100 per cabinet or $75 – $150 per hour.
• Most Houston cabinet jobs take 1 – 3 days for installation; custom orders add 4 – 8 weeks for manufacturing.
• Bradford Remodeling Co Houston provides a written price before work begins and backs the finished job with the 365-Day Done Right Promise.

Cabinet Installation Cost Breakdown (2026)

Here’s what Houston homeowners are paying for cabinet work in 2026, broken down by line item. These are real market numbers, not national averages. Houston labor rates, supplier pricing, and the humidity-driven material requirements all shape these figures.

Line Item	Houston Price Range (2026)
Stock cabinets (per linear foot)	$100 – $300
Semi-custom cabinets (per linear foot)	$150 – $650
Fully custom cabinets (per linear foot)	$500 – $1,200
Cabinet installation labor (per cabinet)	$50 – $100
Cabinet installation labor (hourly)	$75 – $150
Old cabinet removal and disposal	$300 – $800
Cabinet refinishing (per kitchen)	$1,500 – $4,000
Cabinet refacing (per kitchen)	$3,500 – $9,000
Full kitchen cabinet replacement	$4,000 – $13,000
Kitchen island with cabinet base	$3,000 – $10,000

Stock cabinets keep the price low. You’re buying pre-built boxes in standard sizes, and the installer works around whatever dimensions you have. Semi-custom cabinets let you adjust depth, height, and door styles within a manufacturer’s catalog, which is why KraftMaid and Wellborn come up so often in Houston kitchens. Fully custom means a cabinet shop builds to your exact kitchen measurements, and that’s where the $1,200-per-linear-foot number comes from.

The biggest cost driver in any Houston cabinet job is whether you’re keeping the existing layout. If the cabinets stay in the same footprint, installation is quick and the numbers stay predictable. If you’re moving plumbing, relocating the sink, or adding an island, the price climbs fast. Bradford Remodeling writes every one of those variables into the quote before work starts, so you don’t get a surprise invoice when the job is done.

What Affects Cabinet Installation Pricing in Houston

• Cabinet grade and material. Particleboard boxes with thermofoil doors run cheap. Plywood boxes with solid wood doors cost more but hold up better in Houston’s humidity. MDF doors swell in high-moisture homes, which is why we steer homeowners in areas like Meyerland and Kingwood toward plywood construction.
• Kitchen size and layout. A galley kitchen in a Montrose bungalow might need 10 – 12 cabinets. A River Oaks open-plan kitchen with an island and floor-to-ceiling pantry wall can need 30 or more. Every additional cabinet adds $100 – $300 in material and another $50 – $100 in labor.
• Removal of existing cabinets. Tearing out old cabinets, hauling them off, and preparing the wall substrate runs $300 – $800 depending on the kitchen’s size and whether the old boxes were screwed in or glued on. Houston homes built before 1980 often have plaster walls, which means more patching after removal.
• Plumbing and electrical adjustments. If your new cabinet configuration changes where the sink sits or where outlets need to be, you’re adding plumber and electrician time. Moving a sink rough-in in a Houston kitchen can add $500 – $1,500 to the job.
• Hardware and accessories. Soft-close hinges and drawers add $20 – $50 per cabinet. Roll-out trays, lazy Susans, and pull-out trash bins are $100 – $400 each installed. These add up quickly across a 20-cabinet kitchen.
• Finishing work. Crown molding, toe-kick installation, side panels, and scribe trim all require finish carpentry time. In Houston homes with settling foundations, scribe work often takes longer because walls are rarely perfectly plumb. Plan for $300 – $1,000 in finishing labor on a typical kitchen.

Stock, Semi-Custom, or Custom: What Houston Homeowners Should Pick

The choice comes down to budget and how long you plan to stay in the home. Here’s how it breaks down in Houston, where resale value and humidity resistance both factor into the decision.

Stock Cabinets: $100 – $300 per linear foot

Stock cabinets come from big-box stores or wholesale suppliers. Sizes are fixed, styles are limited, and you get what’s on the shelf. For a rental property in Sharpstown or a budget flip in Spring Branch, stock works fine. The downside is the material quality, most stock cabinets use particleboard boxes that don’t love Houston’s moisture. If a pipe leaks under the sink, those boxes swell and delaminate.

