We have a small kitchen (15 x 10 with three doors taking space away) with a relatively small budget also. We didn't even look at KraftMaid, but we did look at Schrock (Menard's), Thomasville, Merillat, Ultracraft, Wood Harbor and Brookhaven. Ultimately, we narrowed it down to Schrock and Brookhaven...wasn't impressed with Thomasville and Merillat, the Wood Harbor rep didn't seem to want our money, and Ultracraft was too much (was higher than Brookhaven).

Brookhaven has a disclaimer on their painted wood cabinets, saying that humidity can cause wood to expand and contract, thus causing hairlines to appear where the wood pieces meet. Didn't notice if the other companies said something similar, but even if they didn't, it still could be true for them. Since we haven't bought anything yet, I don't know.

I'm curious to hear from others about paint finish quality as well since we too will be going with a cream color.

Colorado_Mom: OT, but I thought that I would share some pricing info with you. I posted some of this on your thread about custom cabinet makers in Denver (I live near the tech center).

My kitchen is similar in size (mine is 11.5 x 11.5 - but I can cram quite a few cabinets in with the layout I have) and I am looking at stained cabinets, not painted. I got a Diamond quote that I was really happy with, with lots of bells and whistles in the base cabinets. This was for un-glazed maple in the sterling square door with all 5 piece drawer fronts. Total was $9752 + $135 for delivery + tax (my tax rate is 4.1%, so + $405 for me) and also includes toe kick, fillers, and a 'skin' for the peninsula:

Pantries:
36" with rollout shelves
18" base cab (1 drawer, 2 roll out shelves) and an 18" pantry pullout on top (the whole top pulls out as one unit)

Base cabs:
36" 3-drawer with a toekick drawer (have you seen these? pretty cool)
18" trash pullout
27" 3-drawer
24" 1-drawer with 2 rollouts
36" sink base
18" 4-drawer
36" super susan
9" spice pullout

Upper cabs - only 30" high :(
Regular uppers: 42", 12", 9", 36"
1 diagonal corner
30" over the range (12" high)
36" over the fridge (24" deep, 12" high)

We will probably end up going with custom cabinets (we don't have a final quote, but we got a rough one for $10,600 for a similar layout but cherry doors).

I have LOTS of other quotes if you're interested, and I actually have the price of each individual cabinet that I listed above. Unfortunately, I am doing stained rather than painted, and I know painted is more.

I was told by most companies that with a painted cabinet and a frame and panel door hairline cracks at the joints are an inherent risk and almost a likelihood in the future. I did not notice anything too bad in the Wood Mode showrooms I went to but that means nothing. At least Wood Mode writes it down clearly. I think if you ask any cabinet company about that issue with painted finish they will say the same thing. At least that is what I was told.

It is SO annoying that painted costs more than stained. I would never have believed it before I looked at cabinets.

In my kitchen, the hairline fractures of the painted finish on my Wood-Mode cabinets (the finish itself is available on either Brookhaven by Wood-Mode or Wood-Mode) were not just in the joints where the panels come together but also other random places. The panels came that way from Day One.

Knowing what I do now, I'd probably opt for stained instead of painted cabinetry even though I like the painted look better in my particular kitchen.

Our 25 plus year old Wood-Mode cherry cabinets that were stained never had any problems with their finish. That was one reason we went with Wood-Mode brand product again.
But, Wood-Mode cabinets weren't structurally perfect. During our time owning our old Wood-Mode cherry kitchen, we did have to repair it, and one upper cabinet did fall apart to the point that it was unrepairable.

Showrooms aren't a great place to see how good a finish will look in your home because anything flawed in a showroom's display was likely replaced to give a good impression. They are likely to have used their best installers with their best skills and more patience when building the showroom displays. We've been to 6 Wood-Mode and Brookhaven by Wood-Mode showrooms. None of them showed the painted finish cracks that our cabinets show. The Wood-Mode Home Care touch up kits do not fix the hairline cracks, either.

After the kitchen is done, we actually do have more cabinetry needs. We had planned to do Wood-Mode or Brookhaven cabinets for our hallways, entertainment center and two bathrooms, but because of the poor customer service from the manufacturer when we have had complaints, we will be favoring other cabinet companies and we will be favoring stained finishes.

At first, Wood-Mode tried to blame my house for the cracking on the newly installed cabinets. They sent someone out to test the humidity in the house. Our house is reasonably climate controlled. We are in a temperate climate and use our heating and air conditioning in a usual fashion. We don't use humidifiers or swamp coolers. The house is not the problem. Something with their finish is the problem.

Really, these big cabinet companies need to invest in research to figure out a way to make a painted finish that doesn't have so many problems.

If you do buy painted cabinets, carefully inspect all doors and reject all doors and drawers with defects at the door of your house. Don't let them bring it in. Demand immediate replacements even if it slows down the project.

Here is an example of the fissures in my kitchen. This door is at eye level. It is very noticable:

{{!gwi}}

Thanks everyone! Man, I wish I didn't want a white kitchen so much. Pudgybaby - thanks - I went back and looked at your post. I haven't tried Home Clearance Center yet, but we should. Thanks for the pricing too. Actually the Schuler is very close to that - we have every cabinet priced on that quote, and then the paint upcharge was $2500!!! That is without glazing too :(

Plummeriavine - thanks for the great info and pics. How fruastrating especially on a high quality brand - I don't stand a chance. Colorado has low humidity though. After my hubby read all this, he asked if I can live without a white kitchen - boo hoo!

colorado mom - - you know, this whole cracking of paint thing, I just don't get it. I've got painted wood paneling and furniture in so many rooms of my house. None of those painted finishes fracture like the Wood-Mode or Brookhaven paint cracks. They've been painted for years and years.

I had some older wood pieces refinished (not by my general contractor/Wood-Mode dealer) using the Brookhaven - Wood-Mode conversion varnish from the factory. There's not a sign of fracturing on these pieces even at the joints. There might be later, but so far, so good.

I am no expert, but my speculation is that the Brookhaven/Wood-Mode painted finish is so thick with so many coats that it becomes fragile. Maybe friable is the right word. In other spots, however, the finish is so thin, it is virtually transparent - particularly on some of the drawer front edges. Some are fine, others are thin. Inconsistent.

Here are some other ways the finishes have fractured around the kitchen.

On a drawer - this whole unit might be replaced by Wood-Mode. Don't know yet. I'll update if they do replace it - - there are other problems with this unit, too.

{{!gwi}}

And here is a door that arrived with fractures in many places - -these are not at a joint, for example. Again, this might be replaced at some point but it has not been replaced to date and we haven't even been told if this will be replaced. I'll update everyone and the pics if replacements are made:
{{!gwi}}