RTA Cabinets – Risks and Rewards

avatar
By Sean Walsh

Purchasing ready-to-assemble cabinets comes with risks. Purchasing RTA cabinets also comes with huge rewards! This can mean one of two things.

1. You will have a regret free purchasing experience and end up with cabinets that look, feel, and function like they cost much more than they did.

2. The issues you will experience far outweigh the benefits leading to regrets, and maybe even an “I TOLD YOU SO!”

Many blindly spend thousands of dollars purchasing cabinetry. They’ve never done it before, they will probably never do it again, and really have very little idea of what they’re doing. This creates the perfect environment for avoidable disasters.

They simply believe what they’re told and do not do the research that is needed to prevent themselves from being trapped in a nightmare.

They enter into purchasing cabinetry online thinking that their purchase is going to be just like every other purchase they’ve made online. Here’s the problem: nearly everything you purchase online is a single item that has been manufactured out of stable materials, not wood. It is prepackaged and easily shipped. RTA (unassembled) cabinets and kitchen cabinets in general are a whole other animal. These cabinets are made of wood. Wood is affected by temperatures and humidity. Wood is prone to denting. Wood is prone to cracking, and wood is prone to expansion and contraction.

Also, when cabinets are shipped, there are numerous hands involved. Numerous trucks, forklift drivers, warehouses, and other obstacles that stand in the way. All of which can create unforeseen issues.

Unsuspecting consumers do not understand the complexities of the purchase they’re making. With an Amazon purchase, there are two things that can generally go wrong.

  1. They send the wrong item
  2. The item can get lost in shipping

With RTA cabinets, doors can be warped, items can be cracked, there can be damage resulting from shipping, there can be replacement parts needed, pallets can be lost, and items can be out of stock. After all, it’s not a single plastic or fabric item you’re ordering. There are numerous warehouse workers, forklift drivers, and delivery truck drivers involved to make things happen. All of which have to do their job correctly, or else.

Sound scary?

Don’t be fearful! Welcome to ordering cabinets in general. These are the same obstacles that you will face when ordering cabinets from any supplier or distributor like us. 

Research Brings Peace of Mind

So how do you ensure a successful purchasing experience? You’ve got to do your research! I repeat, you have got to do research. Internet cabinet companies are masters of marketing and often manipulation. They have teams of people in place who can create an appearance of one thing, when they’re actual reality is completely different. An unsuspecting customer would see them on the front page of Google and just assume that everything’s going to be great. The design team is great. They call you back. Woohoo we found our cabinets.

Without doing the research, this is a recipe for disaster.

How does the company handle issues? Out of stock items? Replacements? and what shipping companies do they use? Are they the best, or just the least expensive? Do they stick with their customers from beginning to end? Can they really be trusted? These are all questions that must be asked. Are you? The good news is, the answers to all these questions can be very easily found.

To accurately understand what your purchasing experience will be, you will need to know how the company has performed before.

Look the company up on the better business bureau’s website and evaluate their complaints and reviews. When reading ask yourself this question: would I want that to be my story? Maybe yes, maybe no. You can also go to Google and search the company’s name and their address. Their Google local listing and reviews will show up. There will be a button you can click by their reviews that says “newest.”  This will show you how they are handling things right now in the current condition of the world. You can then click the lowest rating button to see your worst case scenario, and the highest rating button to see your best case scenario.

Just imagine finding out your fiancé has been married four times and had numerous affairs. Yet there they are telling you how much they love you, will never leave you, and how they’re always going to be faithful. Some people fall “hook line and sinker” for that, and are just blindly able to believe whatever they’re told. Others, who do not want to subject themselves to the pain, examine the evidence and are able to make a conclusive decision that if they’ve done it over and over before, chances are they’re going to do it again. That holds true for online cabinet companies.

The biggest difference from one company to the other is their integrity. Do they have a proven track record of sticking with their customers and doing whatever it takes to make them happy, or when the going gets tough, do the greedy get going? Are they allowing phone calls to go unanswered, emails to not be responded to, schedules to be destroyed, new kitchen dreamers dreams to be crushed, and ultimately choosing profits over people?

The internet is littered with these stories. You’ll see lot’s of them if you take the time to look.

The Walcraft Cabinetry Difference

Our company model is to exceed expectations and never leave a single customer feeling like they are always five star customers to us! Whether we make money or not, that does not determine our policies. We do everything possible to avoid issues and prevent our customers from having an experience that is anything less than amazing!

Does this mean that when you choose Walcraft everything is going to come together flawlessly? No! We have no magic wand or pixie dust that we can use. Ordering cabinets is ordering cabinets, and anywhere you order your manufactured cabinets from is subject to the same issues that we all face daily.

I encourage you to do the same research on us. If what we say is true, there should be a vast amount of evidence spanning years to back that up, and there is.

Are RTA Cabinets worth it?

So are RTA cabinets worth the risk? Absolutely, 100%!

You will end up with kitchen cabinets that are often twice the quality of an American-made cabinet at 30% to 50% less. Yep, that is the reality. You’ll have beautiful and durable cabinets that are made with plywood, hardwoods, dovetail drawers, soft-close hardware, and amazing finishes that are oftentimes even better than custom finishes.

Where this can go downhill, is when you choose the wrong company. So go do your research! Research them, and research us. Then you will see the Walcraft Cabinetry difference.

Our design team is amazing, and we truly will stick with you from Design-to-Done and never leave your side. If you have a problem, congratulations you just became our top priority. If you call we either answer or return calls promptly. We do whatever it takes to resolve any and all issues as quickly as possible. So let’s get started! We’d love to show you what we can do for you.