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We decided to go with century cabinets...anyone have opinions on them?

No, they aren't. They are made in Philadelphia

I understand that wood separates. Its not just that they've separated, but were improperly assembled and poorly painted. There were also areas of missing paint in some areas of the doors. HD agreed with me last night the doors were unacceptable and we're not the first customers to go through this with American Woodmark. They mass produce without any quality control.

Sorry you are having such a hard time...hope everything ends up working out for you

Oh Century Kitchens in Malvern's home brand. Say hello to Dale Smith or Don Huber. For resale they are a great selection. They are inexpensive and look good. But if you are going to be in your home for a long time I wouldn't recommend them. They are an odd combination of framed and frameless cabinetry. If you want to stay in Malvern I would get Legacy cabinets from Sterling Kitchens or the American Woodmark cabinets from Home Depot. We sell Oracle and 6 Square cabinetry for a little less than the home centers and showrooms selections, but our first appointment isn't for two weeks so we are a little booked up right now. If you faxed me a floor plan I could send you a quote and literature but we couldn't get a designer out to measure for a couple of weeks.

Century also has better brands they carry, like Brookhaven, and Sterling and Home Depot carry Kraftmaid

I was looking at ordering the exact cabinets and doors last night and noticed the same characteristics on the in-store sample. IMO the white just didn't look like a quality product in person. I'm actually supposed to place my order tonight and now you have me freaked out that they might mess up my order, and they're actually letting me return my RSI (aka hampton bay) special order cabinets which have been a different nightmare (bad finish, etc).

I would almost be more confident buying the same door in a neutral wood and then painting, carefully brushing a primer coat to simulate grain direction, and then top-coating with a durable automotive type of finish.

that sounds like a lot of extra work for something you are already paying so much for...we actually began installation of our century cabinets yesterday...everything came in in great shape...and so far so good...still more work to do..check it out

@ River Durasupreme is a high end cabinet line too that specializes in their great finishes and they STILL warn you. Like a lot of higher end companies their panels on their painted doors are MDF to minimize shrinkage and cracking etc. Home centers probably wouldn't want to sell anything with a MDF painted panel because if buyers were tough on the doors and the MDF got wet they would have customers lined up wanting refunds for that instead.

Designing and selling cabinetry is all about setting peoples expectations for what they are purchasing, Home center designers sometimes don't know or more likely never get the time to have some of these conversations with their customers. Those designers work so hard getting pulled in 1000 directions and their management knows nothing about kitchen cabinetry and kitchen design, And home centers are looking to keep all customers happy all the time. Their customers will shop with them for a lifetime for every part of their home and property.
Both Lowes and The Home Depot have claimed to have taken back Auto Tires even though none of their stores sell them. Now that's really embracing "the customers always right"

Home centers are great for purchasing stock items but special order items like cabinetry can be hit or miss and often times you aren't even saving any money on the items that get special ordered.

Way back before The Home Depot reached 1000 stores and became a corporate giant wanting short cuts to profit, if you were in the plumbing aisle and asked the associate for help he was likely to be a master plumber.

Lowes just cut kitchen designers pay by 25% to 50% by eliminating commissions. The boards of both the home centers routinely trick employees and customers. Lowes is more likely to cheat their employees and the Home Depot their customers. For example: Home Depot sells name brands they buy the rights to use and markets cheep merchandise under the names. Thomasville cabinets and GE water heaters for example. Lowes has cheated and scammed their employees with phony stock options, retirement plans, and unpaid over time. Lowes got caught charging their customers sales tax on non taxable items and keeping the tax. When they had to settle they used their retirement plan rules to turn a loss into a big win by getting out of paying employees big contributions during a particularly successful year.

I still cruise the aisles myself and home centers are great when you need a bunch of different home related items but you need a critical eye to shop there now and working for them has long since lost any luster.

Alan- You must look friendly and I must look mean. I could be standing next to the help desk at a Home Depot wearing an orange tennis shirt and not get asked for help . Maybe I just look clueless?

wine_and_roses, thanks for the head's up on the Home Depot cabinets.

The pictured door looks exactly like the one in my local display, so I think it is how they were presented to be before you ordered. They simply do not look good up close even though they are stunning from afar.

I think I'm going to go with cherry-spice in the same pattern.

As far as Home Depot goes, I remember when they used to hire talent. At least the kitchen designer I have dealt with is very good.

