Off brand, name brand, and quality: Part II

Last time I talked about the quality difference in bathroom vanities at different price levels. This time around I’ll address a question a receive quite a bit when people are shopping for bathroom vanities.

Why are bathroom cabinets so much more expensive then kitchen cabinets??

The price difference between kitchen and bathroom cabinets stems mainly from the assembly line vs. handmade manufacturing. Assembly line is always going to be cheaper then paying one guy to build it from scratch. But even then, the factory made bathroom vanity I talked about in my first post is still nearly twice the price of it’s kitchen counterpart. Why is this? Well, because stores buy more of them. My store stocks about the same total number of kitchen and bathroom cabinets, but while there is probably less then a dozen kitchen cabinet SKUs, my department has upwards of forty different styles and sizes bathroom vanities. The actual number of cabinets is the same, but our stock counts per cabinet are much lower.

On top of that, kitchen cabinets sold off the shelf are almost all unfinished. Which makes sense when you think about it, because everybody has different taste when it comes to the design scheme of their kitchen. I covered an unfinished bathroom vanity in my earlier post, but most vanities we sell are pre-finished, which raises the price a bit. Also, you are more likely to find a more ornate bevel or edging on the doors and drawers on an in-stock bathroom vanity. Not so much with in-stock kitchen cabinets.

All these factors attribute to the price gap. I’d wager if you broke it down to brass tacks you would still find a noticeable discrepancy in markup between the two, but I personally think that comes from the mindset the bathrooms are just more expensive to remodel. Companies know that, companies encourage that view, and they cash in on it. Fair? Maybe not, but that’s capitalism for you.

Next time I’ll cover some quality gaps in faucets. What you should look for, what you should stay away from, and all that good stuff. Come back for part III!