Jarlin RTA (Ready-to-Assemble) Cabinets

Jarlin RTA cabinets arrive flat-packed and go together on site, which keeps the cartons small, the freight cost down and the delivery easy to get through a doorway. The specification inside the carton is the same one Jarlin builds its assembled cabinets to: a half inch plywood box, a hardwood face frame, dovetail drawer boxes and soft-close hardware. The only thing that changes is who does the building.

Why Homeowners Choose Jarlin RTA Cabinets

Ready to assemble, which simply means the cabinet ships as a flat set of finished panels with its hardware packed alongside, is often the most practical way to get a real plywood kitchen into a house that was not designed around delivery trucks. A flat carton goes up a narrow staircase, around a tight landing and through a standard doorway. A built tall pantry frequently does not. In a walk-up apartment, a townhouse with a turned stair, or an older home with narrow openings, that fact alone can decide the whole order.

The second reason is what the saving pays for. Flat-packed cabinets cost less to buy and less to ship, and on a full kitchen that difference is large enough to move into the countertop, the appliances or the floor. When the labor is yours anyway, as it is on most rentals, flips and weekend renovations, assembly time costs nothing but time.

There is a storage advantage as well that people rarely think about until delivery day. Flat cartons stack neatly against a wall. Built cabinets need floor space you may not have while the room is still being demolished, plastered or painted. Being able to take delivery early and keep working is genuinely useful on a small job site.

How This Line Compares

Ready to assemble carries a reputation earned by flat-pack furniture rather than by cabinetry, so it is worth separating the two. A particle board carcass with cam locks and a printed foil finish is a different product from a plywood cabinet with a doweled hardwood frame, even though both get called RTA. Jarlin sits firmly in the second category, and that is the thing to check on any other RTA quote you are comparing.

Against Jarlin Assembled, which is the identical cabinet delivered already built, the choice is about your schedule and your access rather than about the product. Assembled is the better fit when the install window is tight, when you are paying a fitter by the hour, or when you would simply rather not spend a weekend with a drill. RTA is the better fit when access is awkward, the budget is doing a lot of work, or the labor is your own.

Jarlin carries its own manufacturer warranty rather than the Fabuwood terms quoted elsewhere on this site, so check the Jarlin warranty page for what is included before you order.

What You Get in Every Box

The parts in the carton are the same ones that go into the assembled cabinets. Nothing on this list is downgraded for the flat-packed version:

• Half inch grade plywood box. Plywood rather than particle board, so it holds a screw and copes with a damp under-sink cabinet. Screw holding is what keeps hinges and glides tight over the years, and it is the single most important thing about a cabinet box.
• Three quarter by one and a half inch hardwood face frame with a double doweled joint at each corner.
• Full overlay doors with three quarter inch thick panels, available in shaker or raised panel. Full overlay means the door covers most of the cabinet front, so you see doors rather than frame across the run.
• Dovetail drawer boxes with five eighths inch solid wood sides and no finger joints, so the corners interlock and stay square under load.
• Under-mount full-extension soft-close glides, which pull the drawer completely clear of the cabinet and sit below the box rather than intruding on the space inside it.
• Six way adjustable concealed soft-close hinges, so alignment happens after the doors are hung rather than needing to be perfect during the build.

If you want to understand what the industry considers a properly performing cabinet, the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association publishes the performance and construction standards most manufacturers test against.

Available Finishes

The RTA range is stocked in Cream White Shaker and Toffee Shaker, and both are easy colors to build a room around.

Cream White is a softer, warmer white than a bright cool one, which is what makes it forgiving in kitchens with limited natural light or with warm bulbs. It sits comfortably against cream and off-white quartz, against a warm gray floor, and against oak or walnut open shelving. Brushed brass or aged bronze hardware plays to its warmth; brushed nickel keeps it quieter.

Toffee is a mid wood tone with real warmth in it, the kind of finish that makes a kitchen feel settled rather than showroom-new. It looks particularly good with a light counter above it, since the contrast keeps the room bright, and it takes matte black or oil rubbed bronze hardware well. Toffee is also a sensible choice for a base run with something lighter above, which is a layout that suits smaller kitchens.

Both finishes come in the same full cabinet range: base, wall, tall and pantry, vanity, plus the panels, moldings and accessories a finished run needs. The cabinet box and the hardware are identical whichever color you pick, so you can compare purely on how the finish looks in your room. Browse the wider Jarlin shaker range if you want to see the door profile in more colors.

Putting the Kitchen Together

Each cabinet arrives as a flat set of panels with the hardware included. You build the box, fit the back, attach the face frame components as supplied, then hang the doors and set the drawers. No joinery skill is needed at any point.

What you want on hand is a clear flat surface to work on, a drill with a clutch, a rubber mallet and a square. Expect somewhere around twenty to forty minutes per cabinet once you have built two or three and found the rhythm, which makes a ten-cabinet kitchen a comfortable weekend rather than an evening.

The most useful piece of advice we can give: build them all before you hang any of them. Working in alternating batches of assembly and installation is the thing most likely to cost you a day. Set up a production line, get every box together, then move to the walls with a clean floor and a clear head.