I'm on round 4 of replacement doors. I don't feel that cracking paint showing bare wood should be acceptable. Small, hairline marks at the seams, is fine, and is what I've accepted so far. The store has been pretty good, demanding replacements from the American Woodmark Rep. They had to replace one cabinet, which had a split plywood frame and they provided me with a new particle board frame instead. I was really mad. That cabinet had to be re-ordered again as well.

My laundry room is small and does not have windows, so white seemed like the most appropriate color. Even the lighter wood stains seemed too dark. I also didn't trust their thermofoil so I went with the white painted finish. After this experience, I will never purchase or recommend white cabinetry again. It looks very elegant but is not practical.

Besides the doors, what do you think of plywood vs partical board now you have seen both by this vendor?

The plywood seams fine on all the other cabinets, it was just the one that came split. The particle board seemed ok made as well, nothing glaringly bad about it (other than it wasn't what I paid for). I don't plan on replacing them (they're only for a laundry room) so I upgraded to help against normal wear and tear.

The plywood seems better and heavier than my particle board kitchen cabinets (Yorkshire brand, my builder's "included" model). I didn't bring the American Woodmark particle board home and view it side-by-side with their plywood, but it seemed pretty standard.

Thanks very much. Best of luck on your project and thanks for the warning on the doors... i was still somewhat considering them.

By the way, how did the drawers look..any problems?

After almost a full install we are very happy with our cabinetry pick. Biggest complaints. One corner unit was just slightly out of square. A weak touchup kit (one stick). That was really it!! Boxes and doors were .... 99%.
Oh... and the price was maybe 5% higher than our lowes woodmark quote.
http://www.centurycabinetry.com/

Because I only had two base cabinets I "upgraded" to the 5-piece drawer fronts. They are a mess too. I will likely have to settle for a very large separation in one or both of them. I'm waiting on one last replacement for both and I'll use whichever piece has the least amount of cracks. All of them (original and two rounds of replacements) look terrible and the cracks are horribly noticeable (think fat spaghetti vs hairline).

Sorry to hear that. Once everything has settled, my recommendation would be to fill any remaining voids with white acrylic/latex bathroom caulk, but you will need to do it carefully. Squeeze into the void, then quickly wipe across the joint with a moist lint-free cloth to remove the excess. Promptly remove any caulk from the front of the door. If you did it correctly, the appearance should be much improved.

I used to paint higher-end homes for 10 years and this type of finishing touch makes all the difference.

By the way, I just ordered American Woodmark in cherry spice with the 5 piece fronts. I hope things turn out ok.
I just could not spend another 5 grand on top of what I paid for Kraftmaid after seeing all the flaws they have. My KD said most of the complaints they get are on Kraftsmaids too.

Thanks for the tip jondotcom! From what I hear, the stained cabinets they make are pretty nice. I think they should be fine :)

I think the process they use for their painted finish (7 or 9 coats) is all done by machine, so if they missed the joint the first time its 7 to 9 times worse on the finished product, especially with the thick, glossy finish of the paint. White is not forgiving.

I read terrible reviews of KM. After I had the American Woodmark issue, it seems I would have similar problems with the painted finish from a lot of the pricier brands too. I heard Ikea makes decent cabinets and people are generally very happy with them. (I didn't know they made semi-custom cabinets - just RTA Swedish furniture with wooden pegs!)

wine and roses, Ikea cabinets are made extremely well and have a 25 year warranty. They use German Blum hardware and premium quality drawer extensions. We currently have an Ikea kitchen (solid birch doors and drawer fronts) that we put in three years ago. The cabinets still look and operate as new. We are now doing another Ikea kitchen in a vacation home we bought 200 miles away. This one is solid beech doors and drawers with a stained black/brown finish. I have no complaints about their kitchen products. We especially like the soft close drawers and doors. I did not choose a foil or painted finish because I do worry about durability over time. But when I looked at the painted finishes in the showroom I did not see any cracks between the stiles and rails. They have pretty high standards. MDF can be machined much more precisely than plywood also, which can have voids.

If you want quality you need to pay the price. I build furniture, cabinets, antique reproductions, and do restoration. I use only high quality supplies. If I have a bad piece of wood, it doesn't go into the product. My finishes don't crack or craze, even at the joints. If there is a problem, I fix it right away. I don't have to wait for "corporate' approval from across the country to repair or replace, and the repairs and replacements are minimal. I don't compete with Lowes and Home Depot. I don't buy supplies from either. I buy local where the owners know me and care about their service. You get what you pay for.

