Pricing cabinet install labor by linear foot, by box, or both
Install labor is usually priced one of two ways: by the linear foot of cabinets or by the box. Both are fine. They just pay differently for the same kitchen, and it helps to know where each one breaks before you set your rates.
The rates on this page are examples to show the math, not a market average. Set yours from your own crew's hours.
How to count linear feet
Add the widths of the boxes on a run and divide by 12. A B24, an SB36 and a DB18 are 78 inches, or 6.5 linear feet. Count base and wall runs separately, because hanging uppers and setting bases are different work and most crews charge them differently. Openings for the dishwasher and the range are not boxes, so they do not count. Decide once how you count a corner box, by its nominal width once or along both walls, and keep it the same on every quote.
Tall cabinets (pantries and oven cabinets) are usually priced each, not by the foot: an 84-inch pantry is one heavy box, whatever its width.
The same wall, priced both ways
Take 18 linear feet of upper cabinets. Hung as six 36-inch boxes or as eighteen 12-inch boxes, the run is the same length. At $35 per linear foot or $75 per box:
| Run and method | Qty | Rate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Six W3630, per lf | 18 | $35 | $630.00 |
| Six W3630, per box | 6 | $75 | $450.00 |
| Eighteen W1230, per lf | 18 | $35 | $630.00 |
| Eighteen W1230, per box | 18 | $75 | $1,350.00 |
Per linear foot pays the same for both runs, even though eighteen boxes take more leveling, screwing and joining than six. Per box pays three times more for the narrow run, even though the wide boxes are heavier and harder to lift into place. Neither is wrong; each one has a kitchen it underpays.
- Per linear foot is easy to quote on a first visit, when you only have wall lengths, and easy for a homeowner to compare. It underpays kitchens with many narrow boxes.
- Per box follows the real number of units the crew hangs. It needs the box list, so it fits the final quote better than the first estimate, and it underpays runs of wide, heavy boxes.
- Both: many dealers quote lf on the first visit and switch to per box, or add a per-box charge for tall and oversized cabinets, on the final quote.
The extras that belong on their own lines
Crown molding, fillers and panels, demolition of the old kitchen and haul-away are different work from setting boxes. Put each on its own line so the homeowner sees what they are paying for and you can drop one without repricing the rest. Crown is usually per linear foot; fillers and panels per piece; demo and haul per job.
How Cabinet Project stores labor
Each company keeps its own labor rates, each with a unit of linear feet or each. The kinds are base per lf, wall per lf, tall each, per box, crown, filler, demo, haul and custom. On the quote, labor is its own line: quantity × rate, next to the boxes, so the cabinet price stays list × multiplier and the labor stays visible.
Labor lines are not taxed by default, because many states do not charge sales tax on installation stated separately on the invoice. It is a default, not tax advice: where your state taxes installation, turn tax on for that rate. A discount on a quote with untaxed labor reduces the taxable part in proportion to its share of the subtotal, so the tax stays right.
For the full quote these labor lines sit in, see how to quote a 10x10 kitchen with list price × multiplier.