Wow. Just wow. I would not accept those wall cabinets with the structural defects. The small patch of uneven stain and the small scratch I would just fix with the touch up kit. I am really underwhelmed with Kraftmaid quality. My understanding is that the dealer can return items to KM for a full refund. Don't accept shoddy cabs because you "feel for" the store owner.

Definitely -- send back the cabs in pics 1-6. Those are unacceptable flaws. As for the cosmetic issues, on the splotchy stained door(s) -- ask for a new door(s). And also ask for a new shelf. The only thing I wouldn't bother with is the scratched door -- because that is very easily repaired with the repair kit (hopefully you bought it with your order).

I have KM cabinets, and although I didn't have nearly the amount of issues you have with your order, I did send back a few doors with unacceptable stain splotchiness and a trash pullout that was not manufactured per KM's own specs. It's a very simple process -- you fill out a warranty claim and provide the photos you posted above to verify the issues, and your dealer files it for you with KM. I had my issues resolved quickly and to my satisfaction. Don't worry about anything other than getting what you paid for.

That's just awful.

I would send back cabs 1, 2, & 3. On the trash pullout, I'd just repair the split board with some glue & clamps. From the looks of the other cabs, you could well have worse issues with a replacement trash cabinet.

Also, agree with other poster that I'd just touch up the door & ask for a replacement shelf.

I wonder if the cabs left the factory like this or got dropped off the back of a truck. Repeatedly.

wow is right. I put KM in my master bath a few years ago and they were/are flawless. After seeing this, I'm glad I decided to go with a local custom shop for the kitchen. KM's quality seems to have gone downhill.

I hope everything works out for you.

Thanks for all of your feedback. I was really underimpressed with Kraftmaid's quality control too. It's one thing for things to be damaged in shipping, but it seems to me like most if not all of these problems were present before they left the factory. I just hope I don't have any problems getting them replaced.

Those pictures are a little terrifying because I just placed my KM order and will tear the cardboard off as soon as they arrive to look at them now. Can you tell me how many cabinets you had ordered total? DH nearly died writing the check(ok not really) He will absolutely blow if he finds out we dropped 15K on cabinets with major flaws in a significant number of them.

Hopefully they'll all get replaced for you.

I can just imagine how your heart must have sank as you found one thing after another. It's a testament to how decent you are that you even wondered how returning them would affect your dealer. But hey, that's between him and KM. You deserve cabinets that are structurally sound and without defects. Return anything with structural problems. For the cosmetic ones, reserve the right to return them unless they are repaired THIS WEEK to your satisfaction. Has to be this week so you'll know whether they need to be re-ordered with the others.

Tell your husband that for that big check he cut, you deserve them to be right. Ask him if he bought a new car and it had a few dings and scratches when it was delivered, would it be overly picky to be upset about them?

Let us know how you made out with the dealer...

Wow! You are not being overly picky! I too would send cab/ 1-6 back. Petlady - you hit the nail on the head - I used this example a few times during our new home construction. I am tired of vendors thinking it's okay to purchase big ticket items with flaws (and our home is suppose to be an appreciating asset, yet - there is NO WAY we would pay full price for a car with dings and scratches.

hi
i know the flaws of KM well, i have KM cabs from the outlet (the ones that get sent back). it looks to me as if you have a sampling of shipping damage (cracked garbage holder) and manufacturing defect (incorrectly glued frame). my understanding is that KM covers their product so i think you will not have a problem. of course it's easier on the KD store if you just accept them. but you shouldn't. all should be sent back IMO, except the stain and the scratch. the scratch is likely not even from KM, but from shipping. the stain doesn't look outside the norm of variation in dark cherry doors, although it might look worse in person. if you do return the supersusan and the scratched one, convince your dealer to return ONLY the doors in exchange for replacement doors (part id is "RD"). that saves the trouble of moving more cabs around, if the cabs are good. good luck! kren

We purchased our KM cabinets through HD and when we received them we had 90 days to inspect and report any problems.

We didn't have any of the structure issues like you do, no cracks or anything like that.

We did have some cosmetic issues though and KM was REALLY, REALLY easy to work with. On our 6" spice drawers (there were 5 drawers) the finish on the face of the drawers was gritty. Dh thought it may have been adhesive from when the cabinet was wrapped so KM told him to try goo-gone. It made it worse and we realized that the drawer front was not fully glazed. They replaced all of them for us, no fuss about it.

We also had a glass cabinet that had a big blotch of stain on it. It was a $$$ cabinet because of the glass so I wasn't going to accept anything less than perfect. KM replaced that door for us, no fuss again. We had a really, really tiny dent in the sink false front and KM told us to try the touch up kit first and if we weren't satisfied with the result they'd replace it. You can't even tell it's there so we didn't press that issue at all.

But basically, KM was VERY helpful and VERY willing to make things right. I'd call them directly and see what they can do for you, instead of going through your cabinet dealer. Everything that we had replaced was done free of charge and shipped to us within a week at no shipping cost to us.

Thanks everyone. My cabinet dealer is coming around this afternoon to take a look, so I will let you know how it goes. I don't have the option of dealing directly with KM, so I'm really hoping my dealer with come through for me.

I was thinking that maybe I could switch the scratched door with the door on one of the cabinets that has a structural defect (they have the same size door). That way the scratched door would just go back with the other cabinet. The doors are easy enough to take off aren't they?

laxsupermom, we ordered 14 cabinets total + molding etc for a total of nearly $9K. So with 7 of the cabinets having some kind of flaw, I consider this a pretty high failure rate. I hope you have better luck with yours. (FWIW the ones that aren't flawed do look good though).

