I am planning a home in early 2006 and I am trying to familiarize myself with what the Cabinet industry looks like. Specifically, I am trying to get a good idea of which companies represent the low end of the quality spectrum and which represent the high end. I personally am looking for something of a Toyota of the Cabinet world. Good quality at a reasonable but not cheap price. I just want to steer clear of the Yugos and the Mercedes.
Thanks in advance…I cant tell you all how much I appreciate the wisdom and experience you share on this forum.
Replies
take a look at Dura-Supreme or Mouser. KitchenMaid is probely the better of the home center line and Mills pride is your Yugo.
Steer clear of Plain & Fancy IMHO.....
Outside of that do a search because this horse has a few laps on her.
Good Luck on your house and Welcome to BT. Mike
imho=in my humble opinion
Adam Savage---Mythbusters
Thanks for the input, I am barely in the Mouser area in Austin TX so I just made their service region.
Here are some other brand names that I hope someone will have some idea of there they fall in the quality / value spectum....
Omega, Wellborn, Homecrest, Armstrong, Aristokraft, Craftmade, Kitchen Craft, and Kraftmaid. Basically these are all advertisers in in Kitchen and Bath Design News.
I would put Kraftmade above Omega and Kitchen Craft. with them ranked a solid Chevy making Kraftmaid an OlsmobileSolid , dependable not a huge amount of money but for a little more you can push a basic Caddy,OK this is getting wierd with all this car anolgy(sp)Don't know anything about the others so I'll step aside and see if any other want to chime in, again you can search the subject in the archives.Mike" I reject your reality and substitute my own"
Adam Savage---Mythbusters
Kraftmade is decent enough, I would be a bit wary, they always seem to sneak in a substandard box to spoil the job. They do take care of mistakes, just costs us money having to go back. They have nice hardware upgrades.
Aristokraft used to be below middle of the road, but most cab co.'s have different lines.
Dura screwed me and were slow to respond. Could have been the supplier that now is out of business. Cab was decent enough in construction and good paint finish. Pcs. parts is where they dropped the ball.
Let's see, here's an Omega custom toe kick option. Nice of them to upcharge for this pleasure: Easy enough fix, but there should have been no need. However, a nice kitchen came out of it.
Does anyone know Frank Maddog Maglin's location in Texas? If close to you, I'd have him build my kitchen.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
NICE LOOKING FLOOR, WHAT IS THE WOOD?
random color bamboo. Believe it came from WFI, out of cinci, oh.
And welcome to Breaktime.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Edited 3/30/2005 9:19 pm ET by calvin
I really like Wellborn.
Like their 3 levels ... good,better .. best.
I always tell my customers that mention anything from HD or Lowes that I can probably come close to their "box" price and get them twice the cab quality from my Wellborn guy. I also like them because I can get a healthy contractors discount from my guy.
Another line .... low to middle of the road ... Legacy. Not a whole lotta fancy options ... but a nice basic box. Haven't bought any in about a year and a half .. but at that time they came cardboard boxed up like a tank. No shipping problems with those babies ...
aristocraft ... craftmaid ... thinking ya can't go wrong with either of them ... either.
avoid Diamond. Pure crap. fall apart if ya look at them wrong.
Jeff
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
u might want to check out the custom cabinet builders in your area.
they just might surprise you
bobl Volo, non valeo
Baloney detecter
I really encourage people to consider custom cabinets. My cabinet builder builds a better cabinet than ANY stock or modular cabinet. With the install included, his prices are competitive with any of them.
One of the major benefits of customs, they can be built to suit your desires and a good cabinet guy can offer more options tailored to your home.
The last home I built that included stock cabinets required a lot of plumbing and electrical change orders just to accommodate the limitations provided by the cabinet supplier. The cabinets were high end (don't recall the maker) but the quality of hidden components was 2nd rate.
I build cabinets and I buy them. Lately I've been buying a lot of Aristokraft. Good quality cabinets with a few upgrades and middle of the road pricing. My customers like them.
What Wormdrive said in post #7. The small custom shop offers much better service at accomodating custom needs with custom sizes/features/materials, etc, and they are very competitive with factory boxes of similar quality. It is worth doing some digging to find a good local guy.
Bill
Thank you all for your opinions and insight. I definately plan to contact some local custom cabinet makers when I am ready to get bids.
The information that you all have given me regarding where various semi custom makers fall in the preceived heiarchy of quality/value will provide me with a basis for evaluating the quality and acceptable cost of the local custom cabinet makers. By looking at the building techniques and materials commonly used by the most respected builders, it should be easy to identify the common characteristics that define a quality cabinet and by comparison what makes a poor cabinet.
Your info has greatly helped me clear the fog since they all look pretty nice in the brochure. Thanks again all.