I am building a new home and am researching kitchen cabinetry. Is WoodMode cabinetry really worth the high pricetag? Would love some feedback on this.
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You need to take a very close look at the cabinets. You can go to lowes and check out their cabinets. Pull some of the drawers out and take a look at the joinery of the drawers etc. You will see gaps between the dovetails, things here and there, indications of poor workmanship. The doors are pretty thin and have those small tenons cut on a router,which make the process go extremely fast. And take a lot at the grain pattern of the faces.
Custom cabinets are built with mortise and tenon construction in the doors and good looking dovetail joints albeit machine cut. The finish probably will look a lot better and there should be more solid wood, plywood rather than particle board. Should have heavy duty drawer slldes etc. They should look a lot better.
Thanks for the advice. I actually have been looking at different types and grades of cabinets. The Woodmode are by far the best i have seen, but there is a vast difference in price. My kitchen is very large, with large island, desk, and other cabinets. My first estimate was $90,000 for the woodmode. Kitchen Craft estimate was 73,000. My builder, who does beautiful cabinetry gave an estimate of 35,000. I am confused by this vast differential. Would love to hear from people who have Woodmode cabinets to see if they say they are worth this much. They are beautiful, gorgeous finishes, all the best hardware. But not sure they are worth that!!
JESUS, My whole house with property was only $49,000
Answer the following questions, and I may be able to offer some advice. We have been doing a lot of kitchens lately, and have a pretty good feel for pricing, and how upgrades affect price.
Approximate the lineal footage of all cabinets under countertops, the "base" units.
Do the same for those mounted to the walls above the counters.
If your drawings show detail like this, total up all the doors. Do the same for drawers. Report back.
How many tall pantry-type cabs are there? Total of all combined widths?
Species wood for fronts, doors and drawerfronts?
Are all doors and drawerfronts inset to frames, or sitting proud of the fronts?
Identify all the appliances that are cabinet-housed. Examples are built-in fridges such as SubZeros, wall ovens, etc.
Are your figures apples to apples, in other words, are all three figures for the cabinet package only, not the installation?
Okay, hope this is all correct. Mostly lower cabinets due to large island ( and lots of windows ). 337 lineal feet Upper- 15ft
27 doors, 19 drawers, 4 tall pantry - like cabinets Frameless cabinet style
Maple cabinets, plywood boxes
Double sub-zero refrig with cabinet fronts, dishwasher drawers with cabinet fronts 48" range ( no wall ovens )w/o cabinet frontsHope this will give you the information you need to advise me. I appreciate your time and insight!
337 feet of basecabs sounds large. Correction?
A U-shaped kitchen in a 16 x 18 room, with an 8-foot center island, could not have more than 54 feet of basecabs, and that would be a room full of cabs without a dishwasher, range, or refrigerator.
May we please have an idea of species? Select cherry, mahogany, painted poplar, knotty pine, mesquite? What is it?
Go here http://www.scherrs.com and look at all the kitchens you see in their GALLERY section. All are frameless in design, and Scherr's is who we use for all our kitchens.
I'm ready to put pencil to paper, once I have your facts.
Edited 8/26/2006 9:52 am ET by Gene_Davis
ok, i was very tired when i sent that last night. Sorry! It is about 43 ft of lower cabinets. The rest of the info seems pretty close to accurate. Thanks!!
Oh, and the wood being considered is maple. Black, distressed finish on island and refridgerator and stained light wood on other cabs.
Sorry for the thread jack...Gene,I have been doing some research on Scherr's, which is located about 8 hours north of us, and your name keeps popping up on this forum. I hope you don't mind a few questions.What sort of drawing does Scherr's expect when requesting a price quote? Our laptop does not seem to work well with any of the free design programs or the Home Designer Suite software we bought on sale last weekend. However, we are able to use Ikea's software and can obviously doodle on graph paper in Microsoft Paint. For the record, we are not considering Ikea, but their software was recommended.Also, what upgrades would you recommend? I'm happy with melamine carcass' but probably want solid wood for the doors, even though we like the flat panel Shaker style. I am undecided about drawer material and hardware. I do have some woodworking experience as I used to build display cases, but none of them had drawers and very few of them had lower doors so I just don't know a whole lot about that stuff. My wife and I can afford and don't mind paying for nice stuff, but we also want to know what we are getting for the money.Appreciate any input you might have.
I have done several WoodMode kitchens over the years. They were always because a client was trying to outspend a neighbor.
Yes they look nice but I think a good cabinet maker can make you something looking just as nice for less than half the price.
The big boxes are a nice place to see how expensive real poorly made cabinets can be.
I've never found well made hand builts to cost any more than the big box prices for what they advertise as top of the line.
I hope your completion date will allow you to find a cabinetmaker. I have no experience with WoodMode or any other cabinet company. But I have installed numerous high-end cabinets (with a kitchen to-boot) all built by a terrific team of two guys who do an excellent job. The reason they are terrific is because they aren't a company. Just two accomplished cabinetmakers who care about what they build. If your contractor can deliver excellent work for half the price (and you vouch for him) why wouldn't you go with him? (Assuming) He knows your house and personal needs better than any salesman. Good luck. If you want to give me a commission on the 30 Kilodollars you'll save let me know. Good luck.