Help needed with cabinetry manufacturers

9 years ago

We had a custom kitchen installed last year and nothing is right with it. The finish is wrong, the drawer glides don't work smoothly and easily and some have broken scattering ball bearings all over, some doors have warped, there isn't enough adjustability in the shelves, pull-outs were made too small, cabinets for trash were configured incorrectly (despite my sending the designer photographs of exactly what I wanted) and the list goes on and on. So, one year later, we are ripping it out and starting from scratch. This time I want to use stock or semi-custom cabinetry so I can know in advance exactly what I'll be getting - no expensive surprises, please! I would like some names of cabinetry companies that offer good quality finishes and hardware. I want completely finished/sealed surfaces so they're easy to clean inside and out. Easy to operate drawers and pull-outs. Things that just make a kitchen a pleasure to work in - and not bad to look at. I am familiar with Wood-Mode and Brookhaven which seem to be good quality. Are there other readily-available cabinets of this quality? Not going real high-end (no money left.....) Thanks.

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Comments (7)

live_wire_oak
9 years ago
Dynasty by Omega is a good semi custom line with lots of options. I love designing in it because of that, and because of the support from the factory. They have great customer service and a great product.

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mdln
9 years ago
Shiloh, great reviews on GW and most KD's I spoke with said it is the best value, high quality at reasonable cost.
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Gooster
9 years ago
Crystal Cabinet Works is an upper mid-range end line that allows you to mix full custom pieces and their semi-custom line. They were endorsed to me by several different GCs, and I've been very pleased.
sjhockeyfan325
9 years ago
We've had WoodMode, Crystal, KitchenCraft and Bellmont 1900 cabinets. All but KitchenCraft have been very nicely done -- good finishes, good hardware (although I admittedly didn't know as much then as I do now about cabinet hardware when we did WoodMode and Crystal in our previous home), solid construction. The KitchenCraft were solid, but the finish wasn't quite as good. We have Bellmont 1900 now and they were totally customizable which I liked -- ours are not wood on the outside (bottoms are melamine, tops are acrylic), however, so I can't speak to the finish.
susanlynn2012
9 years ago
Gooster, thanks for letting us know that you are very pleased with our beautiful cabinets. Your kitchen is one of my favorites.
annkh_nd
9 years ago
ellessebee, I don't have any recommendations for you, but I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. I can imagine how frustrated I would be if my new kitchen was falling apart around me, or wasn't what I had hoped for.
ellessebee
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks, Annkh, it's a dream turned bad. This was supposed to be my LAST kitchen and I wanted it to be a good one! I really can't explain what went wrong. Because it was all custom cabinetry, I didn't see any of it before ordering. What I saw were displays in the showroom of mostly stock cabinets from national brands and they were pretty good so I ASSUMED the place understood about good glides and basic things like 1" shelf adjustments ("gang drilled) etc. What I got is really a very low end kitchen for which I paid custom prices. (My husband, the upstanding person he is, paid in full even before the installation was complete and we had a chance to get a good look at the cabinets!) There's no way I could have known in advance to specify certain things. We did specify frameless full-overlay cabinets which we got except there's a rail in the back on the bottom shelf meant for hanging the cabinets. That rail eats up about 1" of the bottom shelf - the one at eye level - so standard cabinet inserts don't fit and I need inserts because I don't have good adjust-ability in the shelf pin spacing! it's been really painful experience for me but at least I have refined my wants/needs list as I look for new cabinets. I have so far looked at Brookhaven, WoodMode, Craft-maid, KraftMaid, Wellborne, Birchcraft, Leight, Great Northern, Hanssem, Holiday and IKEA. (These brands are available nearby.) I can see some differences (beyond door style and color) from one to the other although for the most part, things like the glides are fairly similar. I really can't tell much else about the relative quality. I suppose pricing might be an indication of that. Thanks for any opinions.