ncanny - I got quotes from both. I ordered from Medallion in the end as Schuler did not have the door style I was after. I can tell you that my Schuler quote was less than the Medallion for a higher grade of cabinetry (Lowes' plywood Grand Traditions vs. Medallion's particle board Designer). Also, as far as quality, the cabinets are the same, made at the same factory. In fact, the delivery truck that delivered our cabinets had Schuler cabinets to deliver after ours.

So to summarize, there is absolutely no difference in quality, just the names of the door styles - and Medallion carries a few doors that Schuler does not...

While not everyone has good experiences at Lowes, it sounds like you have a good KD so they may be a perfect fit for you. Good luck!

Medallion's highest line is Designer Gold --

The price differences between the two lines would be determined by any quality or construction differences in the cabinet itself ("apples to apples" or not), and partly the different profit margins the different suppliers build in.

While there have been many complaints about Lowes KDs, others have been very, very happy. I'd suspect you'd find a WIDE variation between Lowes' best KD and their worst, with the worst having virtually no training and the best being as good as those in a custom kitchen shop. It sounds like the KD you got is one of the very good ones.

If you found the door style you want, the customizations you need, a good price, and a good KD -- you're really all set to go. You'd just have to weigh the advantages and disadvantages to your own psychological comfort of going through the time and effort to get a new quote.

ncamy,
I am just starting to research cabinetry for our new house. I was out yesterday and looked at Medallion and Schuler. Of all the cabinets I saw in a 'mid range' cabinet I liked the Medallion the best. The Medallion is at a local company that specializes in kitchen remodels and new construction. I know with Lowe's they were running some specials on kitchen orders and they also have that 10% off coupon which you can usually get. I have also heard that you should ALWAYS ask for a better price when dealing with Lowe's-this from a Lowe's employee. Apparently this is especially true of anything they have in stock and marked down, but it never hurts to ask on a big purchase like this.

When I have heard complaints about 'the big box stores', they seem to focus on 3 things: inexperienced designers, poor installation and bad service after the sale when things go wrong. Since you have a good designer you only have to worry about 2 & 3. :) So I would ask the designer who you are working with "If you were having your own kitchen installed, which of your installers would you use?" Then make sure you have a say in getting the installer you want, if you could get some references even better. Ask about follow up service after the sale, what problems they typically run into and how those are handled.

If you wouldn't mind sharing more information about your kitchen (size, layout, linear feet, wood & finish) and the cabinet quote, that would be a big help. I am wondering how much our cabinets might run and I wasn't able to get any 'real' numbers yesterday.

Thanks and hope something in my rambling helped!

The kitchen is 17 X 12 with an island and all straight runs with no corners due to the placement of the doors. We are using quartersawn oak in a chestnut stain. The quote I got from Lowes was $23,000 (which did not include any discounts or specials) for the Grand Traditions line with all plywood boxes and upgraded drawer glides. All of the uppers are 15 inches deep and 42 inches high.

We embellished with feet, valances, and light rails and crown. We finished all of the ends and have one 42 inch open shelf area and four uppers with glass (which requires finishing the insides.) We have approximately 30 cabinets/sections and ended up with 20 feet of lowers and 18.75 feet of uppers in addition to a 54 inch wood hood (very expensive!) The plan includes a rollout tall pantry, panels for the dishwasher, 3 tilt up appliance garages, a custom made cabinet with pocket doors for the popcorn popper (aka microwave!), an entertainment cabinet with pocket doors for the TV, 4 banks of drawers, a trash pull out, and rollouts in all the other lowers.

I will probably trim the order once my GC looks at the order and tells me what things he can build cheaper. Overall I am very pleased. My builder had told me that we were probably looking at $30,000 for the kitchen (not including appliances.) So this leaves me $7,000 for the just under 60 square feet of countertops. I think I'm in pretty good shape and can make this budget work.

I probably would not have Lowes do the installation because the GC said he usually has his man do it. Although if Lowes did it I believe their install price would be between $1000-1500 due to a special they are running. Our house isn't framed yet so we are a long way off from needing the cabinets installed.

I also got Schuler from Lowes. They are great cabinets; the best you can get from a box store. All my subcontractors were really impressed with the cabinets. They were dumbfounded when I told them where I had gotten them.

I have heard the pricing may vary with the independent Medallion stores. I went with Lowes because I got a free sink base, 10% off the total (I just asked-no coupon) and 0% financing for 6 months. My friend is doing Medallion from a store and it seems like similar pricing.

I would definitely tell you to find your own installers though. Most complaints about Lowes stem from the substandard subcontractors who all work under one umbrella license.

Good luck with the remodel. You can't go wrong with Schuler. Plus you can return extra crown/fillers etc so save the packaging for that stuff.

Thanks so much for sharing the information, it really helps. It seems like we will have a similar amount of of cabinets, so now I know what sort of 'ballpark' we might be in-it sounds like you added alot of nice detail and that is what I love! I am hoping to get the Medallion & Schuler quotes going this week, when I get a number I will post back and let you know how they compare if you would be interested.

