Custom Kitchen Cabinets

Knutson runs cabinetry in-house from start to finish. Our team measures and draws the kitchen, our shop in the Twin Cities builds the boxes and doors, our finishing crew applies the paint or stain in a controlled spray booth, and our own carpenters install on site. One company, one drawing, one warranty. This page is part of our broader kitchen remodeling work — if you are remodeling the whole kitchen, the cabinets are usually the foundation of that scope. We also build kitchen cabinetry as a standalone replacement when the rest of the kitchen is staying.

What’s included with Knutson kitchen cabinets

• In-home measuring — every wall, every appliance opening, every existing electrical and plumbing rough-in
• Hardwood plywood boxes — full plywood, not particleboard, for moisture stability and screw-holding strength
• Solid-wood door and drawer fronts — in your selected species, or paint-grade poplar/maple for painted finishes
• Spray-booth finishing — multiple coats of stain, paint, or glaze applied in a controlled environment
• Premium hardware — Blum or equivalent soft-close hinges and full-extension undermount drawer slides
• Smart interiors — drawer dividers, tray pullouts, spice racks, trash and recycling pullouts, peg systems for plates, mixer lifts, charging drawers
• Installation by our carpenters — scribed to your walls, trimmed with matching moldings, punch-listed before we leave

Choosing the right kitchen cabinets for your home

Three decisions drive most cabinet projects, and the order matters. The first is construction style — inset, full overlay, or partial overlay. Inset doors sit flush inside the face frame and read traditional and tailored; they cost more and require precise wood movement allowances, but they are the most refined construction style. Full overlay doors cover the face frame entirely and read clean and modern; they are the most common choice for current Twin Cities kitchens. Partial overlay is the dated middle ground we mostly only build to match existing cabinetry.

The second decision is door style and finish. Shaker is the safe long-term default — it works in both traditional and contemporary contexts and it does not date the way a heavily ornamented door does. Slab doors read modern and emphasize wood grain. Beaded inset and traditional raised-panel doors fit historic homes and Tudor or colonial architecture. On finish: painted cabinets read cleaner and hide subtle wood variation; stained cabinets show the grain and age more gracefully. A common Twin Cities choice is painted perimeter with a stained-wood island.

The third decision is storage interiors. The cheapest cabinet is one big box with a shelf. The cabinet you actually want has dedicated storage for the things you actually use — drawer banks for pots and pans, pullout trash and recycling, vertical storage for sheet pans and cutting boards, peg systems for plates, deep drawers for mixing bowls. We plan interior storage by walking through how you cook, not by selling a feature list.

Kitchen cabinet cost and timeline

Custom kitchen cabinet budgets in the Twin Cities depend on size, species, finish complexity, and storage detail. As a working guide: a small kitchen (10 to 15 linear feet of cabinetry) in painted Shaker with standard interiors typically runs $18,000 to $32,000. A typical kitchen (20 to 30 linear feet, including island and pantry) in painted or stained Shaker with full storage interiors lands in the $35,000 to $65,000 range. A large kitchen (35+ linear feet) in inset construction, mixed finishes (painted perimeter with walnut or white oak island), and high-end storage details runs $70,000 to $135,000+.

Planning takes four to eight weeks. Shop fabrication runs six to ten weeks for a full kitchen. Installation is typically one to two weeks. What most often adds weeks: rift-sawn or quarter-sawn species (longer mill times), specialty paint colors that need extra sample rounds, and projects with mixed wood and painted finishes that need to be coordinated across two finishing booths.

Our Twin Cities service area

Knutson plans, builds, and installs kitchen cabinets throughout the Twin Cities metro. Style direction tends to follow the house. A 1920s south Minneapolis bungalow usually wants inset Shaker in painted poplar with classic hardware. A Highland Park colonial often gets traditional inset cabinetry with bead detail. A 1960s rambler in Edina or Bloomington is a strong candidate for slab or simplified Shaker doors in rift-sawn white oak or walnut. A 1990s two-story in Eden Prairie or Maple Grove is a frequent transitional kitchen — painted perimeter with a contrasting wood island. Our team brings a recommended direction to the first meeting based on the house and your taste.

Ready to start your kitchen cabinets?

Request a consultation and we will visit the kitchen, measure, photograph, and walk you through construction styles, door profiles, finishes, and storage options. You will leave the first meeting with a clear direction and a realistic build budget for your project.