That's great AL, but some of us can't afford you. That's the bottom line. There are other things calling out for our money besides kitchen cabinets. I'm sure you do wonderful work. But I'm happy with what I could afford.

Marilyn, I'm glad you are happy with what you have. I understand that not everyone can pay the cost of truly custom made things. I wasn't targeting anyone that is happy with what they have if that is all they can afford. What I am saying is that if you buy inexpensive, you can't expect high quality, and have to live with the flaws. I'm also am saying that if you want real customer service, do business with someone that really cares, not someone that collects a check from some corporation hundreds of miles away. Neither the employee nor the corporation really cares about what you think. It's all about the bottom line for the shareholders, not your kitchen.

As far as particle board vs. plywood goes and voids. There is high quality plywood made that doesn't have voids. Most of the plywood that major manufacturers use comes from China. This stuff has voids, delaminations, and splits. All in interest of the bottom line.

Al, I understand the differences that you speak of. I myself took quite a few woodworking classes at the local community college. Working with your hands to create something beautiful is so satisfying. I guess I just wanted to point out that most of us know that having a cabinet maker actually build our cabinets would be ideal but many of us just have to settle for mass produced products. But higher price does not always equate to a quality product either. Our niece lives in a 6400 sq. ft. home in a wealthy community. When I looked around at the finishes and joinery I was amazed by the shoddy workmanship. I would have expected better.

I also looked into custom cabinets and was given an estimate about double the cost of "optioned out" American Woodmark cabinets, or about the same cost as Kraftsmaids.

The woodmark cabinets seem to be a decent value.

I also checked Ikea but the doors I wanted look to be discontinued. I can barely stand shopping there.

Jondotcom, which doors were you interested in?

I liked the Adel medium brown shaker style but for some reason my ikea didn't have them displayed. I ended up going for cherry spice which is the lightest cherry that American Woodmark offers.

@jondotcom, I think the Adel medium brown may be their most popular door style. I have Adel birch in our current kitchen. I like the Adel style but went with the Ramsjo black brown in the one we are doing now. Just the opposite of the birch. I know you will be happy with your cherry spice cabinets though. It's fun to finally get a new kitchen put together.

Well my American Woodmark Cherry Spice shaker style cabinets arrived. The fronts are all near-perfect. A couple of the boxes (blind base and 24" deep over the fridge) had some sloppy errors but nothing I shouldn't be able to fix.
The 5 piece drawer fronts are absolutely gorgeous. Two of the cabinets are all drawers and they are a work of art to look at.

We installed Woodmark cabinets that are maple with a cherry stain and a glazing. We upgraded to furniture quality, about 20% more on the price to avoid chipboard. The five-piece drawers are perfect. There were some minor issues with uneven staining/glazing when they arrrived but replacement doors were sent out within days. It was our first kitchen remodel and we wanted them to be perfect. We think they are beautiful and after several months of heavy use they still do not have one scratch on them.

Hey River Valley,
I know what you are saying, but maybe you missed the part about these costing 1/2 of "custom" estimate I rec'd (which may or may not have been any better).

-----Revised 8/28:--------
Here are the issues I had with my American Woodmark Order- maybe this will help others with their decision.

Two boxes (with plywood upgrade) arrived with poor craftsmanship. The side panel on the over-the-fridge cabinet protruded below the face frame by a little less than 1/8" (visible side). Corner cabinet at lower was glued crooked and part protruded by approximately 1/8."

For the above, the Home Depot KD is already re-ordering replacements and I have a tentative ship date, and hopefully the replacements are perfect.