That seems like a very fair price to me for all the cabinets you're getting -- Especially if you can get 10% off on top of that.

Good luck!

I just bought Schuler New Haven Grand Tradition from Lowe's in MA. We looked around at HD, plus a couple of smaller kitchen designers. The Lowe's KD was great and took lots of time with us. We also sat down with a KD from a more upscale designer and he came up with the same design and price was approx the same. We went with Lowes because of the $799 install special (and $500 gift card) and free sink base. Plus everything I've read about Shuler has been great.
Lowe's so far has been great. They called today to tell me when the cabinets would ship and when to expect.

Hi everyone!
can you please give update how are your Shuler cabinets from Lowe's? did you have any trouble ? do you like them?
please give me some tips. i want to order them next week

thanks!
Elena

Hello all,
Believe it or not there is another cabinet company that is the same as Schuler/Medallion and it is Hanssem. They have the same kitchen photos on Hanssem as they do on Schuler website. I cannot compare prices because I do not have the price list for Schuler but I do for Hanssem. Does anyone have one for Schuler? The Hanssem cainets were some of the prettiest I have seen, because they have a nice hand-rubbed sheen look rather than a thick, acrylic look gloss of some cabinets.

Rob from MA, which Lowes did you got to? No one offered me those specials; just what they said was 10% off cabinets, but it didn't feel like it, and $3,000 for installation for a TINY kitchen. Thanks.

Ordered my Schuler cabinets from Lowes at a super deal. 10% off, Free sink base ( the large corner one that costs a bunch)$2000 Prepaid Lowes card ( rebate) another $1000 Lowes rebate from the manufacturer and to top things off No interest, No payments for 12 months. The Lowes kitchen designer was over the top in customer service. She came out to our house to insure my measurments were correct before the cabinets were ordered and additionally she had the Schuler sales rep there the make sure everything went according to plan after the order went in.

My local GC will do the install work at 30% less than the Lowes installers.

To make my kitchen experiece even better, our local granite/tile dealer had a 50% off sale on materials and I found a local fabricator to do the job at 25% off his regular rate.

TODAY IS MY LUCKY DAY.

I am so frustrated with my experience at Lowe's and Schuler Cabinetry I don't even know where to begin.
I am in the NY area and it has been a terrible experience. Can any one send me a email so I can get some help with this!

OK so this picture is not great but, I can say that my kitchen and baths were redone 1 year ago and came out beautifully! I went with schuler from Lowe's & it was more expensive than the Craftmaid guy down the road. I had the best designer Gloria at the Littleton CO store. She really knew her stuff! The island ended up being a Medallion because of the custom size I needed. You can't tell the dif. I chose top of the line solid wood doors frames etc. No MDF crap! I have soft close and upgraded glides and I love, love my new kitchen! One thing... I would pay someone to measure. We were re-using our solid Granite counters and so the footprint had to be exact. Because we did measure correctly, we had no issues.

First, I went to three different Lowes for Schuler and the difference in knowledge of the "designers" was astounding and some gave me incorrect information so suggest you go to a Lowes recommended by somebody you trust. I am using Schuler now because I bought Schuler bathroom cabinets several years ago and they have held up very well and are very solid. One important factor is that Schuler is the only cabinet (at least at Lowes) that uses solvent based finishes--the others use water base which does not hold up anywhere as well.

I am having a local cabinet shop do a bid for my kitchen with what they say is the same quality cabinet as Schuler to compare with Lowe's. As of now, Schuler is offering free sink cabinet and glaze upgrade (normally a 15% add on)
and Lowe's is given a tiered discount depending on the price which is about 20% for $10,000 PLUS a 10% rebate coupon so that is about 30% off. Regarding installation, I think it again depends on who Lowe's uses and if I go with them I will ask for references. The price of Lowe's installation seemed high but for some reason they do not charge sales tax on the cabinets if you use their installation and in my state which is 8.25%, that brings the installation price down quite a bit. Also, if you use your own installer, they will not do anything if he makes a mistake like cracking some wood or glass or other installation problems but they will correct it if the Lowe's installer does that.

Finally, as somebody who has remodeled my house twice and also some rental houses, there is an element of luck in the job. The best installer or designer can make a mistake--it sometimes happens. And as one other person noted, when you go on posting boards like this, it is more likely that you get the people who have had a bad experience than the majority who have been happy with their experience and do not need to vent.

I am curious to see how everyone’s Schuler cabinets have held up since this post is several years old. I am looking at them for my kitchen. Thank you!!

We have Medallion in the house we bought last May (same as Schuler). The kitchen had been remodeled sometime more than 10 years ago, I don’t know the exact date but I know it was 2 owners ago. The cabinets are still in excellent condition and still look very nice. The only reason we are redoing the kitchen is to get more space (tight U design). I wouldn’t hesitate to buy Medallion for our new kitchen based on the performance of the current cabinets.