Home Depot or Lowes for kitchen cabinets...

[wildernesslodgelover]

or neither?

Tell me your stories about a kitchen reno using them. The good, bad and ugly. Do you think you saved money? Is the quality good?

 

[geffric]

we could not aford new cabinets and went with refacing the old.. looks great. we did it about 3 years ago and not had issues, we did put in a new coutertop, sink, facuet, floors and wish we had done new paper on the walls..

of course that assumes you like your kitchen layout..

 

[luvmy3]

We were looking at Thomasville cabinets at HomeDepot and wondering the same thing. I was going to just paint mine but dh said we could just re-do the kitchen. I don't want to spend a fortune like my neighbor did so I was thinking the ones from HD would be good. I'm anxious to see what other's say also.

I have heard that some refacing estimates ae as much as new cabinets.

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

Ahhh, I *wish* we could get away with that! But no, we are changing the footprint of the kitchen. I should have mentioned that, because that may change the responses I get...maybe I need more of a desiner type person?

Thing is, my DH can do it all. He can install the cabinets, move electricity around...is is AWESOME. However the poor dude works 6 days a week (usually) so he doesn't have a lot of time so I am trying to get prices with and without labor.

Thanks for the suggestion, though. That is great you were able to do it!

 

[luvmy3]

This may help you when planning the layout
http://projectplanner.thomasvillecabinetry.com/applicationIndex.cfm?CFID=11040711&CFTOKEN=46680894

 

[HelenePA]

Either of the places will help you design your own kitchen.

 

[Mahnahmahnah]

We have American Woodmark, and there are diffirent grades you can get from inexpensive to expensive. We went with middle of the road ones. But I had DH check out the quality first. They are not the best, but certainly not the worst. You can easily spend $20k on just cabinets alone. They did an awesome job with the plans, I have to say.

My DH is a construction king and he installed them with minimal 'swearing' . If you are looking for contractors to install them, now is a good time, they're hungry, so you should get a good price. At HD they will draw up your plans and tell you the price right off the bat for just the cabinets. But someone from there will have to come to your house to measure and do a layout, they wouldn't trust my DH's measurements , and there is a fee for that.

 

[RitaZ.]

Are you planning on having them do the work? We ordered our KraftMaid cabinets from HD, but they didn't install them. My experience with their professional installation services has been awful. I wouldn't recommend them at all! Hire a separate contractor to do the installation.

 

[Pigeon]

It depends on what you want. We did a DIY kitchen renovation this past summer. What was really important to me was to have plywood boxes, dovetailed drawers and no MDF. I want these cabinets to be high quality that will last a long time, with the possibility of refinishing somewhere way down the road if needed.

I wanted solid maple in a simple, Shaker design. I didn't care about glazes or many of the trendy things.

I got quotes from several places, including the big box stores. The base prices at HD and Lowes are cheap, but when you upgrade to quality construction, they are no cheaper than other places.

I got the best deal and the highest quality from a local place that makes custom cabinets. They are gorgeous. Their kitchen designer (who is also an owner) spent a great deal of time helping us with the design (at no charge) and had some fabulous ideas that make the kitchen more workable without adding a lot of expense.

 

[MELISAZACK]

we just finished our kitchen makeover 2 wks ago. We went with Home depot
amercian woodwork - middle/upper grade - it is nice all wood no press wood which I like - I didn't get my granite there though I found a way better place for that - didn't get my sink or faucet from there either.
Only problem we had with HD is one cabinet the lady put the wrong size
it was too big - so we brought it back showed them our plans showed them her numbers on her plan and then what she ordered - they agreed and took it back ordered me a new one still gave me the 20% off even though the sale was over and didn't charge me the restocking fee.. good customer service there. in the end I was happy with them - I did check lowes prior but didn't care for the folks there they werent helpful at all with me when i was just looking..

 

[speedyoutlaw]

I will NOT buy anything from Lowe's just for the simple reason of them having 1 cashier almost any time of the day with 10 or more peeps in line. Maybe a stupid reason but I did complain to one of their stores once and manager just blew me off. Just bought a new washer at Home Depot yesterday. Cha ching.

