Have you considered Ikea? Do you have a store near you?

It's a bit of a drive. I've heard their construction was particle board?

Why are you against particle board? $100k Italian cabinets use them without a problem.

Its probably worth a drive to Ikea to check out their cabinets in person. Particle board or furniture board box construction is really not that bad, especially at your price point. You should read up on it, there are pros and cons to particle board vs. plywood. We just tore out 30 year old cabinets that were particle board boxes with solid oak doors and the boxes themselves were still in perfect condition even though the cabinets were beyond hideous. Our new budget cabinets are particle board boxes with real wood doors, and our experienced installer said they seemed great.

I used Barker RTA Cabinets. Very happy with them... plywood construction with good Blum drawer hardware and hinges. You can price your cabinets online on their site to see if it would be competitive with your other options.

Hmm I'll have to look at that. I am just concerned about durability and cabinets getting wet. We live in a mobile home now and the front of the cabinets are destroyed in front of the sink where the kids have gotten water everywhere doing dishes. I just don't want to spend 10k on cabinets and have them trashed in 5 years. What do you have now?

Is Barker a good bright white?

Particle board won't stand up to water damage either.

Barker has two whites... Pure White and Dover White. I have Pure White and it is bright and a true white. You can order samples of both from them. That's what I did.

At the recent Parade Homes in my area (Midwest), many of the kitchens had wood lowers and white uppers. If you have young children that help in the kitchen and are worried about the durability of the lower cabinets, you might want to consider that. A solid wood stained door can take a little more abuse than an MDF painted one, and it will show the abuse less.

Most painted cabinets, even high end ones, are made of MDF or a combo of MDF and wood - usually a wood panel. This is because MDF paints well and is more stable to movement with changes in temp. Wood tends to move a bit at the joints, which can show up as a hairline crack in the paint. Some painted cabinets are made of a wood like maple, which paints well, but it still does move.

The only cabinet which you need to be worried about as to particle board or MDF (in a well made cabinet) is any cabinet holding a sink. My neighbor requested that her sink base be plywood for the box. Particle board and MDF can swell if they get wet - which can happen if the cabinets are not well sealed with paint.

You also might want to consider a Kohler Whitehaven farm sink if you like that look. The Whitehaven sticks out over the sink base doors and gives them some protection from dripping water. There is a "short apron" style which can be installed on a standard base cabinet or a "tall apron" for a farm sink cabinet. The Kohler Vault is a stainless steel farm sink which also comes in short and tall apron styles and it is a little less than the cast iron Whitehaven. The farm sink may also be easier for little ones to use because they won't need to reach over 3 to 4" of counter to get to the sink.

J&K...plywood constr, soft close all, dovetailed drawers. All doors are solid wood, no veneeers. All end panels are finished...NO vinyl wood grain ends. Great product for entry level. They have a new door that is designed to look "inset". See pic above. I sell quite a bit of this....hard to beat the price for the value you get!

Here's a small galley that was installed last week. People had a small budget...they went a bit over with the quartz tops.

Sorry to hear our white wasn't to your liking. That's exactly the reason we send out free samples, so that you can see exactly what our colors will look like in your space and your lighting conditions.

I can say that our cabinets look just as white as anyone else's -- that is unless you're holding up a fresh sheet of paper next to them. :-)

If there's anything we can do to change you mind, please let us know! Thanks for giving us a try!!

I love everything about your cabinets. Great construction. Amazing design team. Good customer service. Good pricing. A bit higher than RTA but quality is much better.


But this is not bright white. I'm sad really. I was so disappointed when I opened the sample.

DANG! That is a difference!! Although our white is below what most folks call "bright white," THAT picture makes me wonder if you were even sent the right sample... Will have to check into that and circle back.

PS - Thanks for your kind words about all the rest!! :-D

How very enlightening! Thank you for that!! So furniture board is the same as particle board? How do those compare with MDF? So it seems as if really it's just in how well it is protected on the outside for either material.......

Another vote for Barker if it fits in your budget.