Schuler has been around longer and I love their Knotty Alder! Diamond Intrigue is a new line Diamond has introduced in the last few years. Both the Diamond Reflections and the Diamond Prelude are excellent products, and I would expect the Intrigue to be quality, as well. I've sold Schuler and the Diamond line but never Intrigue. Look at their warranty, what it covers and how long it lasts and look at the price. Each will give you the performance that you need and the quality you want. Unless you want to go super custom, check out Kraftmaid. They're also a quality cabinet.

Sophie will chime in, but a Lowe's designer who's been designing 22 years is much better than a Lowe's designer who's just been transferred over from flooring. Get referrals to other customers and builders he/she has worked with.

22 years at a box store is better than a sharp stick in the eye. I’ve seen the Peter Principle in action though. No one in any management position in a store knows enough about cabinet designs to say if some one is doing a good job or not. So, the designers keep their jobs for years unless they are egregiously bad and continually lose them money.

A dealer that sells Medallion and Diamond will have better prices and usually better designers. And they don’t play the stupid big box discount and rebate game to trick you into thinking that you have a “deal”, when you don’t.

Plywood construction is completely over rated. That gets thrown out the window right away as totally irrelevant in the comparison. It’s the ability to charge 20% more for functional equivalence, sold as an “upgrade” to bilk you out of money. That’s it.

In the end, Intrigue will be more costly than Schuler. And not be worth it. Schuler/Medallion has better finishes. And that is what you touch and see every single day. The hardware is equivalent.

If you look a little closer, Diamond Intrigue from Lowe’s is actually Decora Cabinets, one of the higher end of the Masterbrand Cabinets collections who don’t offer furniture board grade carcasses, only plywood. Yes, cost is slightly higher, it definitely not overrated. It’s not quite Omega Cabinetry, but there’s definitely quality crossover. Meaning Decora is definitely, without a doubt, the highest quality that Diamond Cabinets will offer. There’s definitely some details in Decora that I’d say sets it apart from the Schuler brand, but you have to know what the upgrade options are to get the best value. Both are great quality cabinet brands. Cabinets aren’t cheap, so invest, buy it once, and buy it right! Give your installers the best possible chance to give you the best outcome by having plywood boxes so they aren’t blowing apart when you put a screw threw it. We all remember those college Ikea quality days. It’s worth every penny for the plywood carcass. That is, unless you want to be paying out of pocket for a couple new carcass pieces that your installers won’t be responsible for and you waiting another several weeks for it to be replaced. Shoot, all the import cabinets are plywood carcass now. They only take a week to get. That’s a whole new conversation!