If you didn't hear back from your dealer I would call the company directly. They must have a warranty. Sounds to me like all of the bare doors should be replaced not fixed on site with a repair kit. Sounds unacceptable to me since theses are supposed to be brand new.

Thanks so much for your response! They have a lifetime warranty on the cabinets. The cabinet sales rep sort of threw that in my face when I expressed concern how the finish would hold up long term with his stain touch up. These cabinets cost $16k. I'm sick about it. There are other issues with the stain looking blotchy too. I thought the warranty would mainly be for long term issues. Never dreamed that cabinets that I thought were higher quality would have all these issues. I'm think I'm going to call the company directly. I was afraid of stepping on anyone's toes but I need to get over that!

Yep, get over it :) 16k is too much to spend on cabs that don't look good. Call right away. A friend ordered cabs from an online site clique cabinets and she paid a 1/3 of what you did and they replaced a door for her a year later no questions asked. Time to be the squeaky wheel. From what I have read while researching cabinets all of the companies have quality control issues at some point. Don't beat yourself up over your decision just make sure the company makes it right.

What jdesign said. Plus, if you need to strengthen your threat, enclose the link to this discussion in your email so they can see just what a busy site this is.

I have the number loaded in my phone. Calling tomorrow! I know the doors are an easy swap out but what about the drawer fronts. Lily Spider, you're right about the quality control issues. Virtually every company I searched had complaints. This was a new line for the dealer because her main cabinet line no longer serviced this area. I went with my in-laws who were shopping for new cabinets following an appliance flood in their house and that dealer also had showplace cabinets and raved about them. Said he had them in his house and loved them. Thanks again!

Well, as someone said, even the best cabinet lines can have occasional snafus. It just sucks when the snafu is on you. Drawer fronts can be changed out, too, so don't worry about them. How is the finish on the cabinet boxes themselves? If you have full overlay doors/drawer fronts and the box fronts aren't seen, you still want them to look nice when they're open.

I posted last week regarding my interest in Shiloh vs Kahle cabinets and Showplace. I thought the Showplace cabinets were nice and the dealer is quoting me a price on Hickory cabinets. I am hoping to see how this is resolved for you so I can base my decision on how Showplace , Kahle and Shiloh service issues. I have read about Kahle and Shiloh doing well. Showplace may be out of the running now.

I'm wondering if the darker stains lead to more issues with consistent stain coverage. Sort of like darker nail polish being more difficult to apply! That being said my Kraftmaid cabinets in my last house were perfect! I'm just so frustrated because I was hoping to be all finished in two weeks and now it's obvious this is going to be dragging on longer to resolve this. I'll keep you posted after I contact them.

Biffytreepod .... If all the repair guy can do is use a touch up marker , then he needs to pack up crayons and go home. The multi colored stain is tough to apply evenly, but not that big a deal to touchup ,at least on the sanded through edges. The part about "living with it for a few days" is that they hope you'll take what you've got and stop calling. I was a furniture repair tech back in the day and the run around you just described is their 1st line of defense. Ie. They hope to stall you long enough so you'll "learn to live with it" and not call their boss. No kidding, If the boss gets too many calls, someone will lose their job. Even money says they'll stall some more. When the boss stalls in returning your call and You're tired of the game , drop the small claims court bomb on them, if you have a lawyer, name drop him into the call.

It has been my experience that if the cabinet dealer ordered the cabinets for you, then it is very unlikely that the cabinet manufacturer will talk to you because you are not the customer of record - your dealer is. Your cabinet dealer has to ask for replacements on all the pieces that are not perfect - it's as simple as that.

I just wanted to add that I don't think that now is the time to start threatening anyone with lawsuits or bad reviews. That would be giving away your leverage. You are trying to get what is your due and by setting up an adversarial relationship they might start digging in their heels. If they feel you will be giving a bad review regardless of what they do, they might be inclined to do even less. You need to be firm and communicate exactly what you want and finishing on site is not an option.

jerzeegirl....i'm just saying lawsuit as a last resort. certainly

, run out you're options first. but i'm willing to bet there will be a lot of delaying tactics. sad but true.

Plenty of delaying options. I had this problem myself and it took a year.

Don't worry about the replacement drawer fronts. Usually the face is screwed to the box. The company can either come unscrew the defective faces and replace them, or they can replace the entire drawer box. It may be more cost effective for them to replace the entire drawer than to unscrew and reattach new faces. Their call.

jerzeegirl is right that the company may just send you back to the cabinet rep/kd. your cabinet place should be replacing them for you. i was told dark stain on maple can be problematic but i don't think it is the same with cherry. btw my medallion silverline cabs had issues with finish (maple with a dark cherryish stain) and my kd/cabinet rep got doors and a drawer front replaced easily. you are going to have to push the rep harder unfortunately:(

I passed this on to my rep. He is sending to the factory.

Is it every door and drawer front? Just a few, or what. Typically, the cabinet dealer would order replacement doors/fronts for any that were unacceptable, and the cabinet manufacturer would replace at no charge, as long as it's a warranty claim. If they were damaged during install, the installer would be paying for the replacements.

