Diamond 'Prelude' vs. Diamond 'Reflections' cabinets?

11 years ago

I need to "pull the trigger" tomorrow and order my cabinets because it's the last day of a great sale at Lowes. I'm just undecided between the Diamond Prelude line - which is their value line and the Diamond Reflections line, which is their more upscale line. Of course, I want to save the most money possible, but also want good quality cabinets that will last (good quality within my budget of course!).

Has anyone installed either of these lines and could give feedback? The styles I'm considering are similar enough that I could go either way, and my kitchen is small and basic. I am choosing a white painted maple shaker style wood door (the inset of the door is mdf I think). Both styles allow upgrades to plywood boxes, with which the sale gives you a lot back - free sink cabinet, upgraded finish (the paint I want) and a few other extras, along with full-extension glides and soft close doors.

I just want them to last and not have to do this again until I am really really old:)

thanks!

Featured Answer

kirstena
Original Author

11 years ago

Update: I ended up choosing the Prelude line, upgraded to all plywood boxes, and with hardware upgrades (soft close, etc.). While the shaker style wasn't as great as the Reflections (the drawers are slab rather than 5 piece), since it's for a summer cottage I decided I could live with that. We have a small kitchen and with all the Lowes instant discounts, and sale, the cabinets came to approx. $5000(with tax and freight). This also includes the "premium finish" of white painted.
The Diamond reflections line, with all plywood box, came to about $7500. So, it was an easy decision.

The sale at Lowes included instant discounts of $400, $800, $1200, etc. depending on how much the total was, a Diamond promotion that included a free sink base and premium finish for buying 10 or more cabinets, and also a mail-in rebate of 10% for a visa gift card (good for anywhere, not just Lowes). So I will be getting a $470 gift card as well, bringing my total down to about $4500!

While this was still quite a bit more than the Ikea cabinets we were considering, we decided it was worth it since the only Ikea is about 4 hours away (we wanted to avoid multiple trips) and our contractor had never installed Ikea. Seemed like headaches were in the offing and it just wouldn't be worth it.
The only bummer with the Prelude line was that the base lazy susan cabinet was not great - low sides on the lazy susan and no options for upgrade, and built in a "barrel" style. Really didn't like it, but again, seemed like a worthwhile trade-off, since it's not our full-time kitchen, but a shared summer cottage.

The KD at Lowes was really great. He priced it out several ways, and even worked the system a bit for the Reflections line (even though I ended up not going with it.) He added "furniture ends" to my end cabinets which brought the price up, but also bumped us up to the next level of instant discount (another $400 off), actually saving money over not having the premium ends!

I'll update again when they get installed!

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Comments (8)

jerryp
11 years ago
We are also shopping for new cabinets. I looked at both Diamond lines. The prelude is well priced and looks nice. However, I was concerned about the 3/8" sides. Consumer Report and others recommend a minimum of 1/2". They offer an upgrade to that but not sure what the cost is. By the time you add that in plus easy soft closing drawers and possibly others, you may be in the Reflections price range.

I decided to buy custom cabinetry but would have been comfortable with Reflections. It appears to be a solid product. I am no expert, these are just my opinions.
CEFreeman
11 years ago
I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

Doesn't it make your eyes cross, with all the high finance to get a price it should probably have been in the 1st place?

but you'll have a really pretty kitchen. :)
a2gemini
11 years ago
me too!
Sherry Carton
6 years ago
Now that you have had your kitchen for a while, what are your thoughts/regrets/likes now?
lisa
6 years ago
Would love to see a picture, as this is what I just priced out, just waiting to pull the trigger...
Janice Whitworth
6 years ago
Anybody know of a white paint for trim that matches the white cabinets of the Diamond cabinets?
kfsowner
5 years ago
I took the Diamond sample board, in the Lowes Cabinet department, up to the Paint department,

and they took the computer eye reading, and matched the paint spot on. That might work for yo too...