I would not be willing to settle for many things being wrong with something that I paid 25,000,00 to purchase. I think you have a reasonable expectation that the product be delivered without flaws, I would suggest that anything you could live with be discounted to reflect the damage and they should replace major problems with new and inspected products. I wouldn't accept a new car that had a huge scratch on the door or chips in the window so why should you have to accept damage to something equally expensive that is expected to last much longer than a car.

Ya geez... think of that 25k as a new car. Would you accept it if it were all dinged up, lube grease smeared in various areas or cracked windows ? No way. Also, how can they charge you a restocking fee when the item is defective?

I'm with Rubyfig... find a reputable local cabinet maker, show him what you want and get a quote. Could be a lot lower than what you had originally dished out with the Kraft Made.

This is a kitchen that you will have to live with for years... get what you want, it's your money - and a lot of it too!!

Good luck, stuff like this is hard because you want to be excited (you should be excited) and it takes the shine off of the whole thing :-(

Forgottensong,

I would wait and talk to the Kraftmaid Rep that
will examine the cabinets. They have to examine them
for insurance purposes before they can replace anything.

My cousin and his wife redid their kitchen with
Kraftmaid cabinets. And the cabinets arrived damaged.
There were maybe 6 to 8 cabinets or peices that had
issues, knots in ugly places, cracks, and scratches.
My cousin was prepared to have a big argument with the
the Examiner from Kraftmaid when he came to look at the
cabinets.

To his utter amazement KraftMaid Rep looked at everything
and sent out all new cabs to replace the damaged ones.
KraftMaid Rep apologized for any trouble and was very kind.
He did not question anything but simply looked them over
agreed they needed to be replaced and that Kraftmaid
would do this no problem. My cousin was even allowed to
keep the damaged cabs which he put into his basement.

My cousin had a super experience with KraftMaid.
This was 2 years ago, in Southern MA. I am not sure
how they are now but I would give them a chance to fix
the problem and from there decided to fight if it does
not go your way. You might be happy with what they
do to fix the problems. Best of luck.

I also had issues with some Kraftmaid bathroom cabinets years ago, and the tech came out and ordered whatever needed to be replaced no questions asked. Obviously I'd prefer they were perfect to begin with, but at least I didn't have to fight about getting it fixed.

Don't accept them. I bought 4 cabinets to add to our kitchen during the reno: 2 pantry cabinets w/ 2 doors each, a 24" 2 drawer cabinet and a 24" microwave base cabinet....Let's see, 2 of the doors on the pantry cabinet are being replaced they have what looks like a couple of spots that are "pushed in"--sort of what would be on a distressed piece of furniture, and one of the big drawers too. The really goofy thing was each side of each pantry cabinet had nail holes in it. (sort of looks like a vampire bite-at eye level) What the heck? The finished side, yep. Only one of the four sides was going to show, they are sending me a new skin for it, and we also ended up ordering false doors for the side to give it a more finished look anyway.

But the sales girl at the store where we purchased them agreed that we spent too much money not to have them be right.

I will say that the quality of the heavy duty roll out shelves is really nice in the pantry cabinets.

Wow, I am so sorry to hear about your problems with your cabinets. I was ready when mine came also, as I wanted to document and made Dh open every one of the boxes so that I could inspect them. We got ours about 2 months ago. There were a few minor issues, such as crooked faux draws that we could fix ourselves and a couple other small issues. But overall they were very good quality. I contacted Kraftmaid, as we were lucky to deal with them directly with my sis in law's employee discount, and they were very helpful. It may take you a few more weeks to get exactly what you feel needs fixed, but Kraftmaid appears to stand by their product and I was completely satisfied with their customer service. Hope that helps! We have had issues with our stone contractor, so I can relate. Just give Kraftmaid a chance to make you happy. If not, then you decide what you need to do to recoup your investment. I came to realize the my dream kitchen is not always a dream. At times, it is my nightmare! lol.

