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Wellborn vs Showplace cabinets

annienc
15 years ago

What can anyone tell me about relative quality and price of Wellborn vs Showplace all wood cabinets?

Comments (5)

  • amg_roadster
    15 years ago

    We considered Wellborn they were well built nice cabinets. On the other hand we looked at other cabinets that were less expensive, had all the same options, and were just as well built.

    We ended up selecing a local custom cabinet builder. I would say his cabinets are better built than those of the large, national manufacturers. Plus we can get them spec'd exactly as we want. These cabinets are spec'd with the same options as the the Wellborn.

    The best part is that because we cut out at least one middle man and a bunch of overhead we save money on the cabinets.

  • luv_my_home
    15 years ago

    In my opinion, any manufacturer would be better than Showplace cabinets from Showplace Wood Products, Inc. We completely remodeled our kitchen this year and purchased $18,000+ of Showplace cabinets from Showplace Wood Products, Inc. through a local dealer at the beginning of March, 2008. Worst decision I have made this year.

    We put down a 60% deposit and were told the cabinets would arrive in 5-6 weeks. They arrived more than 10 weeks later at the beginning of June. We did not receive our full order and what we received had numerous problems.

    Of what we did receive, 90% of the doors and drawer faces had flaws that required replacement. The flaws included: chip outs at the panel joins, door insert panels had the wrong side facing forwards, glue rag marks, inconsistent and poorly sanded drawer panel ends, and staining flaws. Three of the cabinets were the wrong size and had to be reordered.

    We were told the replacement order would be expedited due to the already lengthy delays we had experienced. Not true.

    After another 8 weeks we received the replacement cabinets but had to wait another few weeks for the door and drawer faces (due to the significant number of flaws they had to have a special meeting which dragged the process out even longer). When they did arrive about 30% of the replacements had flaws that required they also be replaced. The dealer and Showplace's manufacturer's rep assured me they would be replaced. It is now the middle of October and our kitchen is still not finished. The dealer hasn't returned calls for 4 weeks. The manufacturer's rep on the other hand has returned calls and is looking into the situation.

    Other than the poor delivery time, slow customer service, and poor quality finishing, I would also add that the cabinets do not have the build quality I expected or was led to believe that I would receive. On the plus side, the design is very nice, the frontal appearance is very good, and drawer construction is very solid. On the negative, the cabinet walls are only 3/8" plywood construction and the backs are at best an 1/8". The cabinets are poorly braced and my cabinet installer had to rebuild the oven cabinet so it would support our built-in oven. The thin wall construction means that the cabinets 'rack' easily making it very difficult for my cabinet installer to true them up during installation. But you will not find the cabinet wall thickness mentioned in any of Showplace's marketing materials. I sifted through their website and .pdf materials but cabinet wall thickness is artfully omitted.

    In my opinion these cabinets look good but are not built to last. I have since learned that I could have had custom cabinets built with much higher quality for equivalent dollars. And if I had, my kitchen would be complete by now. My dealer told us we could expect our cabinet install to take 3-6 weeks from the time the cabinets arrived. It is now 5 months and it is still not done.

  • kordust
    15 years ago

    Wow, luv sounds like she's been living through a nightmare! Doing a kitchen remodel is a significant disruption to your home for most normal sized homes you whould never expect the process to go on that long.

    I've been in the cabinet business in one occupation or another for the last 27 years and I have some experience installing Showplace cabinets; after reading luv's posting multiple times it seems like Showplace is being thrown under the bus. Sorry luv, I feel your pain but I'm not sure who to direct that anger to.

    We've not had a Showplace delivery take more than 5 weeks, 10 weeks seems like something abnormal happened.

    Three cabinets came the wrong size -- they build what is ordered, did your dealer show you how they ordered it and did the cabinet sizes come different from how they were ordered?

    Quality issues; got me there -- sounds like a cluster of problems, I'd be upset if I was you too but we've not had that experience.

    Dealer is not returning phone calls but the manufacturer's rep is? Seems like we're getting somewhere here, I would expect the Showplace rep to continue to work on your behalf.

    Don't like the thickness of the materials? Hopefully you had the chance to see one before you bought it; the dealer would have had all that info for you if you wanted it but heck -- I have no idea how thick the metal is in my car either, half the time its not even metal. As someone who has done installation, I can tell you that using shims and a level isn't very tough to do. I don't think the cabinet wall thickness racks a cabinet on its own.

    If I order a vanilla latte from Starbucks, it doesn't come the way I like it, and then I can't find anyone to complain to I'd be upset ... but maybe I'd have had a better experience at a different Starbucks location.

    My 2 cents worth.

  • afr66
    15 years ago

    Just to counter prior comments - I had a very good experience with Showplace as did my mother (we both completed kitchen remodels within the last 3 months). I felt Showplace was fairly priced for the quality (which was equivalent to other lines I checked out - Omega, Brookhaven, DuraSupreme). I spent about $14,000 on the cabinets and am very pleased with them. We didn't have any finish issues and the cabinets were in within 5 weeks. My mother had the same experience - no delays, no problems. I find the cabinets very sturdy and well made (and I have double wall oven cabinet).

  • CabinetMakerSWP
    11 years ago

    This is a obviously a very old post and is a great example of how things posted on the internet never go away; it is also a testimony to the value placed on this particular web site as a source of good information.

    This is a comment from Showplace, meant to address the unfortunate post by luv_my_home.

    Sadly, luv had a bad experience, but we can say without hesitation that late delivery and lack of follow-through was NOT due to Showplace.

    Late delivery? In our company's entire existence we have NEVER shipped in 10 weeks ... it plain and simply did not happen on our end. We ship +99% on-time and complete - we have cross-functional meetings every week and it is highly unusual to have anything backordered or shipped late. Typically IF something must ship late, we ship by an alternative method and the backordered item often gets to the destination before the truck delivery arrives with the rest of the order. We're posting an image of our actual performance from that time period and we are proud to show this publicly.

    Wrong sized cabinets? We build them the size the dealer orders; the dealer also has some responsibility to review the order for accuracy BEFORE we begin production and Showplace provides 3-full-days for them to review the order and correct any errors. Showplace also has review processes so it is highly unlikely this happened.

    Poor quality doors and headers? No doubt issues happen from time to time, sometimes legitimately our fault; if it is our fault we move swiftly to remedy the problem. Other times our product is oversold by a dealer and the customer is led to expect a high-end and very expensive quality level...with Showplace being significantly lower in price, we don't attempt to provide the same product attributes as a much more expensive brand, for example Woodmode. We definitely DO work to achieve a quality level that exceeds other brands at the mid-price level where our product fits. Even high-end brands like Woodmode often have a cabinet offering with lower quality expectations; Woodmode has one called Brookhaven - Showplace competes nicely with Brookhaven. Regardless, we work very hard to satisfy the homeowner if issues arise.

    We don't question that luv's experience was a nightmare and that is unfortunate; however, it is obvious to us that Showplace was unnecessarily thrown under the bus. You don't have to look too deep to understand there is a reason the dealer wasn't returning luv's phone calls and the Showplace rep was. Bet this dealer is no longer in business today, or is no longer selling Showplace.

    We appreciate the opportunity to set the record straight.

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