Kitchen Cabinets

[RichZ]

My wife and I are thinking of re-doing our kitchen. Any suggestions for places to buy reasonably priced kitchen cabinets? We've already checked with Home Depot and Lowes. There are ones she likes at Lowes, we're just looking to see what other options are out there. We'll be wanting them to be installed. too.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[KennyG]

If you're having them installed, find your contractor first and have him recommend the cabinets. He will know more about it than anyone else, if he regularly installs cabinets in the area.

 

[JDgreen227]

My wife and I are thinking of re-doing our kitchen. Any suggestions for places to buy reasonably priced kitchen cabinets? We've already checked with Home Depot and Lowes. There are ones she likes at Lowes, we're just looking to see what other options are out there. We'll be wanting them to be installed. too.

Thanks for any suggestions.

We have Home Depot, Lowes, and Menards in our area...we went with the Schrock brand from Menards, but self-installed them, it was a new kitchen, not a renovation. There are many places in our area that do design work and sell new cabinets and installation but you pay a huge premium for the convenience of letting them handle it all. Agree about letting a contractor recommend a brand and style, but don't skimp on quality, get 3/4 inch thick shelves, and the best cabinets (like our Schrock line does) have real 3/4 inch thick PLYWOOD backs and sides, not that cheap s--- OSB or particleboard so common today.

 

[polo1665]

Did my kitchen in my rental (lived there at the time) a few years ago and went with Kraftmaid cabinets. Bought them at Lowes and had them installed by a Lowes contractor. The cabinets are great, really well made and I got a good draw with the contractor who installed them. I was very pleased with the outcome and the cabinets are still holding up very well.

 

[dmccarty]

There is a thread in the rural section about building houses where there is a discussion on cabinets.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/209936-house-building-save-money.html

I will quote myself. Is that too weird?

Kitchens and bathrooms.

Check out IKEA. You will likely have to travel to get to one. The nearest one to us is two hours away. You have to assemble the furniture and cabinets you buy from them but they have the instructions and furniture/cabinets well designed. We have bought bedroom furniture and living room furniture and have been very impressed with the quality of the stuff.

The furniture is more "modern" looking so it will no appeal to all.

IKEA has a large selection of cabinets. We bought good quality aka expensive cabinets for the kitchen and baths. I think we could have gotten the same quality from IKEA for a third of the price. The IKEA store was not built when we built the house. If it had been and I knew what I now know, I think I would have bought from IKEA and done the install myself.

They have a website and you can get a catalog. The catalog and website are good with planning software and such but going to the store is a much better experience. At least use them to as a price comparison.

When we built we check Lowes, HD, and a variety of local places. In the end we went with a guy working out of a furniture store for the cabinets. His prices and quality were better than the others. Having said that, if we were putting in cabinets I would almost certainly buy them from IKEA and do the work myself.

Later,
Dan

 

[om21braz]

Having said that, if we were putting in cabinets I would almost certainly buy them from IKEA and do the work myself.

Later,
Dan

+1 I'd certainly take a look at IKEA if you have one within reasonable driving distance.

 

[psj12]

I bought Kraftmaid and installed them ourselves. We bought a middle of the line finished maple cabinet. They are great cabinets. We looked at them at Home Depot but found a local dealer that supplied them for about 20% less. He was also able to sell me just a tall, matching cabinet front to cover a narrow void in the kitchen that was previously covered by a curtain to form a small pantry. Home depot didn't offer this item. The local dealer also set us up with a company that made and installed counter tops. They would make and install any material you wanted from laminate to stone. We went with Corian. It was also about 20% less than HD's service.

The local dealer offered the same "design" service as Home Depot. This was basically a computer program in which you enter the kitchen demensions and then you and the dealer manipulate different cabinets and cabinet demensions to obtain what you need.

 

[kidr]

Don't rule out a small local custom shop. Some are pretty competitive with pre made. A kitchen is really beautiful with no filler pieces and a few custom touches. You'll only pay once but you'll be looking at them a long time.

 

[texbaylea]

We went with Ikea for the cabinets in our new kitchen we added on. We added on a 12 x 24 kitchen to give us more maneuvering room.

We paid about $5k for the cabinets which we had priced out a about $10k at Lowes. Plus we prefer the European style of cabinetry rather than face frame

The Ikea cabinets go together fast and the instructions are clear, all drawings, few words. We had used Ikea's kitchen designer on our computer and loaded the completed design up to their web site. Then when we arrived at the store, their "adviser" called it up on their computer, built the parts list for the order. They also help correct some conflicts.

Ikea is in Houston for us - about 1 1/2 hours for us and all freeway all the way.

If there is a store in reasonable distance, check them out.

Vernon

 

[grsthegreat]

I deal with new houses all the time here in north idaho. All the homeowners want to go to Lowes or home depot. I always talk them out of it...or at least try to.

The last house i wired, the owners came to me with their home depot drawn cabinet plans...all nice and pretty.... PLUS a huge $10,400 price tag, installed plus tax.

I finally convienced them to go to a local cabinet shop that i do work on, and he just ordered a NICER set of Maple cabinets (real maple not veneer), installed for $3,000 LESS than home depot.

Shop the local small cabinet shops first.....just a suggestion