I suggest you try Home Depot and Lowes. Both have great deals on cabinets that end 5/3. Home Depot is a little better deal than Lowes. I got $3,000 of the cabinets, 50% off the glaze and a $750 off the sink base cabinet. I went with Thomasville which is the top of the line for HD. My price is less than your max of $15,000. I went with Cherry wood, Painted maple would probably be less. My price did not include installation.

We have had bad experiences with both Home Depot and Lowes in our area so we won't be going there. I'm glad your experience was a positive one.

Cabico is a quality cabinet company with reasonable prices, but they are in Canada. They do offer a formaldehyde-free product, but I was told it was an upcharge. I looked at Candlelight cabinets too, but I didn't care for their painted finish, and I don't think they offer a formaldehyde-free product. I ended up going with Crown Point, which was only a little more expensive than Cabico due to some terrific promotions they were offering. Their product is low-formaldehyde/VOC but not formaldehyde free yet.

Have you looked into any smaller custom cabinetry shops? You may be able to find a local cabinetmaker who can give you a lower price than many of the large companies. I know of one small shop near me in Massachusetts that uses formaldehyde-free plywood.

Good luck!

Erika

Colls,

When I was researching cabinets, I found that several of the cabinet brands are owned by the same parent company. For example, the parent company of Omega/Dynasty is MasterBrands that also produces Kemper, Schrock, KitchenCraft, etc. To complicate life even more, sometimes there is no apparent difference between brands. Kemper and Schrock essentially offer the same cabinet styles with different names. As one salesperson stated to me when I asked about the differences between Kemper and Schrock, "they come out of different doors at the same factory."

We initially looked at stock cabinets, but at the suggestion of a friend, we looked at custom cabinets and actually found that they were less expensive (and better made).

Lastly, I think it's great that you want to go with a green product. For any of the cabinets that you are looking at, you may want to check out the company's website to see what information they post about their environmental performance.

Good luck!

Thanks so much Erika and Shapco for your input. I will look into some smaller custom shops. Any advice about how to go about finding a good one? I am in Southern NJ.

colls, you could make a new thread titled something like "Can Anyone Recommend a Cabinetmaker in S. NJ?" or something like that. I found the small shop near me just by googling.

We just installed Durasupreme cabinets in our kitchen. The quality of the cabinets were top notch. The company is located in Minnesota. We did our kitchen in Knotty Alder and distressed black maple painted. Price wise the DuraSupreme were mid-priced, higher than Kraftmaid but less then Brookhaven. We bought from a local independ tly owned KD that did a great job for us.

colls- i'm in central nj.starting on my kitchen too. i had kemper in my last home. they were ok, appeared nice and gave the look i wanted to achieve. now i;m looking for an upgraded. i have already priced out Crown Point- beautiful and $$$$$. also talking to a cabinetmaker in the NYC to cut down on the costs and see where he comes in at. let me know if you find a cabinet maker in s jersey. I'm still shopping around.

Colls, sorry you had a bad experience with Lowes and HD. I guess alot of the people on this forum have. I went to HD last because of what I read and it has been the best so far.
My son went with a local custom cabinet company. Look pretty good but starting to show some wear after 15 mos. Good luck!

Gary1227 I was looking into Durasupreme also until I recently read a letter from someone that had a pretty bad experience with them. Had a problem with a cabinet and they wouldn't stand behind it and replace it. Of course this could happen with any of them but she was out of a $1200 bathroom vanity that she has to replace. That sort of turned me off.

Thanks everyone for your help. Skeetie219 if you haven't looked at Cabico cabinets, I suggest you do - Cabico.com. They are a custom line that seems to be up from Kemper (quality wise) and just a little more expensive. We are only 8 miles from Philadelphia, PA and were referred to some PA Dutch cabinetmakers. I know they are true craftsmen so we may take a trip up there to see what we can get. I will keep you informed.

look at Old River Cabinets, Inc. They are phenomenal and are very high end quality with middle of the road pricing. They have a manufacturing tour on their website which is very informative. www.oldrivrecabinets.com They service the S. NJ area already. The website email forum works well with them as well. I would suggest giving them a shout.

I just got Durasupreme Antique white cabs installed in my bathroom. They are gorgeous and I love them. Good luck with your search!

colls-any update or can you send the PA Dutch cabinet maker contact information since I travel to PA for business, my email is kkarpeles@hotmail.com
I looked at the cabico website and they are nice.

FYI--Crown Point just started using low-VOC paints from Farrow and Ball.

In my experience their price varied widely depending on what day it was, literally, which was very confusing...like specials that were good for only one week, that sort of thing. (I placed my order in several parts.) If I had it to do over I would get a quote and then ask for 20% off, and be prepared to walk if they didn't do it--because they have offered discounts like that lately. They're being very aggressive about keeping their sales up.

CP has wonderful cabinets with great customer service. Not sure tho about the plywood. HTH

Our builder only offers Custom Cupboards -- the kitchen design place we have to use says they are good quality and a much better cabinet than most builders offer. They have a ton of color/door options. We are not moving in for a few more months, so I can't give first hand experience yet. We live just outside DC -- and our builder typically builds "upscale" - their word not mine :) homes. I hope this helps!

holllh - I agree with you re CP. I was in conversations with them but when I sent an email saying I was a bit concerned whether their cabs were in my budget and asking how much their frameless would save me the line went dead. I really think they pick and choose which leads to follow which I can't blame them at all. But, it all does make it hard to explore options. Not to say that it's easy with other lines. Round here it all seems to go thru contractors which makes it hard to get cabinet pricing and make decisions independent of the contractor.

