You are correct, recent orders of KraftMaid have produced some bad reviews, particularly in regard to longevity of the finish but also touching upon the cleanliness and accuracy of joints. You can see this yourself at the independent website Kitchen Cabinets Reviews and also by searching here in the Houzz Discussion forum and sorting the answers by Most Recent.

Any chance you can cast your net wider and look at other brands? Try Harmoni by Bentwood, Prelude by Plato Woodworking, Ascend by William Ohs, or Jay Rambo. All of these are outstanding, and by working with the right dealer can put you in a competitive price range.

As far as the history of KraftMaid reviews, what I have noticed from my own research on cabinet brands is the following:

• 10+ Years Ago: KraftMaid was known as a mid-priced brand of cabinetry with good quality for the price. The main complaint that I have seen repeated from reviews of years ago is that sometimes the tolerances weren't as accurate as could be desired. This might only be noticeable to your installer or to someone with a trained eye for evaluating the build quality.
• 5+ Years Ago: KraftMaid was still known as a good value but even more so as dealers like Lowe's ran periodic deep discount promotions that allowed some customers to order cabinetry at a price rivaling lower-cost competitors like IKEA. Hardware for KraftMaid was known to be Blum, a quality brand.
• 2015 to 2020: KraftMaid reviews seemed to begin to reflect a growing inconsistency with the finish longevity. Customers who might have just received a KraftMaid kitchen could be happy, but those who had lived with it for a year or more might be seeing premature finish failure. The finish failure in some cases might be more noticeable on cabinetry painted an opaque color rather than natural wood with just a clear coat. Also, the hardware that was once sourced from Blum has now been changed to a generic supplier according to some reviews. Some customers report difficulties with getting satisfactory warranty fulfillment on defective cabinetry.

This is just my own observation from researching cabinet brand for my own kitchen renovation. I would strongly encourage you to do more of your own research before making a commitment to KraftMaid for your remodel. Also please keep in mind that some of the 5-star reviews might be left by dealers of the product who have not lived with the cabinetry in their own homes. This cabinetry is all made on the same production line whether ordered from a big-box retailer or a smaller, independent dealer, so quality reviews should apply across the board.

Agree with @Quercus. We have 18 month old cherry Kraftmaid cabinets purchased thru a local dealer. Fit and finish are very good. Dealer used stock sizes for the most part and custom sizes on a couple of cabinets. Final design looks like a custom kitchen (which I have had in previous homes). Would not hesitate to purchase Kraftmaid again.

Thank you all for the input! Silverlined, unfortunately none of your suggested lines are available in my area :(

Lowe's is currently running 40% off Kraftmaid with a free finish... I'm sure it's not a popular option to go with a big box store but that sale knocks over $9,000 off the purchase price. Here's a photo of a tentative layout. We've added quite a few cabinets with drawers, pullouts, plywood construction etc. Does $11,000 seem reasonable for these cabinets? in Kraftmaid?

Thanks everyone for your help!!

That price would be a steal for that number of cabinets in a dependable line. Your question now is, I assume having thoroughly researched the recent reviews on KraftMaid, do you want to risk potential warranty fulfullment delays and finish issues? There is a chance you could have a positive installation experience, but please go back and research finish longevity expectations with this brand. A professional refinishing job could easily cost you as much as the original price of the cabinetry. I know that both Jay Rambo and Plato that offer lifetime guarantees work with people straight from their home offices for places where there are no dealers, but your budget would double or triple to go with them for this layout. Do you have a Shiloh or Signature dealer in your area?

It doesn't look like I have either of those brands either, waiting to hear from Shiloh though. Thank you for your help!

Do you have any other suggestions for cabinetry on a budget of around $10,000?

People keep saying to buy your KraftMaid from a non-Lowe's dealer, but you won't get that discount in doing so. If your budget is that limited for what is a fairly large number of cabinets including finished backs for the peninsula, then maybe just go ahead with KraftMaid from Lowe's and be open to refinishing in time if you still own the home and the need arises.

We did Kraftmaid through Lowe’s (40% discount also) and had a number of problems with the he cabinets. I do have to say that all the cabinets were replaced as needed and Customer service was helpful. We didn’t have a tight schedule so we were okay with waiting for the replacement but they did take weeks.

Thank you all for your input! I really appreciate hearing your experiences. Magpie, although it took a while are you ultimately satisfied with your cabinets?

I am for the most part but my husband may not totally agree. Lol

Amri, do you know if the Lowe’s 40% promotion with free finish is through end of July? I went into Lowe’s a few days ago and was told it was 30%.

no, we were told it ended on the 8th but to look at the labor day sale.

update: we're now looking at Medallion from a local dealer instead of Kraftmaid through Lowe's. It's MDF, not wood for a similar price. any thoughts?

Medallion is the same company as Schuler sold by Lowe's. The primary customer complaints center around lack of promised "lifetime" warranty fulfillment for finish defects that emerge within several months to several years of use.

https://kitchencabinetsreviews.com/reviews/medallion.html

Ah this is so hard! I'm really struggling to choose the right company on this budget. Thank you everyone for your help.

The difference in discount amount at Lowe’s may reflect geographic sales. In the last year or so I was at HD they had been having different sales in different areas of the country.

