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KraftMaid Home Additions & ADU: The San Francisco Owner’s Guide
If you’re planning a home addition or ADU in San Francisco and want KraftMaid cabinetry throughout, a full project typically runs $53,100 – $153,400 depending on square footage, foundation work, and how much KraftMaid casework the space needs. We install KraftMaid cabinets and coordinate the surrounding addition work, matching existing KraftMaid door styles and finishes so the new space reads as part of the original house rather than a bolt-on. Most owners don’t reach out because a single “part” failed. They reach out because the kitchen in the new addition needs cabinets that match the main house, the ADU needs a full cabinet run on a tight footprint, or a wall cabinet in the existing KraftMaid kitchen shifted after the addition changed the wall it hangs on. The symptom is usually structural, not cosmetic: a cabinet pulling away from the wall, doors that no longer align, or a layout that doesn’t function once the room’s footprint changed.
We’re an independent remodeling contractor in San Francisco, not a KraftMaid dealer or affiliate. We install KraftMaid cabinetry because the brand offers the broadest range of door styles, wood species, and cabinet box configurations for additions and ADUs, which means the new run can be built to the same spec as the old one instead of “close enough.”
Which KraftMaid Models This Applies To
KraftMaid builds cabinets in three construction lines that matter for San Francisco additions and ADUs. The first is the standard framed line, where the cabinet face has a visible frame around each door opening. The second is Vantage, a full-overlay framed line where doors sit nearly edge to edge. The third is KraftMaid’s frameless line, sold under the Eden label, where the cabinet box carries the hinge and the door covers the full box face. If you’re matching existing cabinets, the line matters more than the door style. A raised-panel door from the standard line and a raised-panel door from Vantage can be identical in profile but completely different in overlay, which changes how the new run sits against the old one.
Every KraftMaid cabinet carries a label inside the cabinet box, usually on the top or side wall of the sink base or corner cabinet. That label lists the door style name, the wood species, the finish code, and the construction line. Take a photo of that label before you call us. If the label is gone, a photo of the hinge and the door edge from three feet back usually tells us what we need to know. For the new work, we order KraftMaid cabinets in the same line and finish, then field-adjust the reveals during installation so the two runs align as if they went in the same week.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your KraftMaid Home Additions & ADU Is Failing
- Cabinets pulling away from the wall above a doorway or pass-through. In San Francisco housing stock, the wall above a cased opening often carries less structure than the studs behind a base cabinet. When that wall is shared with a new addition, the loads shift and the fasteners lose purchase. You’ll see a gap at the top, then the run begins to sag at the center. The fix is new blocking and longer cabinet screws, not more screws in the drywall.
- Doors that no longer align after the addition settled. Soft-close hinges compensate for a lot, but when the cabinet face changes plane because the wall moved or the box twisted, doors start catching at the corners. The tell is a door that closes fine at the handle but kisses the cabinet frame at the top hinge. That’s a wall plane issue, not a hinge issue.
- The new ADU kitchen layout can’t hold standard base cabinets. San Francisco ADUs often work with 6 to 8 feet of linear cabinet run. Standard 24-inch-depth base cabinets eat the walkway. The failure is planning, not product. KraftMaid builds reduced-depth cabinets down to 12 inches in most door styles, which changes the entire floor plan.
- The existing KraftMaid island doesn’t match the new perimeter run. When an addition opens the kitchen into the new space, the original island finish can read as a different color under the new light. KraftMaid has shifted finish formulations over the years, so a cabinet ordered in the same finish code today can look subtly different from one installed eight years ago. We flag that before ordering, not after the boxes arrive.
- Drawers that used to glide now catch, only in the new run. That is almost always an out-of-square cabinet box during install, usually from a floor that runs out in the addition. A half-inch drop across 8 feet is enough to make a drawer face catch on the cabinet below it. We level and shim to the floor line, not to the drywall line.
Replacement Cost & What’s Included
A full home addition or ADU project in San Francisco runs $53,100 – $153,400, which includes design and permit work for the space, framing, plumbing, electrical, finishes, and the KraftMaid cabinetry installed throughout. The cabinet portion of an ADU kitchen typically falls between $4,720 and $15,340 for doors, boxes, hardware, and installation, though it can run higher with reduced-depth customizations or a full-height pantry wall. What moves your number inside the range: whether the addition ties into the existing foundation or stands on its own, whether the city requires a traffic or soil study for an ADU permit, and how much structural work the opening between old and new requires. The KraftMaid cabinetry itself is a smaller piece of the overall figure, but it is the piece you touch every day.
