Need help-any suggestions??

10 years ago

We are in desperate need of any suggestions! My daughter gutted her kitchen in November & used a local cabinet maker. She contracted for custom cabinets with melamine cabinet boxes with solid wood doors and drawers of painted or stained maple. She chose a medium cherry stain and on first inspection, she thought they looked fine. (I have to add that she is young and was going through a high risk pregnancy at the time, so her full attention was not on the cabinets.) Now that a few months have gone by, some of the cabinets are peeling. When she emailed the cabinet maker about it, he told her that he couldn't get the cherry stain to look right, so he took it upon himself to use a laminate or veneer (she's not sure which) instead of the stained solid wood doors & drawers. From a distance, the cabinets look OK but on closer look, they really look fake & cheap. Here are a couple of pictures. The cabinet maker offered to either replace all the doors & drawers with solid wood in a contrasting color (my daughter can't imagine what that would look like) or to fix the current cabinets where they're peeling. She is afraid that if they are coming apart & look this bad now, what will they look like next year? She really hates her new kitchen the way it looks now. Does anyone have any other suggestions for this disaster?

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Comments (4)

annkh_nd
10 years ago
I hope the pregnancy turned out OK, and Mom and Baby are doing fine?

How frustrating! Maple is difficult to stain, but not impossible. My cabinet maker stained boards for me until we got exactly the color I wanted, so I could see how it would look.

The cabinet maker was a jerk to think he could just substitute what looks like a plastic veneer for solid wood! Would I be wrong to assume that the price didn't change?

It also looks like those drawer fronts don't line up at all, suggesting the installer was no more conscientious than the cabinet maker.

What about the part of the boxes that show - are those real wood, the right color? I think she needs new door and drawer fronts, at least. If the shop can't stain maple so it looks decent, he should use a different wood. That would be far better than what he did!
Bunny
10 years ago
I don't have any advice regarding the cabinets. However, since this thread is still short, I would start a new one and retitle it something more descriptive, maybe about new cabinets peeling or delaminating. Right now, the subject is vague and there's nothing to indicate what the thread is about and people might just scroll past it.
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Marcie Wolinsky
Original Author
10 years ago
annkh-Yes, mother & baby are both doing very well, thanks! And you are correct-the price did not change. The cabinet maker installed the cabinets himself & yes, he has to realign them also. No, none of what shows is real wood. I had the same thought as you-to use a different wood to get the stain right and I have no idea why he didn't discuss that option before going ahead & using a laminate or veneer. But that's not one of the options he just offered. She also thought of getting the new wood doors in white & painting the frames to match but he said that paint won't adhere to it (whatever "it" is made of).
Marcie Wolinsky
Original Author
10 years ago
Per linelle's suggestion, I re-posted this thread under the title, "New Custom Cabinets Peeling-Help!" so that it's more specific. Thanks!