DIY & Home Improvement
In reply to the discussion: Kitchen Cabinet input requested. [View all]Hassin Bin Sober
(26,694 posts)Disclaimer: I have a few vicodins in me for the gout so nevermind the spelling and/or . well, anything.
The real maker is All Wood Cabinets out of Florida. Costco also sells the All Wood Cabinets under the Costco name. My understanding is the pricing is similar - you can get a quote from both but you have to request it through both sites separately. They offer free design service and are pretty friendly.
I installed a large kitchen full of these cabinets in a friend's place last year and they are happy with the cabinets.
It was a large kitchen with 4 work spaces and an island. The total with taxes and delivery was about $8800 bucks. That included a lot of goodies like pot drawers and roll out shelves, glass mullion doors, light rail and crown molding I ended up sending back and color matching my own (for size reasons). It appears the deals have gotten a little better. Last I looked they were offering 20% off and free shipping over a certain order amount. We recieved 10% and payed approx. 500 bucks for shipping.
I priced out a similar floor-plan from their semi-custom special order cabinets and the quote was in the low teens including plywood (a $2500 upgrade) boxes. 6-8 weeks plus turn around time.
I consider the Hampton Bay cabs to be a middle of the road option price-wise and fairly good quality (plywood boxes etc.). My one regret is we maybe should have upgraded the hardware to soft close doors and drawers only because that got you BLUM hardware which is a quality name for cabinet makers. In our case the up-charge was going to be approx. $1000 bucks for this large kitchen. I think Costco was offering free upgrade but the pricing was a little higher, IIRC. This falls in to the "nothing is really free" category. As it was, the kitchen was intended for two adults - a large family might cause more wear and tear on the hardware.
We went with the cinnamon spice color. I think you are better off with lighter shades on low to middle end cabs as darker colors sometimes do not look great on a budget cabinet. For instance, the cabernet sample we received was showing some show-through around the edges of the door panels. A higher end cabinet would have the panels finished before assembly. A lower end cabinet will show around the panel edges when the doors expand and contract with the seasons. A lighter stain won't highlight the problem.
Hampton Bay ships in 10 days as they are all off their shelf.
I priced out Hampton cabinets for my mother in law around christmas and came in with a quote for, IIRC, about $3k for a smaller kitchen.
Mother in law went with off the shelf in-store American Classic Home Depot cabinets for about $2500. $2000 after they went on sale while we had the order placed. They went on sale for 20% off while we were waiting for delivery. You really have to watch for it because they take them on and off sale. I had a gut feeling they would go back on sale. I even called American Classic and they were pretty cagey and not forthcoming with any future sale info. Even though they can be prurchased off the shelf, we ordered them and had them delivered just so we wouldn't be picking through the racks and short a cabinet or two. Same price with like ten days turn around time which was perfect for us while we did demo and electrical/plumbing. It's nice to not have to order cabs 6-8 weeks out and have a change of heart or a surprise.
I was really against the Home Depot off the shelf American Classics because of the particle board and MIL's choice of oak. The kitchen has really grown on me - even the oak. For them, they should get good use out of the cabinets because it's just the two of them (68 and 78 years old) and they take really good care of their things.
On the lower end, you will see RTA (ready to assemble) Shrock at Menards. HD also has an RTA line but the name escapes me. I would steer clear of RTA cabs (including Ikea).
I prefer a cabinet with a face frame for a more quality look. Most of the RTA cabs are frameless.
Hint: the American Classics offer real plywood veneer "skins" for the sides of exposed cabinets for dirt cheap prices, IIRC, 15 bucks. The skins really knock the look up a couple notches (versus the print faux paper wood grain). Also, the skins make the cab squared off because they fill that 1/8th inch reveal space on the sides of the cabs. Makes the crown go up easier. I wish we had done that on the Hampton cabinets (not sure if Hampon's are real veneer wood.
Friend's kitchen:
color matching the stain. We wanted a smaller crown so we sent back Hampton's crown and bought some 2 1/4 pine crown and had the local paint shp get us really close with a match:
Momma's kitchen:
with the light rail and crown installed:
Momma's old kitchen we face-lifted (counter top sink and backsplash) in the spring before they freaked out and decided they had to down size. Can you say set in your ways? :