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Defective cabinet...options

addycal75
10 years ago

I left the house yesterday during installation to attend a family event and when I came home I was pleased to see that, with much shimming and leveling, the base cabinets appeared to be in! This morning, daylight reveals that the end cabinet appears to be cosmetically defective. There is a discoloration and rough finish on the face (not the door...but the frame) and a center bar is not flush. It is Sunday and I'm dying to know if this is a cabinet replacement issue (how long of a delay!) or if it can be fixed on site. These are Dynasty cabinets. Kitchen designer/retailer is closed on Sunday so Gardenweb...you are stuck with me. Counter fabricator is supposed to measure Monday or Tuesday but if the cabinet needs to be replaced....

I am trying to attach a picture.

Comments (20)

  • islanddevil
    10 years ago

    Yeah even in a picture I can see that frame looks dingy. Sorry don't know if it can be repaired there or need to be replaced. Personally I'd probably rather wait for a new cabinet with a factory finish than accept a touch up on site because I don't think that would hold up as well. And will a coat of paint get rid of the roughness? Probably not.

    Sucks that they installed what's obviously defective..., but maybe they know more than we do. Will just have to wait until tomorrow.

    Also if you have any other cabs that need to be installed, check them out to make sure there aren't any other dingy ones in the bunch so you can take care of all of them at once. Hopefully not.
    Good luck and please keep us posted.

  • numbersjunkie
    10 years ago

    I think that cabinet should be replaced. Looks terrible to me.
    Not sure if the countertop can be templated with that cabinet pending a replacement, but I would contact your fabricator and explain the situation.

  • Vertise
    10 years ago

    I agree on only a factory finish replacement, not a fix. Hope they start there! Who did the install?

  • User
    10 years ago

    That's a replacement, not a field repair. Yeah, double check everything else so that if there are any other issues it can all be ordered at once. The time for replacement depends on your distance from the factory, but 21 days would be about average.

  • addycal75
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks. Tomorrow I will have the rest installed. I already found another cabinet error in the uppers. Fortunately, it is an end cabinet so it won't hold up the rest of them. I'm hoping that the cabinet guy will have a quick turnaround for me. Lesson learned, even though they are heavy and unloaded quickly, inspect all cabinets when they are received!!! Have them placed in such a way that you can inspect them right away. I was so pleased with myself for having all fixtures, cabinets, etc. here so that once the job started, it would go smoothly. This was the only base cabinet that was not opened (it was hiding behind all the uppers). Lesson learned. Thanks for getting me through Sunday! When this is done, I am hoping to have a nice kitchen to share.

    I also discovered that my cooktop doesn't fit in the cabinet! Ugh! Heads will roll tomorrow:) At least we have our health and this is just material goods, right?

  • Vertise
    10 years ago

    I seem to remember (from the manufacturer documents?), that once you install them, you have accepted them. The installers should be checking everything for defects prior to installation. Now, maybe they don't hold you to that with such defects. But it's good to keep in mind!

  • addycal75
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I certainly would like to spread the blame around! Fortunately, that is a small cabinet and I don't think anyone is going to argue with me about it. Most importantly, I should have checked them all. Lesson learned. Fingers crossed that there is some kind of expedited turnaround time. I discovered one of the uppers is also damaged and one has the wrong color hinges and a damaged door. At least the door and hinges can be replaced after installation. Fortunately, the damaged upper is on the end so install can continue on that. Inset cabinets are a bit finicky. Maybe custom is the way to go. Thanks guys!

  • aries61
    10 years ago

    addycal75: Custom cabinets have there share of problems too. No matter what line of cabinets you went with, there could have been other problems. I don't think you'll have any problems with getting the cabinets replaced from Dynasty.

  • addycal75
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hilarious! Dynasty factory is closed for the week! This week. Closed. Retooling. I ordered the cabinets from a reputable company and they KD is trying to fix everything. We shall see. More fun ahead. It seems that every five minutes there is some challenging decision. It is coming together..minus that one cabinet.
    Inset cabinets are very finicky.

  • Mgoblue85
    10 years ago

    Murphy's law dictated that they would be closed - because you were anxious to get this resolved. That's always how it works. I am curious how Dynasty handles the resolution as I may be ordering from them in the (hopefully) near future.

    Good luck!!

  • addycal75
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    It feels a little bit like "National Lampoon's Remodeling"...if that were a movie. Which it should be.

    In a previous home I used KraftMaid, white melamine, not a problem. Roll outs, pull outs, etc. It was a nice solid white kitchen and it held up well the 8 years (with two kids and messy grown-ups) that we lived there.

    In this house I was trying to be fancier so I went with inset and Dynasty. A number of the cabinets have a warp that is hard to describe but it makes it so the drawers do not look flush. My contractor is going to correct those somehow during installation. Two of the uppers had serious door issues and some of the molding arrive damaged. The doors and molding are on their way (I found that earlier) and the kitchen designer (guy I ordered the cabinets from and who did the measure) handled all of that. The fabricator is coming tomorrow to measure so hopefully he can do it with that cabinet in place. We are using Caeserstone, Piatra Gray. Hopefully no drama there...

