Then pick another brand. Both use the same low quality Chinese glides. If your builder uses Masterbrand, move up to the next level of Diamond/Kemper/Thomasville. All of the soft close on doors and drawers is better quality, and is standard, no upcharge. By the time you end up upgrading a lower cost line, you could have had a mid-grade line.

Or have the builder subtract out the cabinet allowance and do your own deal. If you need cabinets for a CO, then all that is required is a sink base. Craigslist that used, and buy what you want after you close. Without all of the builder markup.

Hollysprings, I am seeing a lot of reviews where people have had aristokraft for years. If you upgrade to dovetail which is $500 they seem to last quite long. We priced Norcraft as the next level and the cost came to around 12k more. We can't spend that kind of money now. I don't think the builder will let us not do any cabinets at all and we don't have the time to do our own cabinets after we close.

We had Aristrokraft in our old kitchen and the hinge and drawer hardware were both awful. The drawers started sticking and failing in just a few short years and we had to replace several door hinges. Drawer fronts started falling off as well. We remodeled when the cabinets were 13 years old and most were falling apart for last 3 for 4 years - at least! The cabinets were one of the main reasons we started our remodel.

We did not have dovetail drawers (we had no upgrade options when we built - our only options were "color"!)

Interestingly, the only cabinet that was not falling apart and that was as good as the day we moved in was the corner lazy susan. It operated smoothly, no shelf sagging, etc. - and it held so much...all our pots & pans, colanders, and some serving pieces.

I have Aristokraft in our bathroom. It is fine. My friend has aristokraft in her kitchen (3 or 4 years old) with no issues. For our kitchen we chose Shenandoah from Lowes. It was cheaper than Aristokraft, offered more of what we wanted and had decent reviews. We are not gentle on our kitchen and it is holding up fine. All drawers, no pull outs.