Has anybody ordered Kitchen Cabinets online?

[Stimw]

I am remodeling my kitchen from the ground up and have completely gutted it.
I am shopping for new cabinets and checking prices verses quality. I am only wanting wood cabinets, no partical board!
Just because a company on line says they have the latest and greatest I am skeptical.
Most seem to be "RTA" (ready to assemble) and the u-tube videos seem to be easy enough and solidly made.
They offer a sample door to compare their quality but that could be a best of the best sample. ???
I have looked at prices locally and online seems to be up to 40% less and some offer free shipping over a certain dollar amount. ($1500-2000.)
So I am looking for someone who has been there and done that.

 

[woodlandfarms]

If you like the styles, I strongly recommend IKEA Kitchen cabinets. The price is very right, and they are amazing. Wood cabinets are very over rated. Unless you are buying high quality customs, they will all be at the least veneered. And the truth is solid door wood cabinets, the tall ones, tend to warp so the veneer is desired in those situations.

We put Ikea in our second home, love it so much our very nice first home will get Ikea next kitchen remodel.

 

[PJSprog]

We redid our basement kitchen several years ago. We sanded and refinished the base cabinets, and bought new uppers from Home Depot. They are oak, and are quite nice for the price. New cabinets, new countertops, and a new gas stove surface on the island cost us right at $1000.

As for solid wood, yes they can warp. Having worked for a company that had a custom woods division who specialized in kitchens and baths, I can tell you that even the high-end custom stuff isn't all solid wood. The fronts are solid, as are the decorative (routed) parts of the doors, but the rest is generally veneered plywood. Don't confuse "real" wood with "solid" wood. Particle board has real wood in it. Plywood is just sheets of real wood sandwiching layers of real wood gunk, too.

By contrast to the basement DIY project, we're having a local custom maker build our new upstairs kitchen cabinets and countertops. Quote was a little over $8K.

I've never ordered cabinets over the internet, and probably never would, unless it's from a known reputable company.

 

[RNeumann]

Second for IKEA if that is the look you want. If you insist one "real" wood we use these folks-

Cabinet Doors & Drawer Boxes | RTA Cabinet Components | Decore.com

 

[KWentling]

We used Barker RTAs out of Oregon. All 3/4" birch plywood boxes and a good selection of door profiles and wood to select from. Drawers are dovetail construction. They make any size in 1/4" increments. Good quality soft close hardware. We did have some drawer front that didn't get an even finish and the over the stove microwave cabinet wouldn't
work with the exhaust vent. They designed a different cabinet box and shipped at no cost and took care of the drawer fronts. They were very good to deal with. The cabinets were reasonably priced and the shipping was free over a certain dollar amount. That was a big deal cause shipping is a killer. Take a look at them.

 

[hawkeye08]

We bought a bunch from Lowes for the rec room, basically like a kitchen, base cabinets plus uppers. Hickory fronts. Love the look, very disappointed in the construction. I was going to make some, but time was short and we had some money.

Look for reviews of how problems were resolved.

 

[Gunny]

With the amount of money involved buying kitchen cabinets, I'd be very hesitant to order from the internet unless I'd seen some examples of their product. I'm sure there are some great cabinet builders out there, but I'd bet there's a lot that are out there that build good looking cabinets, but use particle board on everything that isn't visible from the front.
When I did my kitchen, the wife liked the Kraft Made cabinets from Lowe's. We went online, downloaded their catalog and worked out a plan for what we needed to do the job. Then we bounced back and forth between Home Depot and Lowe's with their price match guarantees. Finally went with Lowes because they gave us 10% under the lowest offer, threw in plywood sides and gave us two sink bases for free, then I used my 10% military discount off the final price. Four weeks later, a Kraft Made truck delivered them to the house.

As long as you don't settle for the listed price and are willing to do some legwork and negotiating, you can get a pretty good deal.

 

[Muhammad]

I just remodeled my kitchen earlier this year. I looked at dozens of cabinet brands, ranging from the cheapest imported junk to the highest priced designer European brands. I learned a few key things:

- The most economical option for decent quality is to find a local distributor of a decent quality imported cabinet.
- Avoid thermofoil and similar coatings on white and colored cabinets.
- Plywood comes in varying degrees of chemical content; here in California we have CARB certification to let consumers know that the formaldehyde content is safe.
- As others have said, there's real wood, solid wood, etc. Plywood is good for the boxes, but how they are assembled is important. Some really cheap cabinets are assembled with brackets, which I would avoid. I would recommend solid wood for the doors, regardless of the color you go with.
- Let the cabinet maker/local distributor assemble them. It cost me $20 per box for assembly.
- If you're installing yourself, take your time and measure twice.
- Cabinets found at Home Depot and Lowe's are about double the cost of what I think they are actually worth (having compared to other products). By the time you order the options for quality you want (plywood boxes, solid doors, etc) the price goes way up.

Here's an example of a good quality cabinet maker I found: J & K Cabinetry Dallas, Houston, Metairie You can e-mail them and ask if they have any distributors in your area.

 

[SJay]

I would go with plywood boxes - I don't know anyone who would build solid boxes. Get dovetailed drawers, they should be solid maple. You want solid wood face frames and solid wood doors. I work for a company that sells cabinets, I have seen some cabinet companies when building their doors used particle board and veneer, watch out for that.

Pioneer Cabinetry - Quality and Craftsmanship in Kitchen and Bathroom Cabinets - Davison MI see if you have a dealer close by - great cabinets

 

[Stimw]

Thanks for the replies it gives me some direction.
By real wood I did mean that plywood cabinet parts was OK.
I have seen partical board turn to mush and warp when there was some kind of water event.
And here in Florida the humidity is not kind to it either.
I have figured out the easiest way to compare prices is to price just one cabinet from each supplier.
I did get a design and quote on Kraft Made and it was over $10,000.00 , over $15K with counter top!!!
Money is not a problem because I sold my last property high and bought my current property low!
But I am not going to waste it either.