 

[Octoberbride03]

When we redid our bath a few years ago we got everything from Home Depot and Lowes. And at the time the cabinets all looked pretty much the same, the only real difference was the names of the design and amybe a color or 2 here or there. And the same companies supplied both stores, so either way there really was very little difference. Even the prices were pretty much the same because most of the Lowes and Home Depots around here are within walking distance of each other. So its real easy for them to price match. The difference was seriously just a few pennies in most cases.

Things may have changed since then, but just read everything in the catalogs and it never hurts to visit a real cabinet design center just to compare.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Is this your "forever" house? If it is, I would hire a contractor and get some cabinets made.

All Home Depot/Lowes are doing are subcontracting out the work anyway.

Which can put you in a bad position if their work is shoddy. I am sure your husband will blow a gasket with that.

Just get quotes and go from there.

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

Yes, MM...it is our "forever house!" I am so excited, and I will tell you, the kitchen is THE most important room to me. LOL, I think my hubby will be blowing a gasket daily with all the renovations he will be doing (we are immediately removing the popcorn ceiling, installing hardwood in the kicthen/family room/all bedrooms, doing baseboards, painting...both bathrooms need to be renovated, but we may only do the master, depending on $$$.) So yeah, he doesn't need added frustration of shoddy work.

speedyoutlaw-Trust me, there are plenty of places that I choose to not give my business to for the same reason. I totally understand where you are coming from!

luvmy3-Thanks for that link!!!

Octoberbride-Yes, i do need to comparison shop, for sure!

melisa-how exciting to be done with it all, huh? I would probably go middle of the road, too. I just can't afford to go all out, as much as I would like to. That is nice to hear you got good customer service at HD.

Pigeon-Yes, I would like some suggestions for designs, and I just don't know the quility of the "designers" at HD and Lowes, plus I guess they charge for that service. I will have to look into that.

Rita-Oooo! Bold lettering! LOL, thanks, I have heard some nightmare stories...and then i hear GOOD stories about both places...it is so confusing!

Thanks Helene!

Mahnah-Really? Minimal swearing???? Hmmm... yeah, I was hoping that I would get some competitive prices on work due to the economy.

Thanks everyone! Keep the ideas and comments coming!

 

[mtdevine615]

Check out a cabinet maker in your area you may be surprised at what kind of deals you can get right now. We had custom cabinets made for the bathroom last year that was only slightly more then what Lowes wanted and much better quality. It's the kitchen this year for us too.

 

[lucas]

This may help you when planning the layout
http://projectplanner.thomasvillecabinetry.com/applicationIndex.cfm?CFID=11040711&CFTOKEN=46680894

Cool!

 

[MELISAZACK]

If you are buying a new faucet for the sink - check out www.faucetdirect.com what a great site - I got my $400+ delta faucet from them for $175 after my 10% coupon I found online and got free shipping.
ordered on Sunday night and had it that Wednesday..
I love the faucet too. but boy did that help me save a ton of money.
some other poster on here mentioned they used it so I took a look.
I am so glad we are done too.. 1 1/2 month of he** we took out walls, ceilings and floor along with everything else and redid all the electric in there as well as upgraded the house electric during this..YIKES it was soo much and I was miserable.. but love the outcome! good luck.

 

[HelenePA]

Make sure you look for coupons as well. If you "move" lowes will send you a 10% off coupon. We moved a lot.

 

[allison443]

We got our kitchen cabinets a few years ago at Home Depot. We bought Kraftmaid cabinets-they are a national brand not exclusive to HD. I am very happy with the quality. We got maple cabinets and we upgraded the interiors to plywood so no mdf.

As far as the refacing that has been suggested. My sister redid her kitchen the same time I did, she went with refacing to save money. She regrets it because her original cabinets were from I think the 60's and they were solid wood, so very sturdy. However, the shelves weren't adustable, she would have preferred to tweak the cabinet sizes a bit, etc. Just another perspective.

Good luck! I was so happy to get my kitchen done!

 

[luvmy3]

Make sure you look for coupons as well. If you "move" lowes will send you a 10% off coupon. We moved a lot.

You can also use competitors coupons, so when you do "move" again, make sure you let HD know too