Kraftmaid

I recently purchased kitchen cabinets from Lowe’s in April 2016. I was told that KraftMaid makes some of the best kitchen cabinets by the Lowes salesman so I decided to buy it. I paid $16,500 for cherry wood cabinets. it took over a month to finish and delivery. When the installer opened boxes, to our surprise, some products are not in good condition, he wrote a long list of items with defects ( e.g., cut with wrong size, scratch, inconstant color painted, etc.), We expected our kitchen project is done by July, However, KraftMaid care is not motivated to speed up the replacement process. REALLY DISAPPOINTMENT with this vendor .

I recently purchased kitchen cabinets from Lowe’s in April 2016. I was told that KraftMaid makes some of the best kitchen cabinets by the Lowes salesman so I decided to buy some. I was told that there were two options to choose from, their standard line and a newer line, the Momentum line. I was told the difference between the two was in the variety of options for customization and price. The Momentum line had fewer customization options therefore it was cheaper. I decided to go with the Momentum line after being assured that there was no loss in quality and craftsmanship between the two lines.
But when I finally received the cabinets after paying over $6,000 for them I was in for a rude awakening. The cabinets I received were some of the sloppiest cabinets I have seen. There was dried wood glue dripping all over them as well as many chipped areas on almost all the cabinets I got. Most of the doors aren’t even level and have varying sizes of gaps between them. The pantry was one of the worst pieces I received. It has a large crack coming from the top hinge of the door and several more cracks on the back side of it. They even sent me a piece that was painted gray when I ordered natural wood cabinets. I was told that the cabinets would have to pass a thorough quality review before being sent to me but that clearly wasn’t done. KraftMaid didn’t even bother to put their logo on anything they sent me, I guess they are as embarrassed as I am of the cabinets.

Okay - I just completed my kitchen project. I originally started out getting a custom kitchen quotes by a local carpenters. I then went to a local Home Depot who had a few different cabinet lines. I chose Kraftmaid because the door style I chose was unique and the color and finish was great. When the cabinets came in, I have to say they looked much better than I expected (since it wasn't "custom"). Now that I am able to fully use my kitchen, I love my Kraftmaid cabinets. I did have 3 doors that I felt looked not as nice as the others but the Kraftmaid Rep Gary H. (Great guy, great customer service) came to my house and replaced them. I would highly recommend Kraftmaid!

After a little over 4 years we had 2 wall cabinets completely fail at the joint between the cheap particle board sides and the horizontal braces across the backs that are used to mount them at the top, separating completely. The result was that the cabinets were literally about to fall off of the wall with about a 1" gap at the top and were being supported solely by the lower mounting screws. For even a fraction of what they cost that would simply be inexcusable. I immediately called kraftmaid when we noticed this and after waiting through a brief hold was hung up on without a single word being uttered on either end of the phone. The second call was much more lengthy, although no more fruitful. I spent almost 30 minutes essentially being told that the cabinets must have been installed incorrectly and that, point blank, kraftmaid would under no circumstances repair or replace them and that I would have to go back to where I bought them and deal with the issue there, again, more than 4 years after the sale. Even more insulting, I was also told a number of lies up to and including a statement that it would be illegal for them to send me more cabinets because I would just put them back up the same way as the last set and create a safety hazard! It's important to note that at this point I had already informed the representative that I wouldn't simply be putting them back up as they were before and had been through options with her that in kraftmaid's view would make my installation "safe". Having said all of that, it's also probably important to mention that this entire kitchen was professionally designed and installed and that the way the cabinets were mounted would have been perfectly acceptable for virtually any other brand I have ever seen and while I'm not a cabinet installer myself, I've been in the building trades in one way or another for most of my life since I was 12 years old, so I've seen my fair share and then some of kitchens, baths, etc go together. Screws of more than adequate length were installed in each cabinet, top and bottom, at every location that there is structure to support them, at every stud. To be honest it seems like the real problem is the 1/2" thick, 2.5" wide board that is the sole support for the top of these cabinets. It's just glued onto the particle board sides where it has very little surface area for the glue to adhere and doesn't have so much as a finishing nail or staple to help hold it together. The fact that the rest of the back wall is cardboard printed to look like wood certainly doesn't help either. Simply screwing a piece of hardwood 1x4 flat across the top into the sides of the cabinets and pocket holing it to accept the mounting screw going through to the wall stud should be more than adequate to reinforce that part of the structure and would be trivial to incorporate into the manufacturing process at a minimal cost. At the risk of sounding a bit cynical I have to say that I suppose I shouldn't be surprised about the problems I'm having after more closely looking at the extremely cheap construction of every part of these cabinets behind the doors/faces. It's like kraftmaid thinks if they use real wood for what people will see walking by, then nothing else matters. Sadly though, it does, and having already been taken like so many others and the point being so clearly made that I can expect absolutely nothing in the way of warranty support, I'll make the modifications to the cabinets myself that kraftmaid should have designed in at the factory and warn every person I can about what they can expect of what should have been a quality product at a premium price from an American company. Disappointing doesn't even begin to describe it...