Cabinets arrived, quality problems, is this normal?

16 years ago

Our order of Kraftmaid maple cabinets arrived recently. The cabinets are glazed, color is canvas (off-white) with cocoa glaze. They look great, but we found problems with almost every cabinet, most admittedly minor. The cabinets themselves were all ok, the issues are with the doors. Problems are as follows: glazing streaks in the middle of the panel, streaks on the rails, over-glazed or lightly painted edges, glazing spots, minor dents, minor nicks, blue streaks on the backs. Most cabinets have only one of these problems, and many of them only show up on close examination. We met with the Kraftmaid rep, who immediately offered to replace the doors with the most serious problems, such as the glazing streaks and spots. However, he characterized 80% of the problems as normal for cabinets from any manufacturer (excluding full custom), and said that it didnÂt make sense to replace those doors as the replacements wouldnÂt be any different. He indicated that the backs of the doors only receive one coat, and the streaks are from the wood minerals, and are normal. He offered to have Kraftmaid touch up the other problems after the cabinets are installed.

The rep has offered to let us return the cabinets. But we are inclined to keep them, assuming his statements are correct that these types of issues are normal from all manufacturers. Are they? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

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Comments (4)

keptoz
16 years ago
I'm new to all this myself, so I don't know the answer BUT for the amount of money you are paying, I would expect them to all be perfect.

Now I'm nervous - my cabinets were delivered last week & are still in boxes in our garage. They are to be installed later this week. I hope they are ok...
User
16 years ago
What you are describing is the normal appearance of hand glazed cabinets. Each cabinet is painted, then the glaze is applied, then hand wiped. Variation of coverage of the glaze is normal. It is "streaky" because it's hand wiped. That's a normal result of hand wiping the glazing. Some doors will have heavier glaze, some will have lighter glazing. It's the overall look that's important. Have a friend stand back 3 feet and look at the kitchen as a whole. They won't notice the normal varation in the glaze. They'll notice the kitchen as a whole. If you do have one door that is very obviously lighter or darker than the rest, then that door should be replaced, but you're describing wholesale replacement of your kitchen based on minor normal variations. You're not looking at the kitchen as a whole.

Kepotz, you should unbox your cabinets immediately upon receipt. Even if the cardboard looks fine, there can be hidden shipping damage, which should be reported as soon as possible. If you have an important piece, like a base corner cabinet, damaged, then you'll have to wait for it's replacement before the install can begin. All installs begin in a corner and work their way out.
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plumeriavine
16 years ago
Our "custom" Wood-Mode cabinets have a painted finish and a glaze, too. The wiping was not done too badly most places, but there were other problems with the finish. We, too, have dents, and dings,under-glaze here and there, over-glaze here and there and lightly painted edges on some drawers and doors. More damage happened during installation.

In our case, there are also lots of hairline fractures.

I have been told that Wood-Mode, at our dealer's request, will replace some of the affected fronts. We haven't seen the replacements yet.

For me, the detail is just as important as the overall look. Some of the flaws are at eye level and are very noticable. You paid for a new kitchen, not a dinged up one. I'd imagine they could install the boxes the doors/drawers that are good and order new doors where those are needed?
smmc
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for your replies. In response, let me say that the Kraftmaid rep has been very helpful. He has already ordered new doors for several cabinets, and says he will order or touch up others after the cabinets are installed, depending on how they look at that point. It sounds like both of you are confirming what the rep said, that perfection is not going to happen and that as long as the more problematic doors (and drawers) are replaced and the others fixed, that is normal.