Kitchen Cabinet input requested.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. Some darker cabinets may be better than others.

That may be a question for the manufacturer - is the panel, if any, pre-finished?

I've seen the issue on several occasions though. Last year I was in a higher-end bathroom fixture store. One of their cabinet displays was a burgandy-ish cabinet. The whole display looked like someone whent and painted a border around all the panels. I can only assume I saw it before they could change it out. It was awful - especially for a display item.

The Hampton Bay cabernet showed a bit of lighter area around the panel edges so we passed on that. As it was, my friends had worked with a designer (prior to my involvement) and picked a lighter cinnamon maple cabinet anyway.


Re: Face frames. A face frame is the frame around the front of the cabinet where the hinges are hung - usually 2 inch or 2 1/2 inch wide.

Frameless will sometimes be referred to as European. It looks good with some contemporary styles as it allows a tight fit between adjoining doors and drawers for a "monolithic" front.

Most of the RTAs will be frameless. Ikea, Cabinets To Go etc.

My friends did Ikea cabinets several years ago and were not happy. Parts of the cabinets started to delaminate within a couple years. My friends were under the impression the cabs were still under warranty. Much to their chagrin, they found out it was the hardware that had the long (lifetime?) warranty. I'll say the hardware WAS quality. I can't recall if it was Blum.

Good lord, wiki has has an article on EVERYTHING. LOL. I googled it and wiki showed up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_frame

Framelss
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frameless_construction

RTA - Knock down:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTA_furniture


I prefer face frame. It gives, imo, a more furniture look.

Re: Costco. I think you need to check the website. Last time I was in the store I asked, out of curiosity to see if they displayed the cabs, and got a glazed over look from the counter person. The only way I found out about the link was when the lady at "Hampton Bay" said something like "you have to check with Costco... er I mean Home Depot." I found a Costco forum that I read prior to ordering.

http://addictedtocostco.com/2010/01/15/guest-post-kitchen-cabinets-from-all-wood-cabinetry/

The reviews seemd pretty good. Most of the negative comments were regarding shipping damage but most of the commenters agreed Allwood sends out replacements pretty fast (they ask you to email a photo of the damage). We had one minor screw up - they sent a mullion (glass insert) door with the hinge holes drilled on the wrong side. Then they sent the wrong replacement size. It worked out great though as I used the spare parts and cut them up to make the recessed cabinet you see in the photo (next to the window).

IIRC, most of their damge was due to using cut-rate carriers before moving to Fed Ex. Ours showed up via Fed Ex ground on a semi. No damage.