Review Detail

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...