Every estimate we write is a written, line-item price given before work starts. You’ll see the cabinet order broken out by box, the hardware separately, and the labor separately. The price on the sheet is the price on the invoice. And the whole project, including the cabinet installation, is covered by our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if something isn’t done right within a year of completion, we come back and make it right.
See the difference
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AfterDIY or Call Us?
There are things a homeowner can safely check. Read the KraftMaid label inside a cabinet box, match the finish code to a sample chip in daylight, and measure the depth of an existing base cabinet before adding an island. That information helps. What goes wrong with DIY on additions and ADUs is the wall the cabinets hang on. Wall cabinets carry real weight, and in San Francisco, many walls in older homes have been opened and patched by previous owners in ways that are not visible from the surface. Hanging KraftMaid cabinets to drywall anchors alone is how runs fail. We open the wall, inspect the studs, add blocking where needed, and fasten cabinets to structure. That work is not a weekend project, and it should not be treated like one. If the cabinet run you’re adding or replacing carries more than two wall cabinets side by side, or anything above a cooktop, call (831) 480-4497 and we’ll come look at the wall before you spend money on boxes.
FAQs
KraftMaid cabinets in a dry, stable San Francisco interior typically last 20 to 30 years before the boxes show real wear, though door hinges usually need replacement or adjustment every 8 to 12 years. Where they fail earlier is where the wall itself moved: additions that shift the load, fog-belt moisture in unheated spaces, or cabinets hung over heat sources that dry the wood. A well-installed run on a stable wall will outlast most of the home’s other finishes. Call (831) 480-4497 if you want us to look at how your existing run is hanging.
Yes, in many cases we can realign a run, rehang cabinets to new blocking, replace damaged doors or drawer fronts from KraftMaid’s current catalog, and leave the rest untouched. The challenge is finish matching if the existing cabinets are older, because KraftMaid has shifted some finish formulas over the years. For a few damaged pieces in an addition, repair is usually faster and less expensive than a full replacement. Call (831) 480-4497 with a photo of one cabinet label and one door and we’ll tell you what’s possible.
A typical San Francisco home addition or ADU runs 4 to 9 months from first design conversation to final inspection, with the KraftMaid cabinet installation itself taking 2 to 5 days once the boxes arrive on site. The cabinets are rarely the long pole in the schedule; the permit process, foundation work, and utility connections are. We order KraftMaid cabinets early in the project so they arrive before the finish stage, not after it. Call (831) 480-4497 for a written schedule based on your specific project.
We stock common installation hardware on the truck: KraftMaid-compatible hinges, drawer glides, cabinet screws, shelf pins, and touch-up kits for the most common KraftMaid finish families. Full cabinet boxes and doors are ordered from KraftMaid to your specific door style and finish, which means they’re not something we can pull from a shelf. For the brands we work with most, including KraftMaid, Cambria, Silestone, and Kohler, we order to spec so the new pieces match the existing ones. Call (831) 480-4497 and we’ll check what’s in the truck for your specific job.
Key Takeaways
- A home addition or ADU in San Francisco with KraftMaid cabinetry runs $53,100 – $153,400, with the cabinet portion of a typical ADU kitchen between $4,720 and $15,340 installed.
- Match existing KraftMaid by the cabinet label inside a box: door style, wood species, finish code, and construction line (standard, Vantage, or Eden frameless).
- The most common failure in San Francisco additions is not the cabinet itself, but the wall it hangs on: shifted loads, settled additions, and half-century-old studs.
- Every project gets a written, line-item price before work starts, and every completed project is covered by our 365-Day Done Right Promise.
- We’re an independent San Francisco remodeling contractor, not a KraftMaid dealer, which means we can match what you have without being tied to any single product line.
If you’re planning a home addition or ADU in San Francisco and want the KraftMaid cabinetry in the new space to match the rest of the house, call us at (831) 480-4497. Tell me what the room needs to do, and we’ll figure out the rest from there. The estimate is free, the price is in writing before any work starts, and the cabinets go in the way Graham Stein has been doing them across San Francisco for years: hung on structure, leveled to the floor, and matched to what’s already there.
Written by Graham Stein, Owner, Elmstead Remodeling San Francisco at Elmstead Remodeling San Francisco, serving San Francisco and nearby areas.