    I would say that if you are going with inset cabinets, be sure to use an installer who is familiar with them. They are a bit finicky. Little adjustments here and there.

  • aries61
    10 years ago

    addycal75 : Did get resolution from Dynasty?

  • woodenconcepts
    10 years ago

    I am also curious to hear how this was resolved. Most pre-fabricated cabinets do need some on-site tweaking, so it is important that you have a highly qualified installer. The installer should also have inspected all cabinets prior to tearing out the existing kitchen to save you from an extended period without a functional kitchen. We always have a person on site when cabinets are delivered to perform an inspection as the cabinets are off-loaded. While Snookums is correct that *most* cabinet companies assume acceptance upon installation, you can usually get around that by barking up the chain to the right ear :) People often think that installing cabinetry is just "hanging boxes on the wall", but there is a significant amount of craftsmanship involved. Anyone considering a kitchen remodel/cabinet installation should read the link below.

    Here is a link that might be useful: What You Need to Know about Cabinets and Installation

  • suzanne_sl
    10 years ago

    I frequently hear that all cabinets should be inspected and approved as they are delivered. Does anyone really do that? Our cabinets were delivered on the hottest day of the year at noon. There were a couple of dozen boxes, each of which weighed a ton. The delivery guys stacked them in the garage and I thought we did well to verify that the numbers on the boxes matched my invoice and theirs, and that there was no visible damage. I thought I would open a couple and check them out (I really wanted to see!!), but it turns out that's a major project requiring at least two people. So they sat in their boxes for 2 or 3 weeks until we were ready to install.

    In the end, we had one drawer that was the wrong size - how they got it in at the factory, I have no idea. We also had a tall cabinet with a broken toe kick support which we fixed ourselves. Did I say this was a DIY? In any case, we purchased from HD and called them about the drawer. The company rep happened to be in town and came right over to have a look. She was more than accommodating and ordered a new drawer for us and threw in a touch up kit we should have ordered in the first place, but forgot. She would have ordered a whole new cabinet for the one with the broken toe kick, but was equally happy that we could repair it with stuff we had on hand. It wasn't going to be either a visual or functional problem. Isn't this what all cab companies/vendors do? For $14,000, I should hope that's what they do!

    Unless you have a whole crew of guys on hand and lots of space, I can't really see uncrating all the cabs and checking every detail of every one. The delivery guys are supposed to hang around for that? It takes forever to uncrate. Really, that rogue drawer came installed in the cab, but it was never going back in after we took it out to move that cabinet into place, which we didn't discover until we tried. BTW, the rep was very impressed that we'd labeled every single door and drawer before we removed them for install, so it was clear the drawer issue wasn't just a mismatch from the original location, which I think is what she expected. Yay GW!

  • woodenconcepts
    10 years ago

    Suzanne,

    Yes, it is a big job - and no, the delivery guys can't be expected to hang around while cabinets are inspected. What we typically do (after checking in by comparing invoice vs. shipping manifest) is open the top of each box and make sure there is no visible damage. If there is any damage to the exterior packaging of a particular cabinet we will unbox to check for damage to the cabinet within. We do try to inspect for major damage that could hold up the install prior to tearing out existing kitchen on remodels. Anything that can be fixed on site (broken toe kick, etc.) we will do just to keep the job moving forward, as that is in everyone's best interest.

  • addycal75
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Follow-up...Great news. I'm not sure if it is the work of the place where I ordered my cabinets or Dynasty, but a restoration guy came and airbrushed the cabinet to match and blend. It is as if nothing ever happened! and it didn't cost me anything! I am not sure I would have had that kind of resolution had I ordered the cabinets from a discount type warehouse. He said it appeared that the cabinet had a problem in the finish and they tried to correct it with the wrong color and then did not put a finish coat on. I am still waiting on some moulding and some of the doors that arrived damaged/warped/with the wrong hinges and a drawer that had a broken piece...but nothing that is holding up the project. The counter is in place.

    Thank you for the support. I will try to attach a picture. Still waiting on backsplash but the majority of work is being completed today! *pardon the kitchen mess and the temporarily taped on drawer pull

  • addycal75
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I realize that picture doesn't do it justice. Of course the light above that cabinet is burned out. I will post a better picture later. Right now there is a small crew working in there.

  • aries61
    10 years ago

    addycal75: Looks like they did a nice job on fixing it. Any other kitchen pictures? What door style is that? I'm deciding between Dynasty and Shiloh myself and glad to know that they came through in fixing the problem.

  • 1929Spanish
    10 years ago

    We had to have the repair guy come out during our Dynasty Omega install for a couple paint issues as well. They did a fantastic job not long after they were contacted.

  • aries61
    10 years ago

    addycal75: Did you have a final reveal on your kitchen?

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