I might be able to live with the scratch and the uneven stain (depending on where they are going and how prominent it is) but all the other ones are unacceptable.

We just installed KM cabinets and are very pleased with them. We did not have any of the things like are in these pictures. After I saw your post I have been checking them out more. We get the countertop today so they have been "exposed" for a month. You shouldn't have any trouble getting these corrected but I know it's a bummer to see this stuff.

i think this is a great idea:
"I was thinking that maybe I could switch the scratched door with the door on one of the cabinets that has a structural defect (they have the same size door). That way the scratched door would just go back with the other cabinet. The doors are easy enough to take off aren't they?"

if you can do it before the KD comes over. it will simplify things. the hinges unscrew from the cabinet very easily with a phillips head screw driver. remove the hinge from the frame and leave the hinge on the door when you do this, that is the easier way. good luck kren

Thanks for the tip kren, it was definitely helpful. Unfortunately it turned out that switching the doors as I had planned did not work out. I had assumed that the doors were exactly the same size because the cabinets were 18" and 36". For reasons that don't make any sense to me, it appears that they make them about 1/4'' different! Stupidly enough I didn't actually discover this until I had removed, switched and re-attached the doors (groan). I had 15 minutes to take them all off again and switch them back before the cabinet guy arrived :) On the plus side, I am now a wiz at attaching cabinet doors ...

So anyway, my cab guy seemed pretty responsive when he came around. I pointed out the flaws and he made a note of all of them and didn't argue about any of them. He said he would get in touch with KM and get back to me.

Today he left a message on my machine saying that he spoke to KM and that they are sending new doors for us, and he said "they want me to do the clamping and fixing of the backs of the cabinets, which we will take care of for you".

In a way it's kind of the opposite of what I thought would happen. I had imagined that maybe he would fix the door scratch with the touch-up kit ... and maybe even the uneven stain. And I thought that KM would replace the cabinets with the problems at the backs. So I'm happily surprised that they're replacing the doors. I'm happy for my cab dealer (who also used to be a contractor) to fix the trash cabinet with the split piece of wood, which I imagine could be easily glued and clamped together. Maybe I'm just out of my element here, but I don't really understand how he could satisfactorily fix the cabs that are missing a little piece of plywood side, without replacing the plywood side. And I don't know how he could fix the one with the out-of-flush back piece ... it seems pretty solidly glued out of place.

I will call him back tomorrow to get more of an explanation.

What do you all think?

I'd give the cabinet guy the opportunity to fix the cabinets if that is what KM is suggesting. However, I would double & triple check the results before you let him install them. If you aren't satisfied with the fix I would insist on getting new ones.

hi aussies
yes, if there are two doors, they are cut slightly for tolerance as they close. so two doors for a 36 cab will be narrower than one 18 door for an 18 cab. how do i know this? our previous owner made his own cabinet doors and didn't leave the tolerance, you had to push the two door cabinet shut and this eventually broke the hinges. now, on to the next part:
"Today he left a message on my machine saying that he spoke to KM and that they are sending new doors for us, and he said "they want me to do the clamping and fixing of the backs of the cabinets, which we will take care of for you"."

i actually think this could be unacceptable. not to alarm you, but one of my "outlet finds" was a cab that i used over the range, with the microhood screwed to it. the back/side connection looked a little funky, like your cabs, but i thought it would be fine. one morning i noticed that the microhood was leaning slightly forward, well the side of the cabinet that held it had actually become detached from the hanging rail and the back of the cabinet. could have been dangerous to the range, the floor, and us. ok, this is an outlet cab, so we just glued and screwed it to the one next to it solving the problem. HOWEVER, you paid full price!! IMO, your damaged/poorly made cab should be sent packing and a brand new cabinet should be sent to you. hang tough. and if it doesn't work out, yes there are all kinds of ways to stabilize bad cabinets. however, i believe that full price customers should not have to do this (or their KDs or contractors)!! good luck kren

I agree with kren pa -- demand that they replace those boxes -- they are unacceptable and not what you paid for.

nice job doing such a thorough inspection. you are smart to have done that and caught all those problems.

I tried calling my cab dealer, but he's not in until Monday afternoon. I'm thinking I should send him an email. Any advice an what to write? Here's what I have so far - I don't have an ending yet. What do you think? ...

"
I tried calling you but the person I spoke to said you wouldnt be back until Monday afternoon. I got your message about what Kraftmaid said. WeÂre happy that theyÂre sending new doors, and we would be willing to accept repair of the trash cabinet, but we would like Kraftmaid to replace the 3 wall cabinets with the faulty joints at the back.

Kraftmaid even advertises this "exclusive joint lock" feature as a selling point of the quality of their cabinets. We have paid for good quality cabinets and we expect them to arrive without manufacturing defects. These should have been noticed at the factory prior to shipping. So while we appreciate your willingness to repair the problems, you shouldnÂt have to fix problems caused by poor quality control. Kraftmaid should stand behind their claims of quality construction and just replace those cabinets.

I know people who purchased their Kraftmaid cabinets from Home Depot and when they discovered flaws, Kraftmaid replaced the cabinets. We would expect them to provide the same level of service, if not better, when we buy from an independent dealer.
"