Semi-Custom: $150 – $650 per linear foot

This is the sweet spot for most Houston homeowners. Semi-custom lines like KraftMaid and Wellborn let you choose door styles, finishes, and cabinet depths while keeping costs reasonable. You get plywood boxes, real wood doors, and a warranty from a manufacturer with a documented spec sheet. Bradford Remodeling works from a set roster of name-brand materials precisely so homeowners know what they’re getting, not a generic “custom cabinet” with no traceable origin.

Fully Custom: $500 – $1,200 per linear foot

Custom cabinetry is built to order for your specific kitchen, which means odd angles, unusual ceiling heights, and weird corner spaces all get handled properly. In older Houston homes, think Heights bungalows or East End Victorians, custom is often the only way to get cabinets that actually fit the room. You’ll wait 6 – 10 weeks for fabrication, and you’ll pay for the privilege, but the result is cabinetry that matches the house instead of fighting it.

Houston-Specific Factors That Change the Price

Houston isn’t like other markets. Three things shape cabinet installation costs here more than anywhere else in Texas.

Humidity and moisture. Houston’s Gulf Coast climate means indoor humidity stays high for much of the year. Cabinets made with particleboard or MDF cores absorb that moisture and swell, especially under sinks and near dishwashers. Plywood boxes cost 20 – 40% more but hold their shape for decades in a Houston kitchen. We see warped cabinet doors in Bellaire and West University homes regularly, and the culprit is almost always moisture-wicking core material. Spending an extra $500 – $1,500 on plywood construction now avoids a $4,000 – $13,000 replacement in eight years.

Foundation movement. Houston sits on expansive clay soil. Homes shift. Walls go out of plumb, floors develop slopes, and cabinet installers have to shim, scribe, and adjust far more here than in Dallas or San Antonio. In older neighborhoods like Garden Oaks and Idylwood, it’s common to have a half-inch dip across an eight-foot wall. That means more labor time per cabinet, which shows up in the final number. A good installer plans for it; a cheap one hides it with caulk.

Permit requirements. The City of Houston requires a permit for any kitchen remodel that involves moving plumbing or electrical lines. If you’re just swapping cabinets in the same footprint, no permit is needed. If you’re moving the sink, adding outlets inside cabinet runs, or running new gas lines, the permit and inspection add $200 – $600 to the job. Bradford Remodeling handles permitting on any job that requires it, and it’s included in your written quote. No surprises, no “we’ll just skip the permit” negotiations. The home page has more detail on how Bradford approaches Houston permitting.

Labor Rates for Cabinet Installation in Houston

Houston cabinet installers charge $75 – $150 per hour or $50 – $100 per cabinet, depending on how the job is bid. Most professional remodeling firms in Houston bid by the job, not by the hour, because it gives the homeowner a fixed number. Per-hour billing is more common with independent handymen, and it’s where pricing drift happens.

A standard 20-cabinet kitchen installation takes two experienced installers one to two days. At per-cabinet rates, that’s $1,000 – $2,000 in labor. At hourly rates, you’re looking at $1,200 – $2,400. Add removal, disposal, and finish trim, and total labor for a mid-size Houston kitchen lands around $1,500 – $3,500. The rest of your $4,000 – $13,000 goes to the cabinets themselves.

Bradford Remodeling bids every cabinet job with a written price before any work starts. Every technician on the job is background-checked and uniformed, and the crew’s identity and conduct standards are set at the Garrison Partners level, not left to whichever sub shows up that day. You’ll know who’s walking through your door before they arrive.

How Much Does Cabinet Installation Cost by Kitchen Size in Houston?

Kitchen size drives the price more than anything else. Here’s how it breaks down across typical Houston homes.

Small Kitchen (under 100 square feet)

Think condo kitchens in Midtown, bungalow kitchens in the Heights, or galley kitchens in older townhomes. These spaces need 8 – 12 cabinets. Expect to pay $2,500 – $6,000 for stock cabinets installed, or $4,000 – $8,000 for semi-custom. Labor is faster because there’s less to install, but the fixed costs of removal and disposal don’t shrink much.

Medium Kitchen (100 – 200 square feet)

This is the standard suburban Houston kitchen in places like Katy, Cypress, Pearland, and Clear Lake. Fifteen to twenty-five cabinets, often with an island. Plan for $4,000 – $10,000 with stock boxes or $6,000 – $13,000 with semi-custom KraftMaid or Wellborn lines. Most Houston homeowners land in this bracket.