The rep most likely will just order new for you. Kraftmaid is very good about replacing things. Our Kraftmaid order had 4 problem pieces - a pullout cabinet out of square, a door with blotchy stain, and a couple with scratches. Lowes didn't even bother to send out the rep, they just ordered the replacements without even seeing the problem pieces. A friend had extensive stain pooling issues with her doors(I think canvas with a glaze) and Lowes had the Kraftmaid rep go out to see them, they ordered all new doors and then another few doors after the second set came in. My replacements came pretty quickly, too.

I am sorry to hear about your troubles with Kraftmaid. On a small 8 cabinet project we had similar problems; glue on the finish, nicks, uneven finish, unfilled nail holes, even staples that had come through on the finished side, etc. Because I needed to match some other cherry wood, I had ordered a very expensive quartof their stain, so I made fixed most of the problems myself. Not the best fix, but we didn't have the time to start over, and I had already had some costly custom items made to go with the Kraftmaid cabinets.

Now a few months later, 2 doors have warped and parts of the frames have required refastening. Having first done a kitchen using Medallion/Schuler, perhaps I became spoiled, but I'll never use Kraftmaid again. If it were me, I'd refuse them all, try and get my money back, and start over using a different cabinet company. You'll be living with this kitchen for a long time.

svwillow1,

I think my KM cabinets have a lifetime warranty on the doors. Check with whoever you bought yours from; KM will send you replacement doors, I believe, and you can ask them about sending someone out to fix the frames.

Anne

I have to second boxerpups. Don't make a decision until you have had your appointment with the rep. You could get yourself all worked up and be pleasantly surprised by how they take care of you. I hope it works out for you.

Did you pay with your credit card? I hope you did. You can dispute the charge with the credit card issurer if KM did not satisfactorily resolved the problem. You don't have to pay the 15% restocking fee, no way.

But by all means wait for the KM rep's response. Give them a chance to make it right

I agree with the others . . . wait until you talk to the rep. We had some door issues with KM, and they made everything right. They were very agreeable about it.

Hope it works out for you.

Thanks everyone! I feel a lot calmer with your sucess stories. We paid with cash since it was a lot of money and we don't have a credit card that has such a large limit. I've been upset about the payment since the purchase. I will hear what the tech has to say before I get major riled up. Recently, just after we purchased our cabinets, Kraft Maid set up the tech program. I've heard a lot of horror stories lately about Kraft Maid but I guess I am listening better since the uglies got sent. We did speak to a guy at a local kitchen company today who uses Medallion. He said we could have a similar kitchen but less expensive. He's now in the wings if KM doesn't work out and is good friends with our installer. I think we stayed with the designer and hence KM because we became fast friends with the designer. The designer is also a musician so we bar hopped to hear him play the fiddle.

We purchased KraftMaid cabinets for our new home last year, thru Lowes. We used the Lowes installer who found a bathroom cabinet and a kitchen drawer front unacceptable. He contacted the sales rep at Lowes who in turn contacted KraftMaid. The new pieces were out there two weeks later!
We feel we've received excellent, prompt customer service from KF and Lowes.
We did not have glazed cabinets. We have 'Kaffe' stain and 'toffee, all wood boxes, both stains are very nicely done.

Take lots of pictures! I had similar issues some years back and chose to have my cabinets custom and send that lot packing!

Do not settle for less :-)

Bumping to see how this was resolved.

Hello Forgottensong,

What happened? I am dying to find out too.
I hope you were treated well, but if not we are all
here to support you. Let us know so we can cheer or
cry with you.

Thinking of you and hoping it is going much better.
~boxerpups

I knew where the cabinets were purchased from before I read the entire post and I completely understand this story, but it is only half of it. Unfortunately the customer with good intentions, also doesn't know the whole story coming from KM's view and contract responsibilities with Home Depot. I have worked on thousands of kitchens and KM is a great Cabinet and company. Just don't buy them from homeowner Depot. There IS a difference. I have my very own bathroom from HD in KM cabinetry and then 3 yrs later my kitchen was done with KM but from John's Lumber where the trim carpenter purchases from. HUGE difference in QC. And this is VERY true with ALL big box products. As we PROFESSIONALS say big box product is good ( if you can call it that) only if your selling the house right away. Unfortunately you can only learn this first hand by actually tearing a product apart and comparing internal components.

QC should be at its best always...not just with HD or Lowes...please don't try to mke excuses.