This thread is almost 2 years old in case anyone cares.....

Not anymore. I agree with Marie back in 2012 that Kitchen maid would be more appropriately named Kitchencrap. I am in the middle of a kitchen renovation nightmare through Lowes with Kitchenmaid cabinets. The craftsmanship is deplorable. I am now convinced that Lowes recommends them only because of big commission they must make.

Why Kraftmaid have different lines for different retailers? Like Lowes has Momentum, my dealer has Vantage and homedepot has others. Are they the same quality? Their website doesn't has any information about different lines.

I guarantee if the average buyer saw a true handcrafted hardwood cabinet next to a mid level perfectly engineered with all the bells and whistles they would choose the mid level.

A quality mid level cabinet Co has worked out all the flaws and bugs unlike a one off cabinet grade cabinet.

People want unrealistic perfect finishes that do not show any of the woods natural characteristics or flaws. Real wood expands and contracts causing all sorts of unwanted issues to todays buyers. Actual woodgrain and knots showing? Not today.

First off 32mm Euro cabinets were designed to build cabinets cheap and quick. Today we think of them as quality. Full face frame boxes will last a lifetime even with chipboard boxes. The frame takes all the beating. No hinges or drawers pulling out of their system holes.

That said you can only buy what your budget allows. Don't get hung up on dovetail this and all solid wood as some of the better engineered cabs uses neither. Using old fashion looking craftsmanship on modern Euro cabs is there to sell cabs and nothing else. It is not a sign of craftsmanship when a machine cuts out dovetails all day long. Why not just use a modern metal side soft close drawer?

Pay more attention to the hardware, drawers and doors instead of the cabinet boxes. All the complaints are from guys pulling out 40 year old kitchens that were still holding together fine. "Look at This Garbage", they say as they are installing click together boxes.

Look for a local craftsman if you have the budget and desire for traditional cabinets otherwise just go down to Ikea they have it down to a science and can't be beat price to quality. By the way who wants a 25year old kitchen anyway? I love quality but that is the reality of life. Fashion changes no matter how good the quality is.

I have the same question as May Luo....What is the difference between the various Kraftmaid lines? Is the vantage line of Kraftmaid cabinetry that much better than the kraftmaid lines that they carry at Lowes or Home Depot? Anyone have experience with this??

Well I can tell you that I have been dealing with Kraftmaid while building a new home. I bought them through a dealer (a lumber yard) not a big box store; whole house cabinets and $18,000 bill (they still won't provide me with an invoice) asked for a sample of cabinet so I can look for flooring to coordinate; they cut off a pc. of toe kick that Kraftmaid has sent. It did not match the cabinets at all - confirmed this by me having to call Kraftmaid and buying a sample and the store by getting them to get me one of my cabinets (they are not yet installed and I hope they never will be. I ordered the vantage line with "All Plywood Construction" their web page advertises 3/8" plywood on the back. What they are giving me for my all plywood construction is ...............drumroll...........a 1/8" pc of MDF and 3 pieces of pine board about 2" wide going horizontally hot glued on the back. I am meeting with a rep tomorrow to "talk about this". I am just wanting a refund. If that doesn't happen, then I will talk to a lawyer. Do NOT get Kraftmaid; they advertise all plywood construction - it is not at all. It is (PPC) part plywood construction.

We purchased our cabinets through Lowe's and are pleased with cabinet construction, but finishing appears to be a huge problem. We ordered canvas with cocoa glaze in June, 2016 and are still, in November, working to resolve issues.

Our first issue came during installation when it was discovered that one
of the cabinet doors had the finger pull at the top of the door rather than the
bottom and our corner cabinet door had no finger pull at all. Also we noticed the glazing was inconsistent
with the pull out drawer fronts and two of the doors had flaws. Some of the pull out drawer fronts had
glazing on only the corners rather than across the length, making them appear
dirty, and some had no evidence of glazing at all. Lowe's contacted Kraftmaid's representative and we were first informed that someone local could handle the
glazing issue. Finally the replacement
doors arrived, but we were again disappointed since they were duplicates of the
defective doors we had on hand and no communication about the glazing.

