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howto123

decent quality affordable kitchen cabinets

howto123
9 years ago

Can anyone please recommend a decent cabinet brand that is reasonably priced? I have looked at Fabuwood cabinets but have read some poor reviews of these. Can anyone provide any information regarding Designers Choice cabinets? Thank you.

Comments (11)

  • mdln
    9 years ago

    ''Reasonably'' is a very relative term.

    For me, I found Medallion & Shiloh reasonably priced.

    Great thread in link below.

    Here is a link that might be useful: cab pricing

  • DeeV78
    9 years ago

    I went with Medallion. Mid range price and offer many semi-custom line options like matching drawer fronts, soft close cabinet doors/drawers, decent choice of finishes including soft white at no additional cost. My cabinets arrived a couple if weeks ago, and there are some finishing issues with a few doors (I've posted previously). My GC who is installing them said these all common issues that he can easily touch up. I'm waiting for the completed installations before going back to my KD to discuss any replacement doors needed, if any. Love love love the cabinets otherwise based on how they look. Can't wait to "use" them hopefully starting next week.

  • Marc Johnson
    9 years ago

    Yeah, reasonable is a hard term ... for me, reasonable had to include euro-frameless, semi-customizable sizes ... we went with Columbia and so far am pretty impressed. Better quality construction vs. Bellmont from what I've seen so far.

    I've also heard good things - believe it or not - from contractors who have installed Ikea. The thing about Ikea - the materials, hardware, drawers are all great (Blum hinges and mechanisms) -- what's more important is quality installation.

    A bad installer can make expensive cabinets worthless ... and a fabulous installer can take a mid-range cabinet line and make it shine.

  • howto123
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thank you for your help. I understand that "reasonably priced" is a relative term. At this time, I don't anticipate living in my home for more then 10 years and so would like a cabinet that will look good and hold up but am not looking to create a "dream kitchen." A store I went to carried the silverline of Medallion, which looked nice, as a step up from Fabuwood and a company called Designers Choice. Does anyone have an information on their cabinets -i only found a few reviews and they seemed mixed. Also, can anyone recommend a cabinet store/ contractor in norther NJ?

  • schicksal
    9 years ago

    I bought a whole kitchen of cabinets from Cardell for just under $4K including molding about 4 years ago. It was basically direct through them though. They were nice - full overlay, solid doors and plywood construction with blum hinges and glides. I think it was around 14 boxes. Bad way to measure cabinets, but if it gives you an idea of the quantity that may help some.

    This post was edited by schicksal on Tue, Jul 29, 14 at 8:27

  • ardcp
    9 years ago

    i have had my medallion silverline lancaster cabinets in maple brandywine stain for a couple of months now. we also had to watch our expenditures as we plan to sell in the next 5-7 years (hopefully since i hate winter!) the silverline with mostly drawer bases were 8k (19 total cabs with 1 lazy susan and 1 ez reach corner upper) a similar shaker door was about the same in kraftmaid through lowes. showplace was 12k. diamond were about 1500 more than km or medallion.
    we had some quality issues with the boxes and finish but my kd got most flawed items swapped out and medallion agreed to supply decorative ends as the upgraded ends had weird spots on them.
    in the end, i was glad i had a great kd handling things. if i could do over, i wouldn't do the maple with brandywine again as it shows every little mark from fingers, etc. the maple has a few dings so i am thinking it isn't very hard wood. i have never had soft close and love it! overall i am super picky so i was probably expecting a little too much for my price point. everyone who sees the kitchen is wowed, only i see the little flaws:)

  • kclv
    9 years ago

    I am very pleased with my mid-range cabinets from Waypoint. Full overlay, solid plywood construction, solid doors in maple. Built in Kingman, AZ, so already acclimated to our desert climate. I got 19 boxes, 50 really nice pulls, and a ton of finish trim including 4 1/2" crown moulding and 5" furniture base, plus enough panelling to cover the pony wall and bring the cabinets to ceiling height. Soft close drawers and doors were standard. All for 13 K. They even arrived earlier than promised, and no flaws that I have noticed.

  • amykath
    9 years ago

    I am going with Barker Cabinets. My kitchen will have a 13 fr. island and a wall of cabinets. The island will be solid wood doors and I will stain them. I will have two three drawers 18inches on either side of my 48" range and a built in fridge enclosure and a 48 inch top and bottom cabs. All the cabs along the wall of the range will be painted white. Including all finished ends and molding etc. I have tallied my cost to about 7,000. Here is an inspiration pic. (ingnore the door style and color.

    Hope this helps!

    [Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Austin Architects & Building Designers Cornerstone Architects

    [Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Austin Architects & Building Designers Cornerstone Architects

  • suzanne_sl
    9 years ago

    You might consider Ikea cabinets too. People here have been very pleased with their cabinets, especially the Blum hardware that is standard. Some people order the Ikea cabs, but order doors from Scherr's if they want a style that Ikea doesn't offer. I think Barkers also does doors for Ikea cabs, but I can't remember for sure. If you go to Houzz and search for "Ikea kitchens" you can view the 975,434 photos that come up. Yikes!

    The nice thing about doing Ikea now is that they're having a sale at the moment: 10% off on $3500+ and 20% off on $4500+. The sale ends Aug. 24, 2014. Just a thought.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea kitchen page

  • joygreenwald
    9 years ago

    I considered Designer's Choice but also went with Barkers. I only managed to see one DC cabinet IRL, and it was fine. But it wasn't as nice as the sample cabinet I got from Barkers. Plus, I was nervous going with such an unknown company. No surprise, I got conflicting opinions from different salespeople, and as you noted, opinions online were difficult to find . And I was able to get a lot more customization from Barkers, which helped with my design. That said, my cabinets are shipping tomorrow. It's too early for me to give them my endorsement.

    I did take consider the IKEA cabinets. It was the limitations that made me go another direction. All my uppers are deeper than standard. I could get exactly the sizes I wanted. But I plan for this to be my forever kitchen.

  • dcward89
    9 years ago

    Not sure if this is reasonable to you but it was to us...we went with Barker Cabinets. Totally customizable..our uppers are all deeper than standard, like joygreenwald. We ordered 17 cabinets that included a 30" wide floor to ceiling pantry with ROTS, 1 easy reach upper corner cabinet, all drawers for lowers except the trash cabinet, the sink cabinet and the dishwasher cabinet, two lazy susan cabinets with the lazy susan hardware, extra shelves in all the upper cabinets, soft close doors/drawers, full extension heavy duty Blum drawer hardware, upgraded end panels, 3 floor-ceiling end panels for the refrigerator enclosure and beside the pantry cabinet, 2 lower end panels, 3 upper end panels, all trim work including crown molding, light rail and scribe molding. I think that covers everything...we paid $10,500 and could not be happier with our cabinets.