Six measurements, three site checks and a price you can compare
Ask three cabinet shops in Cape Coral to price the same kitchen and you will get three numbers that look like they describe three different rooms. The gap is almost never the cabinet itself. It is what each shop assumed about your house, because none of them measured the same things.
The six measurements below set the price. The three site checks around them decide whether the job runs smoothly. Take all nine before you ask anyone for a number, and the quotes you get back will finally be comparable.
Everything here comes from the drawing files, order records and incoming-material testing at our factory, and from the specification we build to. Anything about wind loading, flood elevation or permits belongs to a licensed Florida engineer and to the City of Cape Coral building department. If you are still deciding what to build the kitchen from, start with the guide to choosing cabinets for this city.
Measure nine things before you ask for a price
Six measurements set the price: the length of every run, the ceiling at its lowest point, the wall build, the finished floor level, where the lanai roof stops, and the appliance list with model numbers. Three site checks decide how the job goes: how far out of square the block wall is, whether your floor sits in a flood zone, and how much salt reaches the exposed wall. Send the same nine answers to every shop you ask, or you are comparing three different kitchens.
Custom kitchen cabinets Cape Coral FL: the six measurements that set the price
Each row below is something you can measure yourself in about an hour with a tape, a level and a pencil. None of it needs a professional. What it removes is the guesswork that makes two quotes impossible to compare.
| What to measure | How to measure it | What it changes in the price |
|---|---|---|
| The length of every run | Work along each wall the cabinets will touch. Measure end to end, and note where a filler strip could go. | The cut list, and how much allowance is left at each end to take up a wall that is out of square. |
| The ceiling at its lowest point | Measure at both ends of the run and in the middle. Write down the smallest number you find. | Whether a full-height cabinet can be built as one piece, or has to stop under a duct or a soffit. |
| The wall build | Concrete block or timber frame? Tap it. Then mark where the water, waste, power and range hood duct come in. | The anchors used, the gaps left in the cabinet back, and the route the duct takes. |
| The finished floor level | Measure the floor you will stand on, not the slab under it. Compare it with the flood elevation for your address. | Whether the base is built as a fixed unit or as one you can lift out ahead of a storm. |
| Where the lanai roof stops | Measure how deep the covered area is, and mark the exact line where the roof ends. | How far the same cabinet can run outdoors, and where the outdoor run needs different detailing. |
| The appliance list | Write down model numbers for the range, the hood, the dishwasher and the fridge, with the power point and duct for each. | The width of every housing, the direction the doors swing, and the clearance gaps. |
Two of these cause more trouble than the other four. The ceiling has to be measured at its lowest point, because a duct or a soffit usually takes the lowest reading, and a full-height cabinet built to the highest one gets remade. The appliance list has to carry model numbers, because a 36 inch range covers several depth and clearance options, and the one you actually buy decides the housing built around it.
Concrete block is normal in Cape Coral, so the third row is usually answered in one tap on the wall. The second half of that row matters more. Knowing where the water, waste, power and duct arrive lets the cabinet be drawn around them instead of cut around them on site.
Three site checks that decide whether the job runs smoothly
These are not measurements. They are conditions worth checking before you order, because each one can turn a correct cabinet into a second visit.
| What to check | How to check it | What it costs if nobody checks |
|---|---|---|
| A block wall that is out of square | Hold a level or a straight edge along the wall at counter height and look for the gap. Run it along the whole length. | A widening gap at one end of the run, or a door that will not open. Fixing it on site means cutting an edge that was finished in the factory. |
| A floor near or below the flood elevation | Look up the base flood elevation for your address and compare it with the floor measurement from the fourth row above. | A base that has to be cut out and rebuilt, instead of lifted out and dried. |
| An appliance changed after the drawing is approved | Nothing to check here, only to decide early. Confirm the range and the hood before you sign the drawing. | A new housing width, a new duct route, new door swings and a second production slot. |
A block wall that is out by ten to twenty millimetres over a long run is ordinary here, and the render and the tile make it worse instead of better. The width you measure on a bare wall is rarely the width you have on the morning the cabinets arrive. Drawing an allowance at each end of the run, plus a filler where the gap is wide, costs a little material. Finding the same problem on site costs a finished edge, and a cut edge in a humid room is where a cabinet starts to stain.
The second check is the one people skip. If your floor sits at or below the mapped base flood elevation, the base of the cabinet should be built so it can be lifted out. That decision belongs on the drawing, which means it has to be taken before anything is cut.
What salt actually does to a cabinet here
Cape Coral is not a barrier island. Salt reaches a kitchen wall here as a fine film carried on the wind, not as breaking spray. Two decisions follow from that, and they are the two worth spending money on.
The grade comes first. 304 stainless is the standard food-grade alloy and it handles a normal kitchen indefinitely. 316 adds molybdenum, which resists chloride, and it earns its place on the one wall where bare metal is exposed to canal air and stays damp. Paying for 316 on a wall that never gets wet adds cost and no service life.
The joints come second, and this is the part you can inspect before ordering. Ask any shop one question: is the sink bowl welded into the worktop, or dropped into a cut opening? A dropped bowl sits in a rim, and the rim holds water and cooking splash. A welded bowl has no rim and no silicone line to fail. The upstand along the back of the worktop is formed from the same sheet, so it leaves no joint for water to sit in.
Two small details that decide how the kitchen ages
Both of these cost very little at the drawing stage, and both are awkward to add later.
The first is the base of the cabinet. A plinth that unclips, and a cavity that can breathe, mean a cabinet that took on water can be opened up and dried out. A sealed base turns one wet season into a demolition.