Keep each cabinet's hardware bag with its own cabinet rather than pooling everything into one pile. Sorting fixings back into sets partway through a build is time you will not get back.

Good to Know

Assembly is straightforward work, and there is a fair amount of it. If your timeline has no slack in it, the assembled version of the same cabinet may be the better fit for your project.

Inspect every carton on delivery before signing for it. Damage is far easier to resolve when it is reported immediately, and a flat carton makes it quick to check panels for corner damage.

Soft-close hinges and drawer runners come standard across the range.

Jarlin cabinets carry Jarlin's own manufacturer warranty rather than the Fabuwood terms used elsewhere on this site.

Order the fillers, panels, moldings and toe kick in the same order as the cabinets. A second delivery for a missing panel is exactly the delay flat-packing was meant to help you avoid.

How to Order

Cabinets are listed and priced individually, so your total reflects the sizes your layout actually calls for rather than a package someone else designed. Here is the order we suggest:

• Order a door sample first. The door is the part you look at every day, and it is the one thing assembly cannot change.
• Choose your finish above and open the collection to see every cabinet and size priced.
• Send us your measurements if you would rather have the list built for you. A rough sketch with dimensions is enough to start.
• Request a free 3D design and we will return a scaled layout and a complete itemized quote at no cost, which you are free to take away and think over.

Still weighing flat-packed against built? Tell us about the route into your kitchen and how much of the labor is yours, and we will tell you honestly which format we would order for that job.

Ready to Assemble, Without the Compromise

Ready-to-assemble means the cabinets arrive flat-packed and go together on site. What it does not mean, in this range, is a lesser cabinet. Jarlin RTA is the same specification as the assembled version: the same 1/2 inch plywood box, the same hardwood face frame, the same dovetail drawer boxes and the same soft-close hardware. The only thing that changes is who does the assembly.

That distinction matters because RTA has a reputation earned by flat-pack furniture rather than by cabinetry. A particle board carcass with cam locks and a printed foil finish is a different product from a plywood cabinet with a doweled hardwood frame. Both get called RTA. Only one of them is worth putting in a kitchen you intend to keep.

What Assembly Actually Involves

Each cabinet arrives as a flat set of panels with the hardware included. You build the box, fit the back, attach the face frame components as supplied, then hang the doors and set the drawers. The hinges are six-way adjustable, so the final alignment happens after everything is hung rather than needing to be perfect during the build.

Expect somewhere around twenty to forty minutes per cabinet once you have done two or three and found the rhythm. A ten-cabinet kitchen is a weekend rather than an evening. What you need is a clear flat surface, a drill with a clutch, a rubber mallet and a square. What you do not need is any real joinery skill.

The single most useful piece of advice: build them all before you hang any of them. Assembling and installing in alternating batches is how people lose a day.

When RTA Is the Smarter Buy

• Difficult access. A flat carton goes up a narrow staircase, round a tight landing and through a standard doorway. An assembled tall pantry frequently does not. In an apartment or an older house this alone can decide it.
• Budget-led projects. The saving is real and it goes straight into the countertop, the appliances or the floor.
• Rentals and flips. Where the labor is yours anyway, assembly time costs nothing but time.
• Storage before install. Flat cartons stack against a wall. Built cabinets need floor space you may not have while the room is still being worked on.

Choose assembled instead when the schedule is tight, when you are paying an installer by the hour, or when you would simply rather not spend a weekend on it.

What You Are Building With

The parts in the carton are the same ones that go into the assembled cabinets:

• 1/2 inch grade plywood box. Plywood, not particle board, so it holds a screw and survives a damp under-sink cabinet. APA The Engineered Wood Association publishes the grading standards if you want to understand what plywood grades actually mean.
• 3/4 by 1 1/2 inch hardwood face frame with a double doweled joint
• Full overlay doors with 3/4 inch thick panels, in shaker or raised panel
• Dovetail drawer boxes with 5/8 inch solid wood sides and no finger joints
• Under-mount full-extension soft-close glides and six-way adjustable concealed soft-close hinges

Nothing on that list is downgraded for the flat-packed version. It is worth checking that claim against any other RTA quote you are comparing, because it is not always true elsewhere.

Good to Know

Assembly takes real time. It is simple work but there is a lot of it, and underestimating that is the most common regret we hear. If your timeline has no slack in it, buy assembled.

Inspect every carton on delivery before signing. Damage is far easier to resolve when it is reported immediately, and a flat carton makes it easy to check panels for corner damage.

Keep the hardware bags with their cabinets rather than pooling them. Sorting fixings back into sets partway through a build is a genuinely miserable afternoon.

Jarlin carries its own warranty rather than the Fabuwood terms quoted elsewhere on this site. See the Jarlin warranty page.

Ordering Jarlin RTA

Order a door sample first. The door is the part you will look at every day, and it is the one thing assembly cannot change.

Cabinets are listed and priced individually, so your total is the sizes your layout actually calls for. Add the fillers, panels, moldings and toe kick at the same time, since a second delivery for a missing panel is exactly the delay you were trying to avoid.

Send us your measurements if you would like the list built for you. We will return a 3D layout and a complete itemized quote at no cost, and you are free to take it away and think it over.

Jarlin RTA Cabinets FAQs