Get an actual kitchen designer not affliliated with certain cabinet companies . Often it is true that a cabinet maker can be the answer but a good design comes first.I happen to use Ikea in a large number of my kitchen designs

I have Medallion, light grey shaker style cabinets. I like them and I always get compliments. A couple things that I didn't like were that the panel in the below image (highlighted red) wasn't painted well... I could see the surface below the paint. So, I had to take the panel to Home Depot and get them to color match some touch up paint.

Next image, some of the end panels (where they are cut) don't come painted. The highlighted area was left unpainted so I had to paint that. Otherwise it really stands out in my opinion. There were a few other cut areas that I had to touch up in this manner.

Next image, just for your reference.

Hope that helps!

@ designassassin Thank you so much for your post! It was very helpful! I appreciate you taking the time to comment and share pictures. I agree, I would have wanted the end panels where it was cut to be painted. I am glad Home Depot was able to color match the paint so you could do some touch up work. I love the paint color and door style you selected. Gorgeous! Do you happen to know the name of the grey color? BTW... love your brick wall/backsplash behind your range!

Glad that helped and thanks for the compliment!

From what my construction company told me, Medallion cabinets don't come in custom colors. The grey is one of the factory options they had (not sure which color specifically, but they didn't have a lot to choose from so it probably won't be too hard to tell.)

Good to know that Medallion doesn't do custom colors so I should be able to figure out which grey you used : ) I really like the color -- it's gorgeous!

I would question working with someone who is rep'ing only a certain brand(s) because there are too many ways to hide money and kick backs. I would not think that would be your best pricing. All they are going to do is mark up the prices to then show you how much they can "save" you.

We just installed Holiday kitchen cabinets and were told they were one the of the better brands. We were first surprised as to how light in weight they were which alarmed us. I have two cabinets with deep drawers and I can tell you I would be very afraid to put any pots or pans with any weight in them. The bottom of the drawer is very thin and what I would consider flimsy. I am waiting for the bottoms to fall out. They were poorly stapled together and we had to plane some of the backs as the sidewalls were not flush to the other side of the cabinet which made installing them to match up a chore. I was not impressed for what we paid for them as the construction is not at all what I would consider solid or long lasting. And some of the doors will need to be touched up as someone was over agressive and wiped the stain off them leaving spots with no stain. Some doors did not line up no matter how we adjusted them. I honestly was in tears as I saved for a long time for this kitchen remodel and trusted our designer only to get cabinets that were no better than the big box stores sell. I understand that anything you buy is only as good as the person putting it together but they seriously have some quality issues.

One other note. Many of the drawers still had wood shavings in them. You would think that a high end manufacturer would make sure at least the drawers were cleanout of production waste before shipping.

@Ann Stein - Thank you so much for your post. In fact, your post is rather timely as we just had our Holiday cabinets installed last week. The kitchen design company I am using carried two lines of cabinetry -- Holiday and Medallion. I could find very little (if any) reviews for Holiday. The reviews I saw for Medallion weren't very favorable although one Houzz user was kind enough to leave very helpful feedback on Medallion in this thread. I was torn between the two cabinet lines and ultimately went with Holiday as I read (and was told by my designer) that Holiday is a higher end cabinet line (e.g. better constructed, etc.). It is certainly more expensive than Medallion. Like you, I am not impressed with the construction of the cabinets. We have several deep drawers in our design and I agree, the bottoms are very flimsy. We aren't at the stage where we can load our pots/pans and dishes into the cabinets so I can't comment whether or not the drawers are able to withstand the weight on pots/pans, etc. Like you, we also found wood shavings in our drawers and cabinets which surprised me. What I am the most bothered with is the fact that there are visible screws along the inside edge of the cabinets and drawers. I expect a more "finished" look from a supposedly higher end cabinet line. Our old kitchen cabinets were Kraftmaid (bought from a big box store) and not only were there no visible screws, but overall, I think they were better constructed. I feel your pain as cabinetry is not cheap (especially these cabinets). When you invest the time and money in a kitchen remodel and put your trust in a kitchen designer, you expect a product that is well made. Here's hoping Holiday stands by their warranty should either of us run into structural issues with our cabinets.