One of the only reasons I would get one of my sales rep involved is if I've already replaced doors/fronts once and you still weren't satisfied. One of the others would be if a majority of the doors/fronts had issues from the start, I'd want the my rep to verify and take the lead with the factory to get the replacements.

It's on about 75% of cabinets or more. Definitely, not damage on install. I would be hard pressed to say I can really find one cabinet that I consider fully acceptable. It's a widespread problem of inconsistent stain coverage and areas where you see bare wood showing through on edges. Maybe they are confused and thought this was a distressed finish? I called showplace customer service today and they say they want me to be happy but they said the same customer service rep needs to come out and review the cabinets again. They told me they were going to follow up with the sales rep. My dealer did call me back today. It was a holiday weekend and she said she was out of town. I'm a nurse and president's day doesn't really register as a holiday! The dealer told the sales rep I didn't want him to come back and "detail" the cabinets. She asked him what his plan was if he came back. She thought he might be bringing a can of stain. He said his plan was to use the marker again! I'm appalled that a sales rep thinks he can come into a home and fix things with a stain marker. I'm tentatively scheduled to meet with the dealer and sales rep next Monday. Thanks for all the support and suggestions. I know this is a reputable company but this has not been a positive experience. I was planning to do my my bathroom right after my kitchen wound down and I'm definitely going to keep it simple. The finish on my Lowe's Diamond cabinets in my laundry room are flawless compared to these and cost a fraction of the cost.

Do you have a copy of your actual order and the details of the cabinet finish? Make sure you take it.

Jerzee girl,

I appreciate your comment about being firm but not threatening. I have no interest in unfairly trashing a company. I've planned the heck out of this kitchen and I thought at this point I'd be planning dinner parties. Much bigger problems in the world than this but still frustrating!

Blfenton,

I have emailed letters that state the the door style and what stain and glaze and the total cost. Not a detailed itemized receipt.

Can you post a few pictures of the doors and drawer fronts so we can see what you're talking about? Visuals are helpful .

It's not really easy to see in pictures because you need to take a close up shot and I don't have very good photo skills! I'll try to describe it better. On the long narrow outer corner edges of the cabinet doors or the edges of the drawer face, there are lines running down the length of the door where the wood underneath is visible. Almost like what you would see in a distressed cabinet but these aren't distressed. The sales rep said it was likely from sanding too hard on these corner edges prior to putting the clear coat on. There are mitered details on the overlay where the stain looks spattered and you can see dots of bare wood underneath. It looks hazy like when you do an initial coat of spray paint and you haven't fully covered what's underneath. Rag marks on the top edges of pullout drawers, the part that would be under the countertop. These are all things that you need to be standing close to the counter or opening a door to see them. There are aesthetic issues with some of the shaker overlay where the stiles and rails have huge variances in the color. My contractor has some experience making cabinets in the past and said he would never have put those two pieces of wood next to each other because it just looks bad but in this factory they mustn't be paying attention to that level of detail. I really wish I had gone with painted cabinets because it seems like there would be less room for error. To add another layer of frustration my glass backsplash tile is being installed and I don't think it goes very well with my countertops. I can't blame anyone else for that! The sample I had was pretty small and it didn't really show all the color variation. I'm hoping I'll like it better when it's grouted. I probably should have gone with white subway that I thought I didn't want. The tile might be my second costly mistake.

An update on my cabinet issues. I met this morning with my dealer and the Showplace rep and they're replacing all of the doors and drawers I had a problem with minus one. He didn't really want to spend any time talking about what I wasn't happy with which I think is concerning because it seems to me they would want to pass this along to the factory. My dealer brought the sample door from her showroom as I asked. The finish work on that door was perfect and I would have been thrilled if that's what I received. I'm hoping for the best with the new doors.

biffytreepod- the factory was informed when I passed this along.

Jakuval,

Thanks for your help. I'm thankful they agreed to replace the doors and look forward to resolving this.

I'm glad your cabinets are getting resolved. Feel free to start another thread - with pics, preferably, about your backsplash. My advice is to not let them grout it, though, if you are not thinking it is going to work....

Steph2000,

I had them pull the tile down. It was only about 1/3 of the tile up. I was pretty certain that I wouldn't like it any better with the grout. I didn't even let my husband weigh in! He was out of town for work and I had to call and tell him that I trashed the tile. I found an inexpensive tile that won't compete with the granite. Lesson learned!

Biffytreepod What is the update on the replaced doors / drawers? I am having an issue with white painted maple cabinets so it is not just because you chose a stain. 90% (45 out of 50 doors /drawers) have bare wood showing, areas where paint was clearly only applied once and in a thin layer, oversanded areas, areas that were rough so the paint did not adhere well and is chipping off, paint drips and dust / red and blue fuzz in the paint. In addition the cabinets arrived with most doors already showing cracks in the joints and there is no humidity or wether changes. I stopped install on the first day. They are willing to replace the 45 but is it worth it? I have no confidence.

Is this complaint about Kahle's Kitchens in Leeper, PA? My cabinets that I spent $40,000 + are cracking and peeling. Trying to start a class action suit against this company.