Another problem during
installation of the granite came when it was dropped on the sink cabinet and cracked it; the
replacement cabinet we received was particleboard rather than the plywood that
was our original order.

After several weeks past we again contacted Lowe's about the glazing and
were told that the representative wanted to come see the problems we complained
about. She took pictures and agreed
that the glazing was unacceptable and would begin paperwork to get new drawer
fronts and replace the doors that are flawed. It is now November and we have
finally received replacement drawer fronts and one of the replacement doors. We are still awaiting the corner cabinet door
with the fingerpull in the proper location. Of the replacements only about half are acceptable;
quality control of glazing is severely inadequate.

Our recommendation would be to order painted or stained no glazing.

I will add that we are very
pleased with Lowe's attempt to resolve these issues.

Popalac, I just did a search of Kraftmaid when I saw them in a house. The kitchen is five or so years old and looks lovely. When you open a drawer or cabinet, the quality isn't great. I was curious as to how they compared to my Candlelight Cabinets, to be honest they couldn't come close!

We have a kitchen of Kraftmaid (painted finish) and a bath (wood finish). The kitchen is now 10 years old, the bath is 5 years old. I consider the functional and structural quality to be good. HOWEVER, the bath cabinets showed water damage after a year. I tried to maintain them with touch ups, but after 5 years, they are a disaster. The kitchen cabinets are a little better, with spot chipping (most likely from water). A telephone call to the Kitchenmaid/Lowes customercare phone (888-562-3413) produced a very blunt "water damage is not covered by warranty". I doubt that any manufacturer covers water damage, but hopefully they have a better finish that resists water damage. I suggest two options. 1 - Buy another brand. 2 - If you buy Kraftmaid, apply a good sealer to resist water damage.

I bought Kraftmaid cabinets a couple of years ago and really hate them and have disliked them more than my old ugly ones. I have a small kitchen and added cabinets in my kitchen to provide more storage but instead of giving me more room, it has given me less storage space. The way the drawers are made does not utilize the tiny space I have. I don't need a large faceplate for a tiny drawer, I need each drawer to be the size of the faceplate.

The interior of drawers can never ever be the size of the drawer face. It is physically impossible. Even with flameless cabinets. You have to have room for the structural elements and glide hardware.

How can a company sell something advertised as plywood as particle board? In any case, I am wondering about the veneer. My kitchen looks like it was remodeled in the late 80's at the worst possible time. All particle board everything with veneer so thin it looks like wall paper (could even be I suppose). Since even the plywood cabinets are basically boxes with a door and shelves, it seems to me any manufacturer that's been around for awhile should have perfected making a simple box, but from the sound of these posts, no..... I'll keep looking.

take a tape measure and measure everything when you go looking at cabinets - even simple things like inside the drawers. I did this when I replaced my fridge - measured all bins, shelves, etc etc in my old fridge and did the same for any fridge I was considering at the store - everything from egg holder to vegy bin. It is amazing how some manufacturers waste space and provide less usable space per sq in while others make the most use of the space. I drove the salespeople crazy with all my measuring (and scoffing at high priced fridges with crap space), but ended up with a fridge with at least adequate storage. Will do the same for the cabinets.....

Do Not Buy Kraftmade! I had painted/glazed cabinets installed a little over a year ago and they are already peeling/chipping. Customer service was a joke and pretty much told me there is nothing they would do to help. I am so disappointed in quality and embarrassed for people to see my kitchen now.

