based on the one picture it looks like poor adhesion. if that's the case yes they need to be redone.

what causes poor adhesion? they prep the cabinets for the paint and such.. any suggestions on what to do about the crooked pulls??

I was actually thinking it was poor paint quality (maybe they thinned it too much or something) also they didnt put any type of top coat... not sure if that is a problem

Did they sand them well? Did they clean them well? Did they prime them with a good quality sealing bonding primer? Did they use paint that is meant for cabinets? I do not see any primer on there. I see the quarter round type moulding on the floor is chipped, and no primer showing. I dont see any primer showing on any of the door chips, so I think you got a very poor paint job. I did my own, and its been several years, and I have yet to do a touch up on them. As to the crooked pulls, the only way to fix them, is to remove them, and fill in one hole wherever the pulls are crooked, with wood filler, and make sure it is nice and flat, and then redrill them. Do this before having them repainted, so you know they are exactly right.

Poor or improper cleaning/prep then if they did prep. As far as the pulls, when they strip the cabinets, have the holes filled with a wooden dowel or golf tee, wood filler/putty, sand, clean properly everything, prime and finish coat all. Then reinstall hardware making new level/properly aligned holes. Also a proper professional field painted finish will be in the 5 - 7K range for an average size kitchen (location dependent of course).

:( this makes me SO mad. this company had good reviews and they attempted to "fix" it twice and it was still chipping. If it hadn't already been 2 years I would seriously sue these people! they ruined my kitchen and cost me thousands.

Were the reviews for refinishing cabinets or were they simply for painting?

Cabinet refinishing (and painting them is refinishing) requires a different skill set than simply interior painting.

This is a job that you describe as “intentional distressing” to your friends, and live with it for now. Removing all of that back to fresh uncoated wood will cost more money than replacing them with a budget brand. So you start planning that, or something more involved. Because there’s no point in replacing cabinets without touching and assessing everything. You don’t want to repeat an expense down the line that could have been avoided with the right order of operations. Good luck!

it was for refinishing cabinets! I asked SEVERAL questions. everything checked out (or so I thought) but what was said was not delivered obviously...

@cook's kitchen I can live with it...I dont know how long I'll be in the house... but it STRSSES me thinking about how it will affect selling when the time comes. ..

my kitchen is not small so I think replacing them would be alot of money

ok that's good to know. its not that I wouldn't want to take on the project, but I gave 2 kids under 5 and I work full time lol. I will try to touch up what I can for now and keep all that in mind. thanks!

have*

do you know the product they used to paint them

I have no idea :(

For us it is cheaper to throw the old doors away and start with new as opposed to stripping them.

@creative design - so your suggesting what the other person said which was to sand, strip, prime and repaint the outside and just replace all the doors and cabinets?

the parimiter would need to be fixed because obviously its chipping everywhere. how do you get the color to match when you buy the doors? I would want to buy them already painted white from the factory... any suggestions where to find affordable ones to replace?

Judging by the darkness of the wood that's showing thru where paint chipped off, it looks to me like they just slapped on paint over the standard brown factory finish without proper sanding/deglossing, and bonding primer. (I would do all of the above, frankly, to ensure good adhesion on things like cabs which get heavvy use.)

If they did a sloppy job drilling holes Im not surprised they were sloppy in other ways. Ideally they would have gotten cabinets prior to the brown factory finish going on.

You know, if it was me I think I would contact the painter just to express my disatisfaction, but not in a hostile or antagonistic way, and without any expectation that they would d anything. After all it HAS been two years. "I just wanted to tell you that this didnt hold up and I m not happy about it. i thought you might want to know."

I like to give people feedback directly instead of just dinging them in the reviews. Maybe they had a bad employee and will want to make it right. Or, maybe not, maybe they dont care about their reputation. If the latter - then proceed to dinging them in the reviews LOL.

If they’re still in business, I suggest taking the approach suggested by @Debbie Downer. One look at your cabinets on an online review forum is all it would take to dissuade potential customers from working with this company.

Jessica Newman , talk to you local cabinet maker.

Don't do anything to the cabinets yourself until you know that you absolutely will not get any satisfaction from the painter. The current state of affairs is evidence!

Document all your interactions with them about this. Use email and photos, and avoid person to person conversations (by phone or in person) unless you can document them.

If you haven't already, go back to your contract with the painter. See if it mentions the steps they will take to insure a good finish (ie sand, clean, prime). Does it mention a warranty? Does it mention what type and brands of paint and primer they will use? What does it say about the pull installation?

If it has those elements, I would have it in hand when I discussed the poor outcome. Clearly they botched the pull install. It might be harder to prove that they didn't prime or sand, but I think it can be done - especially if you can scrape a good chunk of the paint off with a fingernail, with "action pictures" to show that the wood beneath the paint has the original finish intact, and no primer coat.

Be firm and focused on what you need them to do to make it right for you. Don't let them distract you with blaming you or the cabinets or the weather or the homebuilder or whatever. Be simple, clear and calm. Don't threaten until it is clear that they will not make it right.

I think that you could go to small claims court with this, but reviews on Yelp, or anything else you might have locally complete with pictures might be enough.

There is a thread on here from a couple of months ago that details how the poster managed to get satisfaction from a shady contractor in court - might be worth your time to find and read it.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5725013/what-to-do-when-a-project-goes-completely-south#n=64

I really tried to get them to do the right thing. i gave them chances to come fix. he swore in his 25yr of business this never happened blah blah blah. when we kept just going back and forth with no set date for them to fix I finally left a bad review with pics...then he set up to come back and "fix" within weeks same thing.. I DID reach out again several months after to express my dissatisfaction but not response ?
(figures) I really dont want them near my cabinets again anyway bevahse they obviously have no clue.

I guess at this point I was trying to see IF it can be fixed or should I get new ones etc. its unfortunate this happened but it is what it is..

You don’t need new cabinets, but if you are unable to do the work yourself, it will take quite a bit of money to get they properly prepped and repainted. You need to know the proper process, in order to assess the next person who takes on the job. Any rando will tell you what you want, but they may not know what they are doing. I have a feeling you are going to get two types of bids. Super low with rando house painters, who will not do a very good job and super high.

Buy new cabinets. That’s too much labor to “fix” the builder grade underneath. Put that money into better choices.