The RTA Shop Manifesto
A Better Way to Buy Cabinets & Professional Kitchen Design
There Is No Such Thing as “Free” Kitchen Design
Kitchen design takes time, experience, professional software, and careful attention to detail. Yet throughout the cabinet industry, design is routinely advertised as “free.”
But professional services have a cost. When a cabinet company provides design at no charge, that cost has to be recovered somewhere—typically through the price of the cabinetry.
At The RTA Shop, we believe there is a more transparent way to do business: separate the price of the cabinets from the price of professional kitchen design.
The À La Carte Approach
Not every cabinet customer needs the same level of service. Some customers already have a completed kitchen design and an exact cabinet list. Others are starting with room measurements, appliance specifications, ideas, or a hand-drawn sketch and need professional help turning those pieces into a complete cabinet plan.
Why should both customers pay for the same thing?
Our à la carte model allows you to purchase what you actually need:
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Cabinets at a Low, Transparent Markup:
If you already know exactly what you need, you can purchase authentic brand-name cabinetry from The RTA Shop without paying an inflated cabinet price to subsidize design services you don’t need. -
Professional Kitchen Design:
If you need help developing your kitchen, our design service is available separately. You are paying directly for the time, expertise, planning, drawings, and renderings involved in creating your project—not indirectly through a higher markup on every cabinet you purchase.
Professional Design Is More Than Putting Boxes on a Wall
A good kitchen design has to consider much more than whether cabinets fit along a wall. Cabinet dimensions, fillers, finished ends, appliance specifications, door and drawer clearances, moldings, panels, spacing, functionality, and the relationship between adjoining cabinets all have to be considered as part of the overall plan.
Our professional design service is intended for customers who want help working through those details before ordering cabinetry. The goal is to create a thoughtful, functional cabinet plan and give you the drawings and information needed to move your project forward with confidence.
Experience Matters
Kitchen projects involve more than selecting a door style. Years of experience with cabinetry, design, ordering, delivery, freight, installation issues, and the unexpected problems that arise during real projects provide perspective that cannot be learned from a product catalog alone.
Our role is to help customers understand their options, plan carefully, and purchase the cabinetry and design services that make sense for their individual project.
Two Customers. Two Different Needs.
Already have a completed design and exact cabinet list?
Great. You don’t need to pay The RTA Shop for kitchen design. Shop our cabinet collections or provide your completed cabinet list and purchase the products you need at our low cabinet markup.
Need help creating or completing your kitchen design?
That’s where our professional kitchen design service comes in. We can help develop the layout, work through cabinet selections and project details, and create the drawings and renderings needed for your project.
A More Transparent Way to Buy a Kitchen
Traditional cabinet pricing often bundles products and services together. We prefer to separate them.
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Determine What You Need:
If you already have a completed cabinet plan, you can move directly to purchasing cabinetry. -
Purchase Professional Design When You Need It:
If your project still needs layout development, cabinet selection, drawings, renderings, or other design assistance, choose the appropriate kitchen design service. -
Purchase Your Cabinets:
Once your cabinet list is complete, purchase authentic brand-name cabinetry at our low, transparent markup.
You pay for professional design when you need professional design. You pay for cabinets when you need cabinets. We don’t pretend one is free and hide its cost inside the other.