Oh My! That is very disappointing. I do want to ask though, are these the only areas in which this is occurring? My only observation is that it appears to be where the mop/cleaning solution and moisture is hitting both the countertop and the floors. I have had this happen before to a client and given it was isolated to these areas it was not covered.

if you are building go with a custom line, Kraftmaid has particle board backs with a veneer, that is where the hardware for the drawers are fashioned, you need at least a 1/2 inch back and wall anything thicker than that all the better

Kraftmaid is expensive junk. Had 60 in vanity with two 48 in towers installed about six months ago, all the 45s in the doors and a few drawers have separated. Pictures were sent to Home Depot about a month ago, haven't heard a word since. These were not cheap cabinets the were made of white maple and were expensive. be forewarned!!

The Kraftmaid lines sold at Home Depot and Lowes are not the same Kraftmaid you get at an independent dealer! They make a cheaper version for big box stores. We spent a fortune on Kraftmaid kitchen cabinets thru a dealer, and they are extremely, I mean extremely high quality. A lot of big name brands make a Big Box version of their products. Go to Home Depot and try to purchase an Anderson Window. They sell them under the name Renew by Anderson. Anderson makes them, but the quality is not the same because they have to be cheaper in order to sell lots of them at Home Depot. I even found Kraftmaid product catalogs on line and they ask you which catalog you want to download...the big box store one, or the local dealer one.

If the cabinets they make for Home Depot and Lowes are of lesser quality why do they carry the Kraftmaid name??? I'll tell you why. They are not different.

Anderson makes cheaper quality windows for the big box stores but they don't carry the ANDERSON name!!! Kraftmaid is Kraftmaid, period!

Five years ago we bought Kraftmaid cabinets from an independent dealer and the quality was amazing for the price. We did invest in some of the ugrades like slow close drawers, pull-outs and lazy susans. I was very pleased with the appearance and function and felt they held up very well.

We recently moved and I decided to upgrade our new kitchen and this time go "higher end" with custom cabinets. Biggest mistake I have ever made. I am regretting not going with Kraftmaid again.

My advice would be that if you decide to go with custom - go see the product in another customer's home. DO not trust the product in the showroom will be the same that you are getting. We have not even moved into our house and our cabinets are already chipping. Also, they used cheap drawer slides and the drawers are not closely without excessive force - they are very stiff. They finally changed them to Blum slides (well, some of them after I complained A LOTand SO much better!)

The cabinet doors when fully opened rock back and forth, so I am thinking they used cheap hinges as well.

They installed a cheap plastic lazy susan (the ones on their website and is showroom are wood),

We are also dealing with very poor finish issues such as paint drips/runs, poorly finished corners where paint is already worn off, scratches and the wood grain showing through the finish. It is awful. When I complained to the contractor, I was told "you have a critical eye". Huh? Sorry if I feel that quality for high end, very expensive cabinets is not unreasonable. Spent over 40K on kitchen cabinets.

The reason they are not the same quality at a dealer is the same for almost anything you buy at a box store. Most product lines are narrowed down and have secondary parts that are not found in a true dealer location. I'm not knocking them, I shop them myself. Also, keep in mind Kraftmaid Vantage is the key word here. This line the stores DO NOT have access to. They have a builder grade entry line all the way up to close to competitive to a full on custom line. Box stores carry the low to mid lines with less options.

Kraftmaid cabinets refused to make the right style door after we had our cabinets installed. I ordered the Kirkland style maple cabinets painted canvas. When they were installed the wrong doors were put on the pantry, top and bottom, the middle door is the correct style. Now they refuse to send the two right style doors, saying the middle door was a mistake and they don't repeat mistakes. DO NOT BUY KRAFTMAID if you want and expect good customer service after you purchase their product. I paid for a certain style and did not receive what I paid for. Shame on Kraftmaid.

Wow that is awful, I am so sorry! That is shockingly bad service!

We had a similar experience - except I was able to return the wrong pieces. However, between ordering and returning the wrong pieces, unbeknownst to anyone, they stopped making our stain color. I would have kept the returned pieces had I known that I wouldn't be able to get anything else. Kraftmaid has suggested that we buy unfinished pieces and go to a paint store to see if they can match the stain color and then finish them ourselves. Ridiculous.

