We are in the midst of a kitchen remodel. Of the many issues we’ve identified with our cabinet maker, the quality of the cabinet boxes is the most egregious (to us at least). We agreed to Baltic birch plywood boxes, even though in hindsight I should have forced him to use pre-assembled dovetailed maple boxes. Regardless, we were promised “craftsmanship” level of quality and this is what we got.

I won’t include all the pictures but these are representative of 17 of the 18 (!) drawer boxes he provided.

• Drawer box fronts have misplaced holes that were intended for screwing in the fronts (his remedy here is to cover with screw covers)
• There is nail punch through (his remedy is to break off the nail and fill with wood filler)
• There is lots of splintering and rough edges throughout (no proposed remedy)
• There are some areas where the veneer is separating/bulging because of how the locking mechanisms for undermount glides were installed (no proposed remedy)

He assures us this level of quality is standard in the industry and we are being too nitpicky (all his other customers "would love a kitchen of this quality and he himself would have no problem putting this into his kitchen").

What are your thoughts (preferably from professionals in the field)?

In case you’re wondering, here’s the rest of our kitchen. From afar it looks ok (We think), but there’s even quality issues we’re still working through upon closer inspection there as well…