Cheepchinesecrapola.

Comparing RTA cabinets is equivalent to comparing plastic baseball gloves or bi-focal drugstore eyeglasses.

I realize that these are the not the finest cabinets you can buy, but not every application requires this. I would not put $50K of cabinets in a $200K house, or say, a basement apartment kitchen. Compared to similarly priced in-stock, basic cabinets at Home Depot and Lowes (like Diamond Now), these use superior materials. Once I get a couple sample doors, I'll have a better idea of just how much better they are than the similarly cheap HD stuff. My question really revolves around the reliability and customer service of the company. Are there problems in shipping -- delays or shipping the wrong items, difficulties with returns that are their fault, responsiveness, etc? Specific functional issues you've had would be interesting to know as well. If you've had a great experience with them, I'd really like to know that as well (I know you're out there).

As for "cheepchinesecrapola", I would point out that your iPhones are all made in China. Your stereotype is way out of date. Things get made there because they can provide a higher value-for-money quotient, and that is certainly appears to be the case here.

" Things get made there because they can provide a higher value-for-money quotient,"

Some things you should state. Look at the kitchen forums for a post about the illegal Chinese faucets sold here on Houzz, Amazon, eBay, etc. Also how did hthat same statement work out for Lumber Liquidators and the flooring they were importing from China? Or the Chinese drywall that everyone seemed to think was great back in the 90's?

I'm not saying their haven't been problems, there have. But there are also has been issues with things made in the US as well. 20 years since the "Chinese drywall" issue, things have significantly improved with China boosting some of the highest technology production in the world. Your iPhone and many, many tech devices provide an example. The Chinese Drywall issue is as much about the failure of and inadequacy of existing regulation at the time (both in the US as well as in China), not just someone screwing up in China. The episode certainly provided support and justification for better import inspections and regulations -- these are in place to prevent these problems from occurring in the first place. All that said, with all the goods imported from China these days, it's remarkable you don't hear about more problems. I think it is unfair to paint everything made in China with a broad brush of innuendo. They used to say the same thing about Japan, and the quality of Japanese manufacturing since has been second to none for decades.

For these, potentially Chinese-made, cabinets why don't we judge them (and the companies that sell them) on the actual experience of people that have used them rather than issues with other products from decades ago. Quite clearly, millions of these cabinets have been sold and so far, I'm not seeing a lot of discontent. But that goes to the purpose of this thread -- to understand facts and actual experience with these companies and not stereotypes and innuendo.

Back to the issue at hand, cabinets at these price points are all that many afford, or the most that many projects can justify spending. So let's get the facts about these products and companies, so we can identify the good from the bad, so we are aware of the real issues before we buy. If people truly are satisfied with these cabinets, and feel that they got value for their money (no one is saying they are the same quality as expensive high-end cabinets) that would be great to know, and help the purchasing decisions of many.

@Boncratious Masi, did you find any more research on RTA? Was also looking at them as a potential DIY option. Obviously many superior options out there but for the price point and durability we need price-value comes heavily into play.

Wow that's a lot of lovely cabinets for 8K!

Thanks for sharing your experience Rebecca. Appreciate the tips. and your kitchen looks great!

My brother buys and sells houses often and has purchased RTA cabinets many times, including for their own home and has been satisfied.

Some people have low expectations and no actual knowledge of why terrible plywood and hardware is not made any better just because it is cheap.

We are in the middle of a kitchen reno using RTA Cabinet Store cabinets. We assembled them ourselves and hired a carpenter to install them. He works for a company that does high-end kitchens and he keeps telling us that the $$$ ones his company uses are no better than the ones we got. They are beautiful.

1 post wonder.

Celadon are you referring to me?