I must be the one lucky guy that gets Kraftmaid from HD. A few baths and a couple of kitchens.. No problems..........I keep it simple, get the best hardware they have and install myself.

I put KraftMaid in a beach condo kitchen and 2 bathrooms 13 years ago. No problems...they still look great! I did use an independent dealer, not a box store.

I had my last kitchen done with Kraftmaid about 12 years ago and still own that home as a rental. The cabinets were and are in fantastic shape. We loved that kitchen. In our new home, I just went with Kraftmaid in the master bath. Not your standard bathroom as we had 12 pieces to it. We just LOVE the results and the quality. Not a single problem. We did order them both times from Home Depot. Nothing but compliments to this company. They were packaged well and everyone that comes into our home comments on them. We are going to be ordering a new kitchen this month and will use Kraftmaid again.

Sherry I wouldn't be surprised if you do have problems with the new Kraftmaid products. Either the problem kitchens are hit or miss or very recently their quality control has become nonexistent. We have had too many problems to go into, but overall First set of cabinets delivered Aug 9. We ended up sending back all dove white cabinets, the majority of kitchen . Replacement set delivered Oct 13 and oct 30. We still aren't complete because we are waiting on a piece to be replaced, which they have gotten wrong 3 times and it must be installed prior to granite. Too many issues with the finished product of glazed items. Also issues with the paint coverage too thin. Inspect all your stuff carefully when it comes in before install and if there are issues make sure to get a Kraftmaid rep come out to see them. We originally ordered dove white with cocoa glaze and replaced all those with canvas with cocoa glaze. Have also had some color issues with cherry stained Saddle cabinets.

If you put any Kraftmaid cabinets in your bathroom the 45s will separate with the least bit of humidity. All of the doors on our vanity and towers separated. They know it's a problem because they will send you new doors in a heartbeat!

Get a written warranty!!

The written lifetime warranty is in every spec book and online.

Sometimes it’s just easier to send unreasonable customer abuse cases new doors and call the warranty fulfilled than it is to send out the rep.

Humidity control is a required component of any warranty from any cabinet company.

We bought All kraftmaid cabinets from a dealer for our new built house. We haven’t even lived in it 6 mo. and paint is pealing on them! Not happy. It’s just two of us here, we’re senior citizens, so I assure you, we are not hard on things! Very disappointed.

We are remodeling a house that we just bought in Colorado. I went and saw the brand new Kraftmaid (sp?) cabinets that a friend had put in her new house from Home Depot. She is so happy with them and she said they were so much cheaper. I then went and visited several places that our contractor remodeled using his own custom cabinet maker. OMG—what a difference. Gaps galore in the Krastmaid kitchen. Not a gap to be seen in the custom. biggest surprise? Custom were not all that more expensive.

Kraftmaid cabinets has very poor customer care. I waited 6 weeks for cabinets and the delivery was 2 cabinets short. I immediately called and was shuffled between delivery and customer care. They couldn't order replacements for 48 hours. The first person told me 7 to 10 days for replacements, the next time I called it was 2 weeks, the last person said 1 month so still waiting for replacement cabinets.

I just bought a kitchen full of Kraftmaid cabinets through Home Depot and I am extremely disappointed with their build quality. Amazingly I paid over $12,000 (on sale from $15,500) for an average sized kitchen so I assumed they would be made well. When they were delivered about 50% of the cabinets had significant damage or defects. I took pictures and sent to my designer at HD and they sent replacements for the bad ones, of which many were worse than the first lot! I sent pictures again and received a third delivery of cabinets which were just as bad! If they didn't have damage from being abused, they were just made wrong. Many were not square or had pieces mis-aligned so they wouldn't sit correctly on the wall. I strongly recommend avoiding Kraftmaid cabinets!