One unresolved issue they told me to live with was on a 18" pull-out cabinet. The pull-out door is a full 1/8" wider than the drawer. I don't know if this in an industry standard but they basically told be to pound sand on this because 1/8 variance is considered to be within spec. A custom cabinet maker would just rip and re-stain the door slightly. This is the only item on this order that has me irritated.

it seems that most of the people posting on here have no idea how cabinets are manufactured. the expansion of joints on a painted cabinet are completely normal. The picture above posted by hardwood joints expand and contract all the time. you do not notice this on a standard finish. when you put a solid paint on a solid wood joint that expands and contracts based on its enviorment you have hairline cracks.paint should not chip off. American woodmark puts 2 coats of paint on their doors. unlike kraftmaid and other brands only use one coat. you can see the variation of the wood underneath. Sometimes the paint does not adhere to the solid wood faceframes very well. Every piece of wood responds differently.
Frames of cabinets are not particle board, they usually are hardwood. All of American Woodmarks faceframes are solid hardwood (Maple, Cherry, Oak, Hickory, etc) and you have the option of upgrading the returns(sides) to plywood. they offer a lifetime warranty either way!
Getting a good HD designer is a crap shoot, as they pay them nothing and you get what you pay for. There are talented ones out there but you have to search around!
American Woodmark are a great cabinet for the $ and about 40-50% less than Kraftmaid. There is no difference in quality just more options. Most of Kraftmaids doors are made in China!!!

I love my new American Woodmark Kitchen from Home Depot! We got a great price and great product. The sales person, Paulette, was MOST helpful and I knew exactly what to expect. We had limited space and options in condo but check out the custom built in replacements! We love the soft close doors/drawers and the glazed finish (Delray)

meant to post this pic of built in cabinets

Started putting my American wood mark cabinets up and this is what we noticed

There is white all over the sides and it almoSt looks like laminate. Really unhappy

Oh no ! :(

The sides ARE laminate unless upgraded.

And that's fine but shouldn't u tell someone that before they purchase? And laminate or not it's unacceptable to have espresso cabinets with white ends bc of crappy craftsmanship

I ordered Cherry cabinets in Java and was extremely disappointed. After a lot of back and forth and being given the excuse it's a "natural product" or "caused by the wood" for every issue we had. We've had to go through the hassle to return the cabinets. I couldn't justify spending the amount we did for the quality and workmanship we received. I would have had to paint these cabinets to be happy installing them in my house.

Unfortunately many designers in home centers either aren't knowledgeable enough about the products they sell or don't have the time to discuss every option with customers. Or their customers want to buy instantly and never spent enough time with the designer to learn what to expect. Often the reason people aren't happy with their choices is not that they needed to spend more money but that they needed to spend more time with someone knowledgeable making their selections.

We looked long and hard at American Woodmark/Shenandoah, Schuler, Kraftmaid and Diamond. Our quote for Shenandoah (using similar doors) was only about $1,000 less than Schuler, which we liked better than Kraftmaid or Diamond.

We wound up with all plywood boxes, Blumotion full extension soft close glides, twin I-beam construction and had some customized sizes (such as twin pantries). Maple face frames and doors. 3/4" thick shelves.
IMO huge quality gap between Schuler and American Woodmark. We prefer our Conestoga RTA cabinets over Kraftmaid, Schuler and Diamond. American Woodmark not even close.

Spent maybe 20 hours assembling 18 cabinets, including drawer glides, doors, etc. High end RTA is better and less expensive than most big box brands. Ours are same or better quality as Schuler but about $10,000 less. Yes it took 20 hours, but saving about $500 an hour was time well spent.

Anyone switch out doors from Timberlake (builder installed) with American Woodmark? I want glass doors but builder did not make available-

I purchased American Woodmark
cabinets through Home Depot recently when redoing my kitchen it's been a disaster. I have cherry java. The amount of defects with the cabinets have been
amazing. About half of my order had to be returned due to scratches
and cracks. I don't believe my luck could be that bad. They either got issues at their factory or
delivery company or both. Then
on the replacement reorder there were about a 1/4 of the cabinets defective. I even had a panel to fit on back of
island counter cabinets that they had to send me 3 times because they were so
damaged they had a hole in the panel and all scratched up. And don't forgot replacements for damaged items
have taken 2-4 weeks.

Horrible

Since American Woodmark did not allow my review on their site (great strategy to hide what their product is truly like), I am posting it here to warn people of the horrible workmanship of their product. We bought a whole kitchen and it was a nightmare. Thankfully Home Depot worked with us to get the complete kitchen returned but it put us 3 months behind and caused many many headaches and much aggravation. They kept saying it is all within spec and standard. Not in my book. Worst quality ever. Please see photos with scratches, dents and cracks besides the worst paint job EVER and them falling apart even before installation. Out of 23 cabinets 15 were damaged. Not a pleasant experience to have.

Sina were you able to get a complete refund from home depot?