We are trying to figure out how to take out the deep drawers and see if we can replace or shore up the bottoms of the drawers. I realize they may not honor their warranty but who is to say they will anyway. Yes, are old cabinets that lasted 25 years were from a big box store and held up well. We were just in need of updating. Only reason we did not go with Kraftmaid is because they did not have the color/door style we wanted and found out that some of the big box stores only carry certain door styles and they could not get the door style I wanted and color.

@Ann Stein - Just wanted to let you know that I asked my kitchen designer if she could find out the maximum weight the deep drawers are designed to withstand. I tried to contact Holiday myself to get an answer, but I couldn't find a contact number for them which is quite concerning if I have issues with the cabinets in the future. I will let you know what I hear back from our kitchen designer. For the record, when I told her my concerns about the flimsy bottoms of the deep drawers, she assured me none of their clients have ever had problems with the drawers : )

FYI, lighter cabinets doesn't mean bad quality. Usually the opposite! Plywood is lighter than pressed board. Your cabinets are lighter because they are plywood boxes instead of MDF or other engineered board.

I had Holiday in my last house and the drawers held up great for 6 years...then I moved. They'll be fine! The Bottom panel usually isn't a thick board like you would think...but wide drawers will have a cross member underneath usually for support. When I get some time, I'll post back what brands have for the bottom panel thickness. What's more important is the guides.

The end cut of a toekick board? You would have that issue no matter what brand you used unless they supplied you with a 3/4" thick material. But no one does that. That is a very pricey upgrade. The thin toekick board *usually 1/4" to 3/8"* is typical and industry standard. Lower end brands can be made with a matching vinyl material with an option to upgrade sometimes....step up brands will have real wood veneer. The installer usually will use the touch up kit to finish off the rough cut. Some brands offer toekick caps. But I've never used those.

@The Kitchen Place - thank you for your informative post! Interesting that lighter doesn't mean lesser quality. Your explanation makes sense. Glad to hear the Holiday cabinets you had held up well and you were pleased with them!

Well, that is good to know will see how the drawers hold up to my cast iron cookware.

We installed a Holiday kitchen about 2 years ago and love it. We haven't had any problems and got a lot of customization. We only have one cast iron pan so not a huge amount of weight in those drawers. I did just check - there is not any kind of bar support under those 36" wide drawers

As far as problems during install, we did have one door that was terribly scratched and another that was a close, but totally different stain. There was no problem when the kitchen company we used re-ordered them.

All of our drawers are dove-tailed, no staples that I can see. The installers vacuumed and wiped out all cabinets so we did not have any wood shavings. Now that it is mentioned, I do see the screws at the front of the drawers where the cabinet face is attached to the drawer. I actually never noticed it before. Probably too thrilled with getting rid of the truly ugly kitchen we had before.

I hope you enjoy your new kitchen. Mine makes me smile everyday.

Major kitchen remodel · More Info

Before:

Major kitchen remodel · More Info

@HoJo1 - WOW! What a transformation! Your new kitchen looks AMAZING! I can't believe it is the same kitchen. The cabinets looks awesome. I love the contrasting island color! I can see why your new kitchen makes you smile every day : ) Thank you for sharing your experience with Holiday cabinets. I am so happy to hear you haven't had any issues with them. We have only a few minor scratches, but the kitchen company we used tells me that Holiday will send a representative out to touch up the cabinets once the remodel is complete. I did check our 36" wide drawers and we don't have any kind of support on ours either. I don't have any cast iron pans so hopefully I won't have any issues. I am curious to know what the weight limit is for those drawers. I contacted Holiday, but I haven't heard back from them yet. We are nearing the end of our kitchen remodel and I can't wait to see it when it is all said and done. I hope my new kitchen looks as beautiful as yours!

Karen - please post your pictures when your new kitchen is done. Would love to see them.

@HoJo1 - This post is long overdue. Our kitchen remodel wrapped up mid-November and then the holiday season was in full swing. I am finally getting a chance to post some pictures of our kitchen. We are very pleased with the finished kitchen. So far, we've had no issues with our cabinets : )

Here are a few more:

Here are a couple of "Before" shots. We removed the wall where the refrigerator was to create a more open space. We also removed the brick wall so we could have more cabinets, etc.

What a great update! I bet you will get a lot of enjoyment from your new kitchen. It's so fresh and bright. And no more brick

Beautiful kitchen, Karen! You must be thrilled!! Which cabinet line did you go with? I'm about to order some Medallion cabinets and have read the negative reviews also. So I'm a little concerned.