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KraftMaid Home Additions & ADU: The San Jose Owner’s Guide
If you’re planning a home addition or ADU in San Jose and want KraftMaid cabinetry built into it, installed pricing typically runs $53,100 – $153,400 depending on square footage, site conditions, and the cabinet line you select. We install KraftMaid cabinetry in new additions, garage conversions, and detached ADUs throughout San Jose, and we’ll give you a written price before any work starts. Most homeowners discover they need this service when a contractor hands them a vague allowance for “cabinets” that turns out to cover only the cheapest builder-grade boxes – not the KraftMaid line they were promised.
Penhallow Remodeling San Jose is an independent general contractor. We are not affiliated with KraftMaid, but we source their cabinetry directly through authorized trade channels, which means the warranty is intact and the product is genuine.
Which KraftMaid Models This Applies To
KraftMaid builds three cabinet lines that change how we frame and finish a San Jose addition or ADU. The Vantage line runs $90 – $160 per linear foot for the boxes alone and gives you a painted or stained finish with plywood drawer boxes. Venicia goes $140 – $220 per linear foot and is their full-overlay line with deeper drawers and more interior accessories. The semi-custom line from KraftMaid’s standard catalog – what most San Jose homeowners actually choose for an ADU kitchen – lands between those two, and it’s what we quote most often for rental units and in-law suites.
The compatibility gotcha nobody warns you about: KraftMaid’s 15-inch-deep wall cabinets and 24-inch-deep base cabinets assume standard 8-foot ceiling framing. In a San Jose ADU built under the city’s 16-foot height limit, you’ll sometimes get a 7-foot-6-inch finished ceiling after floor insulation and drywall. That half-inch difference means we specify shorter upper cabinets or add a light rail, and we catch it during pre-construction measurement, not after the cabinets arrive on site. We also recommend ordering through KraftMaid’s Advantage pre-assembly program for ADU projects – it saves a full day of on-site assembly per kitchen and keeps the job site cleaner, which matters when you’re living in the main house during construction.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your KraftMaid Home Additions & ADU Plan Is Going Wrong
- The cabinet allowance doesn’t name a line or finish. A quote that says “cabinets included” without specifying KraftMaid Vantage, Venicia, or a specific door style usually means you’re getting imports or in-house boxes. Get the line in writing.
- Drawings show cabinets but no filler strips or end panels. KraftMaid’s modular sizing needs filler to look finished. Without it, doors bind on walls and the run looks slapped together.
- The contractor can’t produce a written lead time. KraftMaid cabinets run 4 – 8 weeks depending on the line and finish. A contractor who won’t commit that to paper hasn’t actually ordered anything.
- No one mentions the ceiling height issue. In San Jose ADUs especially, low finished ceilings are common. If your builder hasn’t measured your finished ceiling height against KraftMaid’s cabinet dimensions, the upper cabinets may not fit.
- You’re being rushed to sign before measurements are verified. The Kingswell Way says the price comes before the work, but it also says measurements come before the price. A written number built on unchecked numbers is a number that changes later.
See the difference
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After
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
A full home addition in San Jose typically runs $53,100 – $153,400, and an ADU with a KraftMaid kitchen lands between $106,200 – $259,600 depending on whether it’s attached, detached, or a garage conversion. The KraftMaid portion itself – cabinetry, hardware, delivery, and installation – usually represents $8,000 – $22,000 of an ADU kitchen budget depending on the line and fill level. Here’s the granular look:
- KraftMaid Vantage kitchen in an ADU: $8,000 – $14,000 installed, including hardware and soft-close.
- KraftMaid Venicia kitchen in a main-house addition: $14,000 – $22,000 installed, full-overlay doors, deeper drawers.
- Bath vanity in KraftMaid Vantage: $1,900 – $3,500 installed, depending on width and countertop integration.
- Laundry or mudroom cabinetry in Vantage: $2,400 – $5,200 installed.
What drives cost up: custom paint colors (KraftMaid’s custom finish program adds 8 – 12% and two weeks), roll-out trays and interior accessories, and any site work to level floors before cabinets set. What drives it down: choosing a stock white or gray finish, standard 36-inch uppers, and ordering early so we’re not paying rush freight. Every quote includes labor, delivery, hardware, and a written workmanship warranty. If something fails inside 365 days, we come back and fix it at no charge – that’s the Done Right Promise, on paper, with every job.
DIY or Call Us?
You can check a few things yourself. Verify your finished ceiling height with a tape measure before anyone orders upper cabinets. Confirm the quoted KraftMaid line by asking for the spec sheet with the door style name on it. And look at your electrical plan – under-cabinet lighting needs a rough-in before drywall goes up, and it’s far cheaper to catch that now than to surface-mount wires later.
Where DIY goes wrong is the install itself. KraftMaid cabinets are heavy – a full-overlay base cabinet with doors and drawers can weigh 80 pounds – and San Jose’s older homes rarely have level floors or square corners. Shim, level, scribe, repeat is a two-person job that separates a kitchen that looks right from one where every door swings open on its own. When it’s built into a $53,000-plus addition, the labor is a small line item and the mistakes are not. Call (669) 274-2362 and we’ll measure the space, spec the right KraftMaid line for the ceiling height you actually have, and put the number in writing before a single tool leaves the truck.
FAQs
KraftMaid cabinets hold up for 20 – 30 years in a San Jose ADU, with the hardware typically being the first thing to need attention around year 8 – 12. Our install work is covered by the 365-Day Done Right Promise, and KraftMaid’s own warranty covers the cabinet boxes and finish against defects for as long as you own the home. Call (669) 274-2362 if you’d like us to inspect an existing ADU kitchen.
Yes, in most cases. Loose hinges, delaminating edge banding, and sticking drawers are repair jobs we handle in San Jose ADUs and kitchens regularly. If the cabinet boxes themselves are swollen from water damage or the finish has failed across multiple doors, replacement usually costs less than refinishing. Call (669) 274-2362 and we’ll give you a written price either way.
A full KraftMaid kitchen install in a San Jose addition takes two to four days once the cabinets are on site and the walls are painted. An ADU kitchenette or bath vanity is often in and done in a single day. The lead time on the cabinets themselves is the part to plan around – usually 4 – 8 weeks from order to delivery. We’ll put that lead time in writing when we quote the job.
We don’t stock KraftMaid inventory in a warehouse – cabinets are ordered per project to match your exact layout and finish. What we do keep on hand for San Jose jobs are the soft-close hinges, drawer glides, and touch-up kits that let us fine-tune an install without waiting on a parts shipment. If you need a single replacement door or drawer front matched to an existing KraftMaid kitchen, we can order that too. Call (669) 274-2362 with the door style and finish name, and we’ll price it out.
Give me the real problem and I’ll give you the real number. That’s how we’ve run every San Jose addition and ADU project, from the Willow Glen kitchen gut-jobs I started my finish career on to the in-law units going up in Evergreen and Almaden this year. We also install Cambria and Silestone countertops and Kohler fixtures alongside KraftMaid cabinetry, so your material choices don’t scatter across three different vendors. Written price first, real arrival window, and a written guarantee on every job – that’s the Kingswell Way, and it’s how Penhallow Remodeling San Jose has always worked.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner, Penhallow Remodeling San Jose at Penhallow Remodeling San Jose, serving San Jose and nearby areas.