Large Kitchen (200+ square feet)

River Oaks estates, Memorial-area homes built in the 1990s and 2000s, and custom builds in The Woodlands often have kitchens with 30 – 40 cabinets, double islands, and floor-to-ceiling pantry walls. These jobs run $8,000 – $13,000+ for stock and $12,000 – $25,000+ for semi-custom or custom work. The numbers climb because the cabinet count climbs, and because walls in larger homes have more runs that need scribe-trimming.

Cabinet Installation vs. Refacing vs. Refinishing: Houston Price Comparison

If your existing cabinet boxes are solid and the layout still works, you don’t need a full installation. Two cheaper options exist, and Houston homeowners should know what they cost before deciding.

Cabinet refinishing means sanding the existing doors and frames, then applying new paint or stain. In Houston, this runs $1,500 – $4,000 for a standard kitchen. It’s the cheapest option and makes sense when the boxes are structurally sound but cosmetically tired. The catch: refinishing can’t fix warped doors, swollen particleboard, or broken drawer slides.

Cabinet refacing replaces the doors and drawer fronts and applies a matching veneer to the boxes. Houston pricing runs $3,500 – $9,000. You get the look of new cabinets without the demolition and rebuild. Refacing works when the boxes are still square and the layout is already right. If the boxes have water damage or the layout is wrong, you’re spending $9,000 on lipstick.

Full replacement at $4,000 – $13,000 is the right call when boxes are damaged, the layout needs to change, or you want to upgrade to plywood construction. Bradford Remodeling gives an honest read on whether refacing is worth it for your specific kitchen, sometimes the answer is yes, and sometimes it’s throwing good money after bad.

For a deeper look at what full cabinet work involves in the Houston market, see our Cabinet Installation in Houston page.

How to Save on Cabinet Installation

You can cut thousands off a Houston cabinet job without cutting quality. Here’s how.

• Keep the existing layout. Moving the sink, relocating the dishwasher, or adding an island adds $1,000 – $3,000 in plumbing, electrical, and structural work. If the current flow works, leave it.
• Choose stock or semi-custom instead of custom. Semi-custom lines like KraftMaid and Wellborn cover most kitchen configurations for half the price of a fully custom build. Go custom only if your walls are genuinely irregular or you need unusual dimensions.
• Reuse hardware and accessories. Soft-close hinges, roll-out trays, and pull-out bins can sometimes be transferred from old cabinets to new ones if they’re still functional. Reusing $500 worth of hardware beats buying it twice.
• Demolish the old cabinets yourself. If you’re comfortable with basic demolition and have a way to haul materials to a Houston dump site, you can save the $300 – $800 removal line item. Bradford doesn’t require homeowners to do this, but it is a legitimate way to save if you’re handy.
• Get the full quote in writing up front. The most expensive cabinet jobs in Houston aren’t the ones with high materials costs, they’re the ones where the contractor reprises at the door. Bradford Remodeling gives you a written price before any work starts, every time. Call (940) 289-7658 for a free estimate with no numbers that move after you sign.

What Does the 365-Day Done Right Promise Cover?

Every cabinet installation Bradford Remodeling completes in Houston carries the 365-Day Done Right Promise. Here’s exactly what it means: if the work fails inside one year of completion, Bradford comes back and corrects it at no charge. That’s it. No pro-rated depreciation, no argument about whose fault it was, no “that’s normal settling” conversation. The promise is in writing, and you get a signed copy in your hand when the job closes.

This guarantee sits on top of the manufacturer warranties from whichever cabinet line you choose. KraftMaid and Wellborn have their own written warranty terms, and Bradford keeps those documents in your project file. The Garrison Standard is the operating framework behind every promise, and it exists so that no homeowner in Houston has to take a contractor’s word on faith. You get the word in writing, with a signature, before the first tool comes out.

“Squared away” at job close looks like this: the site is swept clean, the old cabinets are hauled off, every drawer and door is aligned, and the signed written guarantee is in your hand. That’s the benchmark. Not “good enough.”

FAQs – Cabinet Installation Cost

How much does it cost to install cabinets in Houston?

Cabinet installation in Houston costs $4,000 – $13,000 for a standard kitchen in 2026. Small kitchens run $2,500 – $6,000, and large kitchens can exceed $13,000. The price includes old cabinet removal, new cabinet installation, and finish trim. Bradford Remodeling provides a written quote before any work starts. Call (940) 289-7658 for a free estimate specific to your kitchen.

