What Custom Kitchen Cabinets Really Cost in KL

Every kitchen quote in the Klang Valley is priced “per foot run” — one horizontal foot of cabinet, top and bottom counted separately. The same phrase covers quotes from RM 280 to RM 700 per foot, and callers understandably ask how that is possible. Here is the honest breakdown, from a workshop that sits in the middle of that range.

What a foot run actually includes

A base-cabinet foot run at a professional shop covers: the carcass board, the door or drawer front, edging, hinges or runners, assembly labour, and installation. It excludes the worktop, sink, tap, appliances, electrical and plumbing work, and usually the tall units — which are quoted per unit because they use double the material.

The three price bands

• RM 280–380 per foot: green-core particleboard carcass, standard melamine faces, unbranded hinges. Fine for a rental unit or a kitchen that sees light use. The risk is not the look — it is the hardware failing in year three and the board swelling at the sink cabinet.
• RM 400–550 per foot: plywood carcass, branded soft-close hardware (Blum, Hettich or Hafele), better edging, marine ply at wet points. This is where most of our kitchens land and, frankly, where the value curve peaks.
• RM 550–700+ per foot: spray-lacquered or solid-timber doors, aluminium inner frames, integrated handles, designer fittings. You are paying for finish and detailing, not extra durability.

Where cheap quotes hide the difference

Line one: the core. “Melamine cabinet” without a named core almost always means standard particleboard. The saving is about RM 60 per foot — and it is the difference that shows up two rainy seasons later.

Line two: the hardware count. Some quotes assume two hinges per door and charge every soft-close as an add-on. Count the doors and drawers in the drawing, then count the hardware lines in the quote.

Line three: installation and cornering. Corner units, filler panels, plinths and cut-outs for sinks and hobs take real hours. Quotes that show a suspiciously low foot-run price often recover it in a vague “installation and misc” line at the bottom.

A worked example

A typical L-shaped terrace-house kitchen: 12 ft of base cabinets, 10 ft of wall cabinets, one tall unit.

• Base: 12 ft × RM 480 = RM 5,760
• Wall: 10 ft × RM 380 = RM 3,800
• Tall unit: RM 1,900
• Quartz worktop (12 ft × RM 260): RM 3,120
• Joinery total: about RM 14,580 — before sink, tap and appliances.

The same kitchen at the budget band lands near RM 10,000; at the premium band, RM 20,000 and up. All three are “custom kitchens” in the advertisement.

Questions that keep a quote honest

• Which board core, by name, for dry and wet cabinets?
• Which hinge and runner brand and series, and how many are soft-close?
• Is installation, plinth and filler work inside the foot-run price?
• Is the worktop priced separately with its own per-foot rate?

We answer all four in writing on every quote — it is the fastest way to make comparisons fair. Send us your kitchen layout and you will have our numbers within two working days.