How can a showroom quote cabinets faster than from PDF catalogs and Excel price sheets?
A showroom quotes cabinets faster from catalogs already loaded with items and prices. KitchenDEV's showroom software builds the quote from them.
Eric E. Yildiz4 min read
A showroom quotes cabinets faster than from PDF catalogs and Excel price sheets by building each quote from catalogs that already hold every vendor's items, options and prices, so a designer selects lines instead of looking them up and typing them. KitchenDEV's Kitchen & Bath Retailer Suite works that way: KitchenDEV builds and maintains the vendor catalogs, and a designer builds the quote from the catalog or imports a Design Flex (formerly 2020 Design) file.
A loaded cabinet catalog is a vendor's price sheet turned into data that quoting software prices from, with every item, option and modification at its list price, so a designer selects an item instead of typing it.
Why is quoting from PDF catalogs and Excel slow?#
The designer reads the vendor's PDF catalog or Excel price sheet, types the items one at a time and totals the quote by hand. A revision, or the same kitchen in another vendor's line, means typing it again.
Showrooms on KitchenDEV calls describe the same setup. On a November 2026 demo, a showroom owner put it as "every job gets a Google Sheet," with cabinets priced by hand outside the job board. Another showroom on record had built its own Excel workbooks with macros to stand in for a portal for vendors that had none. KitchenDEV's quoting software for kitchen and bath showrooms replaces the per-job spreadsheet with one estimate priced from the catalogs.
What makes a cabinet quote faster in KitchenDEV's Kitchen & Bath Retailer Suite?#
- The catalogs are already built. KitchenDEV turns each vendor's price sheet into a catalog, including vendors with no 2020 catalog, and keeps it current. The lines already set up are listed with the vendor catalogs KitchenDEV maintains.
- Lines are picked from the catalog. A designer selects a door style and enters parts from the catalog, or imports a Design Flex design drawn with a catalog the showroom's account supports. Item matches made during an import are saved as they are made.
- Only valid options can be picked. KitchenDEV sets up options, modifications and compatibility rules inside each catalog, so the designer is guided to selections the vendor can build.
- Repeated lines are set up once. Labor and service items such as site measurements, delivery and installation are defined once with their pricing and picked on each quote.
- Totals are calculated. Cost, selling price, discount and expected profit are on screen while the quote is built, and an existing proposal can be copied for a similar job.
How many hours does pricing quotes by hand take?#
The hours go into three places: finding each line in the catalog and typing it, totaling and checking the quote, and doing it again for a revision or another vendor's line. The calculator below adds those up from your own numbers. Nothing is filled in until you type.
Hours spent pricing quotes by hand
Enter your own numbers. A year is counted as 12 months.
Cabinets, fillers, moldings, modifications and other items.
Looking up the item in a PDF catalog or price sheet and typing it in.
Leave empty if you do not count it.
For a revision or another vendor's line. Leave empty if none.
Enter quotes per month, lines per quote and minutes per line to see the hours.
- Minutes per quote
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- Hours per month
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- Hours per year
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The result is the time spent on lookup and typing today. How much of it a showroom gets back depends on which of its vendors are loaded and how many lines it still enters by hand.
What still takes work?#
- Price sheets from the vendor. KitchenDEV builds a catalog from the data a vendor provides. On a September 2026 call, a retailer said he could not get a full price list "on Excel or PDF" for his cabinet lines. KitchenDEV's answer was a quote by door style with one priced summary line.
- New price sheets. When a vendor issues a new price sheet, the showroom sends it to KitchenDEV, and KitchenDEV generally applies the update within one week.
- Quotes already sent. A price is captured on the estimate line when the item is added, so a later catalog update does not reprice an existing quote.
Quoting the same kitchen in a second line is covered in pricing several vendors' catalogs in one place.
FAQ#
No. A designer can build a quote in KitchenDEV's Kitchen & Bath Retailer Suite by selecting items straight from the vendor catalogs, or import a Design Flex file when one exists.
KitchenDEV does. The showroom sends the new price sheet to KitchenDEV, and KitchenDEV generally updates the catalog in KitchenDEV's Kitchen & Bath Retailer Suite within one week.
No. KitchenDEV's Kitchen & Bath Retailer Suite captures the price on each estimate line when the item is added, so a later catalog update does not reprice an existing estimate.
See a quote built from the catalog on the Kitchen & Bath Retailer Suite page, or book a demo with a price sheet and a recent job.