However, the store where we're getting our granite vanity top from also sells Showplace brand cabinets and they have a cabinet that would work very well with our layout (single 72" cabinet with drawers in the middle). The Showplace vanity and medicine cabinets would be a few hundred dollars cheaper than Dynasty cabinets, but I haven't been able to find any opinions or reviews of the Showplace cabinets online. Has anyone here used them?

I was between Showplace cabinets for my kitchen and Custom Cupboard. My KD said the Custom Cupboard cabinets were made better. I don't remember all the details but check on the construction and thickness.

Karen

We put down a 60% deposit and were told the cabinets would arrive in 5-6 weeks. They arrived more than 10 weeks later at the beginning of June. We did not receive our full order and what we received had numerous problems.

Of what we did receive, 90% of the doors and drawer faces had flaws that required replacement. The flaws included: chip outs at the panel joins, door insert panels had the wrong side facing forwards, glue rag marks, inconsistent and poorly sanded drawer panel ends, and staining flaws. Three of the cabinets were the wrong size and had to be reordered.

We were told the replacement order would be expedited due to the already lengthy delays we had experienced. Not true.

After another 8 weeks we received the replacement cabinets but had to wait another few weeks for the door and drawer faces (due to the significant number of flaws they had to have a special meeting which dragged the process out even longer). When they did arrive about 30% of the replacements had flaws that required they also be replaced. The dealer and Showplace's manufacturer's rep assured me they would be replaced. It is now the middle of October and our kitchen is still not finished. The dealer hasn't returned calls for 4 weeks. The manufacturer's rep on the other hand has returned calls and is looking into the situation.

Other than the poor delivery time, slow customer service, and poor quality finishing, I would also add that the cabinets do not have the build quality I expected or was led to believe that I would receive. On the plus side, the design is very nice, the frontal appearance is very good, and drawer construction is very solid. On the negative, the cabinet walls are only 3/8" plywood construction and the backs are at best an 1/8". The cabinets are poorly braced and my cabinet installer had to rebuild the oven cabinet so it would support our built-in oven. The thin wall construction means that the cabinets 'rack' easily making it very difficult for my cabinet installer to true them up during installation. But you will not find the cabinet wall thickness mentioned in any of Showplace's marketing materials. I sifted through their website and .pdf materials but cabinet wall thickness is artfully omitted.

In my opinion these cabinets look good but are not built to last. I have since learned that I could have had custom cabinets built with much higher quality for equivalent dollars. And if I had, my kitchen would be complete by now. My dealer told us we could expect our cabinet install to take 3-6 weeks from the time the cabinets arrived. It is now 5 months and it is still not done.

To me it sounds like you are working with a really bad dealer. I sell Showplace cabinets, so I know them pretty well. I also install cabinets, so I understand the importance of how they're built, not just how they look. The boxes are very well built. 3/8" plywood is sufficient for the sides, and you can bump it up to 5/8" flush ends for anything exposed if you'd rather. The cheaper, lower quality cabinets will use furniture board for the sides. Showplace doesn't even offer quality that low. The back is 1/8", but has no structural significance to the cabinet, so it just provides a clean look from the inside.

As for the problems you've run into, and just from what I read, I would guess you are working with a lazy dealer. He probably placed your order much later than he told you, and could very vell have been the person that mishandled the cabinets to cause the damage. I have been to Showplace's factory, and I know first-hand that they build, package, and deliver very carefully, so to get that much product damaged makes me think it's someone who handled them after delivery. Also, with all the wrong sizes, I would bet the order was wrong in the first place. My guess is that if you check the tags on the individual cabinets, the size of the cabinet will match what the tag says it should be. That means that Showplace did exactly what they said they were going to do, but whoever designed and ordered them never checked to make sure that was really what they needed (or didn't know what they really needed).
It's great that Showplace is stepping up to help fix all these issues. I would expect that kind of cooperation from them just based on the type of people they are. Unfortunately, they have entrusted a dealer as a middle man to work with you, and you got stuck with an incompetent dealer.
I hope you get everything straightened out and finished. And I can sympethize with your headaches right now, so I hope that the right people take responsibility for their screw-ups. Good Luck.

My husband and I purchased Showplace cabinetry (painted wood) for our kitchen and bath. Cabinetry was installed in Sept 2008. It's December now and about half of the doors (only in the kitchen) are warped so that the doors do not close "flush" with the cabinet any longer. Is this normal? I can't believe that we paid over $12K for cabinets that warped in two months. For the dealer who posted, any advice?

Thank you, Tiff

Wood definitely moves. If your house has a significant changes in humidity (or is different from the climate you cabinets were manufactured in), that will cause things to move, expand, shrink, and possibly even twist. Showplace has some warnings about that and your dealer should have provided you with that info. But, hopefully this is not the case. The first thing I would do is adjust the hinges. All of Showplaces concealed hinges are adjustable up/down, side-to-side, and in/out. Adjustments are always needed after installation with any cabinet. If adjusting the hinges doesn't make them lay perfectly flat, you still may be ok. Wood also needs time to re-acclimate to their new environment. In time, the wood should relax. This could take several months, but can also change with the seasons.
Also, did you pick a flat panel door? Those would be more prone to twisting than a solid panel door since they are simply not as rigid. And, larger doors will obviously show twist much more drastically than the smaller doors.
I guess my advice, if adjusting the hinges doesn’t work is, be patient for now and give your cabinets time to adjust. Keep your dealer in the loop though, and if your doors don’t show any sign of improvement in the next few months, have your dealer bring it to Showplace’s attention and have them replace any doors that still don’t look right. Like you said, you made a large investment in your home, and I'm sure Showplace will be very cooperative to ensure you're satisfied with it. I hope this helps.