NEVER buy Kraftmaid. 100% of my order was damaged and they are refusing to replace and/or reimburse me for the cabinets. The cabinets have paint splotches, uneven paint job, cracked joints, and various other defects. On top of all of that their customer services sucks! Going back and forth with Lowes for the last 6 months and now I was told if I wanted a better paint job I should have purchased the cheaper MDF line???? I plan to put this review up anywhere on the internet I can find asking for a review of Kraftmaid! DO NOT BUY KRAFTMAID!!

Avoid Kraftmaid! Installers came today to reinstall replacement pieces and almost all were damaged. Some pieces are on the 3rd replacements due to damage or poor construction/painting. We have been dealing with this kitchen remodel cabinet issues for a year in November. A few photos from the damaged pieces today. I am at a loss.

A few more pictures

Bought my kraftmaid cabinets from an independent dealer. They were installed in July 2021. Doors were warped and had to be replaced. They are stained and the other day I wiped aomething that had dripped on a door with a wet dishcloth and the stain came right off. There were many imperfections in the doors (many little splotches that are unexplainable) and they sent a furniture medic out twice to fix things. Furniture medics were mediocre. Some of the doors were replaced but there was a lot of finger pointing and saying that the imperfections were caused by my contractor’s tools etc. Some of the joints were not finished properly and even though they dont show I know they are there and expected better. I think the finish on these cabinets is worse than my old builder grade cabinets . We bought kraftmaid from home depot a couple of years ago and those cabinets are much better quality. I

have already considered looking for a furniture refinisher to make sure the cabinets dont decline further.

Are custom kitchen cabinets that much higher quality compared to higher end prefab? The price for our prefab vs custom are 15k vs 60k. Not sure if it is worth the extra money for the custom

That's a lot of difference. You would need to do your homework and understand the specs for whatever brand of prefab you are looking at. Then compare to specs of the custom. How long you plan to live in a home might dictate which is better choice. It seems most customers focus on door style or color when making cabinet selection. We stress to look at quality of construction first.

The prefab has all the checkmarks. Plywood, dovetail, maple hardwood drawers, soft close etc. The custom doors are all MDF with laminate but prefab doors can be plywood.

We dont need any custom features for a simple white shaker kitchen. We care more about the quality and want the kitchen to last a long time. Are custom cabinets that much higher quality to justify the price difference?

Price a local custom cabinet maker. We built in 2018 and I couldn’t find any cabinet lines that I thought didn’t took cheap. Was pleasantly surprised to find I could get real wood well made cabinets for about the same price.

Just want to express appreciation for this thread. Have been wondering about purchasing KraftMaid from HD and, having read all that has been shared here, I shall pass and go for better quality. Thank you all!

Just finished install on my 4th kraftmaid kitchen in 15+ years. And I’m sure it will be my last. The quality is nothing like it was 10 years ago. I’m so disappointed. Oh well back to hiring local craftsmen!

We are on our third Kraftmaid kitchen in 16 years. Installed this last one 10 years ago. All three were top notch quality and finish. Great product and durability. Hearing more and more stories of more recent kitchen installs with Kraftmaid being much less quality. Disappointing.

Annilee-Are you saying you have replaced cabinets three times in 16 years or maybe youre redoing kitchen in three separate houses? If the former, I dont think thats a ringing endorsement on Kraftmaid’s durability. Even 10 years is not good.

Sorry, evidently needed more words. I was bouncing off the last comment that had been made before mine. She had stated she had installed 4 Kraftmaid kitchens in 15 years. We have purchased and lived in three houses in the last 15 years with complete remodels. Lived in the first one 3 years, lived in the second one 3 years. Have been in the current one almost 10 years. Great quality. Beautiful finish. Still in great shape. These cabinets will last a long time.

Guys, this thread is over a decade old. Please start a new thread for general discussion or new questions, so that the emailed alerts go to the right person and so that the rest of us don't grit our teeth and pass by!

Acm—so what? Some people researching the subject may want to read the discussion regardless of age If you dont want to see them, simply click on the link you received where it says stop receiving notifications on this discussion.