The second is what goes inside a tall block. A full-height run of shelves is the most common way to waste the biggest unit in the kitchen, because you cannot reach the back without emptying the front. A tall pull-out with rotating trays turns the same block into working storage, and the open frame lets humid air move through the contents.
How to compare three quotes that do not look alike
Once all three shops have the same nine answers, they are pricing the same room. The totals will still differ. These seven questions explain most of the difference, and they are worth asking in writing.
- Which grade of stainless is used, and is it named for each area of the kitchen separately? Stainless steel on its own is not an answer.
- Is the sink bowl welded into the worktop, or dropped into a cut opening?
- How thick is the cabinet body, and what sits inside the panel: honeycomb, foam or paper?
- Is the plinth fixed, or does it unclip?
- Are the hinge and runner ratings written down, with a load figure and a cycle count?
- Does the warranty sit in the contract, or in a brochure?
- If a measurement on the drawing turns out to be wrong, who pays for the remake?
Any shop that cannot answer those in writing is quoting an assumption. That is fine, as long as you know which assumption you are buying.
What we need from you
Send the nine answers and a photo of each wall. You do not need a plan. A drawing comes back with every run set out, the grade named for each area, the allowance marked at each end, and the base drawn as fixed or lift-out. Nothing is cut until you approve that drawing, and the price does not move afterwards unless you change something.
Production takes about 35 working days from the approved drawing, or about 25 for the fastest series, with sea freight on top. Every set ships with a material certificate naming the heat number of its sheet, a third-party test report, and a ten year warranty on the cabinet body written into the contract.
Who decides the rest
Three questions belong to other people, and it is more useful to say so than to guess at them. Whether your structure needs a particular wind detail, and how high your finished floor has to sit above the base flood elevation, are questions for a licensed Florida engineer and for the City of Cape Coral building department. Whether an imported kitchen attracts duty, and under which tariff code, is a question for a customs broker.
What the cabinet can do is make those answers easier to live with. A base that can be lifted out, and a drawing that records your floor level against the flood elevation, keep your options open on paper instead of closing them on delivery day.
Every set leaves our factory in a wooden crate or a reinforced carton, panels layered separately with foam and corner protection. Incoming sheet is tested batch by batch with a spectrometer, because a 201 front and a 304 front look identical to the eye.
Questions we get asked
These come up most often once the measurements are in hand.
Is a custom kitchen more expensive than a standard one?
There is no single figure, because the kitchen is priced from a drawing instead of from a catalogue unit. What can be said is where the money sits: the front system, the panel build and the amount of one-off shaping carry most of it. Send the six measurements and you get a real number for your room instead of a band.
Can I take the measurements myself?
Yes. They are lengths, heights and a list of model numbers, and they take about an hour with a tape and a level. What usually goes wrong is measuring a bare wall and forgetting that render and tile will be added, or measuring the ceiling at one end only. Note the finished wall width and the smallest ceiling figure.
My wall is block and it is not straight. Does that rule out cabinets?
No. Nearly every block wall here is a little out of line, and cabinetry is built for it. The details are an allowance at each end of the run and a filler strip where the gap is wider. Both are drawn before anything is cut, so the finished joint looks tight.
Do I need 316 stainless because I am near water?
Only where bare metal is exposed to canal air and stays damp, which is usually one wall. 304 is the standard food-grade alloy and is what most of the kitchen should be. Buying 316 for a wall that never gets wet adds cost without adding service life.
How do I know the stainless is real?
Ask for a material certificate naming the heat number of the sheet, and a third-party test report. A 201 front and a 304 front look the same, and the test liquid sold online is unreliable enough to react to genuine 304.
How long from order to delivery?
About 35 working days from the approved drawing for a standard run, or about 25 for the fastest series, then sea freight. The approval step is the one to take seriously. A change before you sign costs a redrawn line. The same change after cutting costs panels, fronts and a new production slot.
What if a measurement on the drawing is wrong?
Read the drawing against your own numbers before you sign it, particularly the ceiling figure and the appliance widths. After approval the grade and the panel sizes are fixed, so a late change means new parts.
Is there a minimum order?
No. One room is a normal order, and every figure comes off a drawing for that room.
Where to go next
Send the six measurements, the three site checks and a photo of each wall. What comes back is a drawing and a price. The runs are set out with their filler positions, the grade is named for each area, the base is drawn as fixed or lift-out, and the outdoor run stops where your roof stops.
The product tickets show the constructions behind those drawings, from the Aspen grey indoor run to the Helios sink workstation, which is a bowl and a worktop welded as one piece. Kitchens built the same way are on the delivered projects page, and the quality page lists what is checked against the approved drawing before a set is crated.
Related pages
Choosing cabinets for Cape Coral: the three builds
What the address decides, which of the three builds a block house is offered, and where the cabinet is allowed to stop.
The same method in a cold city
What a survey has to record before a one-off room is drawn, read through a different climate.
Carcase, interior and front, taken apart
Which of the three decisions belongs on a drawing, and which one belongs on a shopping list.
What a Cape Coral quotation includes after the survey
The term it is written in, the coastal grade named at each line, and a worked figure built from the same measurements.
Content record: Written by the Bogeqi content team and reviewed by the Bogeqi export sales team on October 11, 2026; last updated October 11, 2026. The construction details, material grades and production timings come from our own drawing files, order records and incoming-material testing at our factory, and the coastal detail reflects orders built for humid and salty markets. Anything about wind loading, flood elevation, permits or import duty belongs to a licensed Florida engineer, the City of Cape Coral building department or a customs broker instead of to us.