@Amri If you're on a budget, it may actually be worth the risk for you to go with either KraftMaid or Schuler from Lowe's during one of their deep discount sales. If you'll see the photos from @kirbybunny7 above, that's a recent installation of KraftMaid. There's more color variation and grain divergence by far in @kirbybunny7's kitchen than you'd get from a premium brand like Jay Rambo that specifically color and grain matches all of its cabinetry fronts, however, you're paying half the price or even less via KraftMaid. For $17,000 USD, all those KraftMaid cabinets was actually a very good price when compared to higher level brands, and if you're willing to accept this level of quality, then you could end up being happy. Another thing you'll run into with KraftMaid is that sometimes the measurement tolerances are a little off. If you're not a perfectionist about everything lining up to 1/16" or 1/32" like you'd see in premium cabinetry, then again you could be satisfied with this brand even if there are up to 1/8" or so variations in the tolerances.

If you order from Lowe's and there are finish defects upon arrival, push to get the replacements immediately. Don't wait to file warranty claims. If you're planning on painted cabinetry, then the color and grain variations in natural wood with just a clear top coat will not be as much of a problem going with a less expensive brand, however, the durability of the finish could come back to bite you since chipping is more evident in painted cabinetry than in clear coated cabinetry. Review the latest input from as many places around the web as you can on any brand, and be fully informed before you jump in.

Schuler/Medallion may not be a bad investment for you either. There have been recent complaints about Schuler/Medallion's finish quality and warranty fulfillment, but overall the brand is known for decent products in most instances.

By way of a personal note in closing, I took a non-direct route to getting custom cabinetry by working with a local builder, and it's been what I would call a nightmare. The delays have been unbelievable, and these aren't pandemic delays, just communication breakdowns with the people who should have been responsible to fulfill our order much sooner and more efficiently than they have. We are also now stuck with having to finish the cabinetry ourselves because the builder's finish guy turned out to not be doing a durable coating and absolutely refused to discuss with us a more advanced coating for the cabinetry, and this was after we had already placed a deposit with the builder who wouldn't allow us to back out. We took too many people's word for it regarding the details of how our order would be processed, and hopefully everything will turn out well in the end, but long story short I am looking back now and wishing maybe I had given KraftMaid or Schuler a chance. It's possible I could have ended up with cabinetry that would have been more than satisfactory with the coating included for about the same price or even less that I'll be paying with our local builder. If you're on a budget, then you have to cut costs somewhere, and going with an entry to mid-level brand that doesn't get sterling reviews all the time might be one way to do that.

We hit a Kraftmaid sale like that too plus a few other deals on top, freebies and gift cards from Lowes back in October. We had rounded up 8 quotes from all different places and this was by far the best deal. Cabinets were installed in December and had (and still have) zero issues. We went with Kraftmaid Sonata.

I just got KraftMaid cabinets installed. I am really disappointed.

The finish had a lot of blemishes, a lot of the doors are cut poorly, and one of the drawers wasn’t drilled correctly and is crooked.

It’s like they had absolutely no quality control. And I purchased mine through a dealer, which was supposed to be their higher quality product.

Very disappointed.

@Wes I wrote a long comment to you that was posted but has now disappeared. I may try posting again.

@Karen Rose Thanks so much for that recent feedback on KraftMaid. I am so very sorry for your experience. i would encourage you to pursue warranty fulfillment on all of those items to see if some improvements could be made. It would not be out of the question that you'd want to recoat your cabinetry in 7 to 10 years, but you should ask for warranty service now for as much as you can. I've heard of whole kitchens being replaced for free for this type of thing, not from KraftMaid necessarily, but from companies that offer similar warranty terms as KraftMaid does.

@Wes Hunt It sounds to me like they are using a pre-catalyzed conversion varnish that is a one-part finish. If they were using two-part, post-catalyzed conversion varnish, they would have additional bragging rights to that and almost certainly would have specified that in their description. The oven curing is simply to save them time with air drying and does not add substantially to the durability (pros here at Houzz will dispute that last point, but based on my own research including talking to various suppliers that do it both ways, I cannot find any evidence that the oven drying adds durability). Thei one-part pre-cat varnish is better than plain lacquer, but in my opinion, it's not going to be as durable for you as a two-part post-catalyzed conversion varnish where the hardepner is added just before use. If you research the pros and cons of pre-cat vs. post-cat, you'll find some people who claim that they are relatively similar in durability, but all of the larger manufacturers are using post-cat. The pre-cat doesn't go bad as quickly and thus is more ideal for smaller shops that cannot afford to waste a lot of coating material that must be used immediately after mixing. The pre-cat also simplifies the process as it avoids the pitfalls you can run into with post-cat where the mix proportions might get off and affect the finish. So, if Kemp is a smaller manufacturer, I can definitely see why they are using a one-part pre-cat.

One piece of information that may really help you out with your decision is finding out how long Kemp guarantees its finish. If they guarantee if for a lifetime, then that indicates their confidence in their process. If they guarantee it for 3 years, I'd say spread your net wider and look at some other options. With Kemp being local to you, that's a big advantage that can save you money on transportation, so it's possible this could be a good option for you.

One last word about the Valspar brand: I don't know much about this nor have I heard much about the longevity of it, so do some research if you can to find out more.

Installed Kraftmaid through a dealer and installed via a contractor. Thus far my only complaint would be their inability to match my panel on my peninsula. Full overlay slab cherry-had two different panels-neither even came close to matching (praline). Panel more brown tone, sticks out like a sore thumb.

Been in use for 3 months-was having issues with hinges on large doors.

@kirbybunny7 Are the cabinets in your kitchen Kraftmaid's Honey Spice on Maple? Thanks.