Did CP elaborate on the F&B finish - I did not get whether they are using the paint straight or using it with a clear finish on top.

Thanks!

Tina

I also just installed DuraSupreme (Crestwood in antique white) but unfortunatly did not have a great experience. I found the quality to be okay but their quality control could use a lot of work. I recieved about 6 items (including a cabinet base) that were defective (had to wait 2-3 weeks for all replacements) missing several shelves which I also had to wait 2-3 weeks. Left without a sink base door that had to be sent back MN to so they could "color match" molding that was ordered. Waited 4 weeks - molding arrived not even close to being color matched. Molding still does not match..but they are willing to redo it.. (most likely another 4 weeks waiting..) They also have a very inconsitant glazing technique in my opionion.. which was unaccptable to me. I had heard great things about Dura but unfortunately I cannot/would not recommend them.

I have a very positive update from Crown Point. They emailed me a new layout and pricing for their frameless line today so they really were listening to me which is great. The pricing is very discounted right now and I hear nothing but good things about their quality. Also they had said they would even travel to me to measure which is amazing as I am not exactly local. It would be so much easier to go with them as being known for top notch quality and customer service than to deal with all the sales pitch stuff around here.

jojobee1: I am sorry to hear about your DuraSupreme experience. I am waiting on a quote for cabs from them but that does not sound encouraging.

Tina

Tina, that's such great news! I really hope they end up giving you a great deal that will work within your budget ... I know you will love them!

It seems really smart that they are making their product more accessible to a wider range of consumers with their new, lower-priced frameless lines. In March I was very sad to hear from the man who delivered our dining room cabinets that Crown Point had just laid off about 50 people, which was about half their employees. Shortly before the economy took a downturn they had moved into a brand new facility and hired a lot of new people. It was especially sad to hear because I remember just a few months before that my KD had told me that the company had never had to lay off any workers even during slow winter months.

buffalotina- can i ask what your budget amount is for? I had CP do an initial plan/quote ($40-45K).. and it was sought of high. i recongize they are beautiful cabinets but even with their promotions (in April) it came it out of my budget, so after reading some comments hear I contacted them just yesterday to seem if they could work on bringing the cost down with modifications and told them here is what i have to spend ~25k. I do not necessarily need beaded inset etc but I was sought of set on that cream/white look. Haven't heard back and don't know if my budget is feasible for a CP kitchen but thought it wouldn't hurt to inquire. I'm not trying to be cheap but I'd be crazy not to try to get the best product for the best deal especially when I have been reading prices vary depending on the what day it is.... Just wanted to see what your number came in at. I like reading the positives about their customer service and satisfication with the product.

erikanh: I am so impressed with all the good quality reports here that I am really hoping I can use CP - I am looking at frameless for now to keep the price down. Couple of questions for you while we are on the topic: I was assuming that your cabinets were their classic paint but then I think I just saw on one thread that yours are the milk paint - is that right? What influenced your decision? Also, as I just posted on another thread, I just found out that the center panel on their painted doors is MDF rather than maple - due to movement issues with real wood. This is true in other cabinet lines - I have been told in a couple of others that they use MDF in flat panel doors for a painted finish. Do you know what the story is for your cabinets with the inset doors? Without the face frame I am wondering if I am going to end up with very little real wood on the front of the cabinets! It is just a conceptual issue I suppose not really an issue that will make any practical difference!

skeetie219: My kitchen is so small (12 x 10) that I am not sure it would be anywhere near relevant to your situation. Also I am keeping it VERY simple - their frameless line in a classic paint finish, no fancy end panels, no fancy mouldings etc - there is no way I can run to even your lower budget number. My designer did tell me today that they will not give you more than two quotes before you commit to them with a deposit which I think is very reasonable. After all doing layouts and quotes is very time consuming - my designer has spent quite a lot of time on the phone with me and did two plans and I am heading for the second quote on the near final plan. I think it is only reasonable that I should either decide to commit to them after that or move on. After you commit I think they will spend as much time as you need to determine the actual final details - at least from what I gather from folks here.

HTH!

Hi Tina,

We used milk paint only for our dining room hutch because they were doing a promotion for free milk paint (usually a 25% upcharge), and I fell in love with the Slate Blue color. The rest of our painted cabinets are in the classic paint, except for the island, which is stained.

I'm pretty sure that the recessed part of door panels are MDF and the rest is solid wood. I'm not 100% sure of that, though. I don't have many doors, mostly drawers.

Thanks for that clarification! I am going nuts waiting for numbers for cabs from various places and importantly contractors for the rest of the work - do not know what I can afford for cabinets before I know what the rest is going to cost!

6 Square. Minnetonka, MN. Find a dealer in your region, you won't be sorry.

Have you checked out Brookhaven? We researched and researched, and have only heard positive things.

thanks for information about CP and I'll agree with you about committing to them on a two quote threshold. I'm trying to be as clear and direct as possible. Don't want to waste their time and mine....i have obtained 3 quotes from other vendors including a cabinet maker. He would do all custom work in Mahogany or Walnut wood- if I could forego on the cream/white look finish I wanted the cabinet maker came in at budget with most of the details I wanted.

Can anyone respond with feedback on Mahogany/Walnut cabinets. Personally, I love Walnut wood but for some reason I can not picture in a kitchen cabinet.