Is it cheaper to reface or replace cabinets in Houston?

Refacing is cheaper. Cabinet refacing in Houston runs $3,500 – $9,000, while full replacement runs $4,000 – $13,000. Refacing only makes sense if the existing cabinet boxes are structurally sound and the layout works. If boxes are water-damaged or the configuration needs to change, replacement is the better use of money.

How long does cabinet installation take in Houston?

Most standard Houston cabinet installations take 1 – 3 days once the cabinets arrive on site. Semi-custom and custom cabinet orders add 4 – 10 weeks for manufacturing. Bradford Remodeling schedules the full job, including any plumbing or electrical work, so the kitchen isn’t out of commission any longer than necessary.

What’s the most expensive part of cabinet installation?

The cabinets themselves are the biggest line item. In Houston, semi-custom cabinets run $150 – $650 per linear foot, which means a 20-linear-foot kitchen costs $3,000 – $13,000 in materials alone. Labor adds $1,500 – $3,500 on top. Layout changes that require moving plumbing or electrical rough-ins add still more.

Can I install cabinets myself to save money in Houston?

You can save $1,500 – $3,500 in labor by installing cabinets yourself, but most Houston homeowners find the trade-off isn’t worth it. Cabinet installation requires leveling on walls that are rarely plumb in Houston homes, precise scribing against uneven surfaces, and secure anchoring to studs. A poorly installed upper cabinet can pull off the wall and cause serious injury. If you want the job done right and guaranteed in writing, call a professional. Bradford’s free estimate is available at (940) 289-7658.

Which Cabinet Brands Does Bradford Remodeling Install in Houston?

Bradford Remodeling works with a documented roster of name-brand materials so homeowners always know what they’re paying for. The cabinet lines we install most often in Houston are KraftMaid and Wellborn. Both manufacturers publish full spec sheets, so the box construction, door material, and finish quality are transparent before you order. That means the cabinets in your kitchen are traceable to a factory with a name, a warranty, and a documented set of standards, not an anonymous “custom shop” price tag with no accountability behind it.

The same standard applies to every material in a Bradford job. Countertops from Cambria, Caesarstone, and Silestone. Fixtures from Kohler and Moen. Exterior products from GAF, James Hardie, and Therma-Tru. The Garrison Standard requires that materials be documented and traceable, because a written guarantee on undocumented materials isn’t a guarantee at all, it’s a hope.

Why Houston Homeowners Choose Bradford Remodeling for Cabinet Work

The cabinet installation market in Houston is crowded, and most of what’s available runs on the same model: a low verbal estimate, a crew that shows up late, and an invoice that’s higher than the number you were quoted. Bradford Remodeling was built by Curtis Lane to run differently, and the difference shows up in three places.

Written pricing, always. Before any cabinet work starts, you get a written price. Not a verbal estimate, not a “we’ll see how it goes” range. Every line item is documented. If the number changes, you’ll know why before it changes, not after. That’s the Garrison Standard, and it’s non-negotiable.

A real guarantee, in writing. The 365-Day Done Right Promise is printed on every completed job. If the cabinet work fails within a year, Bradford returns and corrects it at no charge. That’s not “we’ll take a look.” That’s a specific, time-bound, written commitment.

People you can identify. Every Bradford technician is background-checked and uniformed. You know who’s in your home. A live person answers the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, because a remodeling contractor shouldn’t disappear the moment you have a question. Call (940) 289-7658 at any hour and a person picks up.

Bradford Remodeling has been part of the Garrison Partners family since 2004, operating as an independently owned and operated business in Houston and held to the same standard as every other Garrison location. The Garrison Code governs how a project runs from first call to final walkthrough. That’s the framework behind everything, and it’s why the job closes clean: documented scope, signed guarantee, site swept.

Get a Written Cabinet Installation Estimate in Houston

If you’re planning a cabinet installation or full kitchen remodel in Houston, start with a real number. Bradford Remodeling Co Houston provides free estimates, always in writing, with no pricing changes at the door. Call (940) 289-7658 and talk to a live person about your kitchen, your timeline, and your budget. You’ll get a straight answer, a written price, and a job that’s backed by the 365-Day Done Right Promise.

Written by Curtis Lane, Owner at Bradford Remodeling Co Houston, serving Houston since 2004.

Pricing reflects the Houston market as of 2026. Bradford Remodeling Co Houston offers free estimates – call (940) 289-7658.