ONE MORE cabinet thread, please?
I posted the other day about kitchen cabinets….got some great and very helpful responses. But in reading them all, I am seeing so many names appearing, Plain and Fancy, Merrillat, Wood Mode, Rich Maid, as well as the Kraft-Maid and Medallion I mentioned. Please, can someone enlighten me: what exactly IS the difference? The thickness…
I posted the other day about kitchen cabinets….got some great and very helpful responses. But in reading them all, I am seeing so many names appearing, Plain and Fancy, Merrillat, Wood Mode, Rich Maid, as well as the Kraft-Maid and Medallion I mentioned. Please, can someone enlighten me: what exactly IS the difference? The thickness of the cabinet box? I am talking comparing relatively plain all-wood cabinets here(I am looking at flat-front Shaker-Style) , not ones with a lot of extra molding and finials. I have a quote of about 7100. for I believe 9 cabinets, a few with drawers, some the full 48″ tall, in maple. I do prefer to go the independent small retailer route as well.
I GREATLY appreciate all the Brownstoner help.
Yes, CG_ups, it’s hard to be an information junkie….!
For anyone following this, after educating myself to the nth degree, I did place the order yesterday at PSKG. They had a 10-15% promotion going with Medallion, which ended yesterday. I would have liked many other things–the rounded sides to drawers like in Plain and Fancy, inset cabinets rather than overlaid, more doo-dads customized into the cabinets. But Glenn (the designer there) and Laurie were very patient and helped me in the decision-making and I ultimately got (well, ordered) 13 cabinets, maple, for about 7200. INCLUDING tax. And a few w/ glass insets.
keep asking questions sogo. i am the same way and by the time i get around to finally redoing the kitchen, i am going to be SO prepared. 🙂
keep asking questions sogo. i am the same way and by the time i get around to finally redoing the kitchen, i am going to be SO prepared. 🙂
Thanks for responding, TradMod.
I am looking at plain-front Shaker-style maple cabinets….I just unfortunately am one of those people that has to read everything and ask everyone before I buy!
Yes it’s Park Slope Kitchens-formerly Garfield Kitchens that’s the bad one. They changed their name a couple years ago maybe even to confuse people into hiring them instead of PSKG, because Garfield had a terrible reputation and PSKG has a good one. Because why else would a business name themselves nearly the same as their competitor?
Oops sorry I didn’t see you’d asked a follow-up question, Sogo. I would absolutely choose the Medallion cabinets again but I would have chosen a more plain style and saved some money that way. I was trying to match the historic woodwork throughout the house and now I think that wasn’t all that necessary. A plain front would have been fine. Though the fronts with the moldings I did get look beautiful.
Hi Sogo,
Scherr’s will actually assemble and finish the cabinets for you, but the costs including shipping go up. For us it’s ideal since we don’t mind doing some assembly and finishing since we will save money that way. But either you or your contractor has to be up for that.
The major disadvantage is that there is no showroom nearby to see the product. If you can wait two months or so, you should be able to see our finished product in our kitchen.
Otherwise, there are plenty of decent manufacturers to choose from, but quality cabinets that go through middlemen will just cost more.
I even tried to find local manufacturers, but you are paying for higher labor costs here and these smaller shops simply don’t have the economies of scale to be beat the large manufacturers, at least for more or less standard cabinets.
If you want to compare notes, feel free to contact me at andru3 at gmail dot com.
I think it was Park Slope Kitchens….there is a thread on them closing above.
PSKG seems fine; I am just obsessively wondering if I am getting the most for my money as I am sure I will not be doing this again for along time! Everyone’s opinion is valuable….
Great article, thank you Frudo.
Just put in the same type about 3 years ago. Went with Thomasville Maple. All wood not plywood, with a finished stain (forget the actual color of the stain), plus pull out drawers, lazy Susan, etc. and I paid about $6,000 for all. If you would like to see them I have a picture I could send you.
Also hasn’t there been some real bad experiences at PS Kitchen?
Good luck