I'm not knowledgeable about how to post a site, but if you go to Pearlworks or Enkeboll you'll see some examples. These are not cheap, they are expensive. If you were to take a pen knife and scratch in an unobtrusive place, they would show white. Also, the color of the carvings would be a little different than the wood. Whether they are applied resin or applied wood, if you like the piece, $500 is not too much. Also, take a pen magnet and you should be able to find the nail, if they were nailed on (they may not be). Ask if the carvings are resin, and if he sees you are a serious buyer, he should have no problem letting you verify it one way or the other. Just make a list of all the things you need to check out and take it with you. See my post above. The question is not if you should buy it, but you should know what you are getting. Also check out the rosette with the bail. These are generaly not stained and varnished.

Sayde, This project was 90% painted cabinets. It was a combination of beadboard and raised panel doors. The trim throughout the kitchen and bathroom was painted to match the cabinets; like someone said above their paint choices are limited unless you will pay for a steep upgrade to custom paint matching. When beadboard is sprayed, the bottoms of the indents look a little dry. The paint couldn't be done better. I'm sure. The difficulty arose in the matching paint. The formula they provided to match, well, it didn't. So, where the cabinets are built-in with site-made trim, there was a disparity or mismatch in the color. Oh, well. Not their fault. If it were my choice, I would have had everything sprayed on-site, including the trim, so the colors would match. This was a unique job, with a semi-unfitted look and the level of care in matching the house's original trim showed a lot of dedication from the homeowners. We had seven moldings duplicated that were original to the house. I was disappointed in the color match more than the owners were. The one stack of cabinets that was stained, I really did not care for the color or the thinness of the varnish/clearcoat. The color is my hangup, but the varnish being so very thin-looking makes me wonder if they missed a step or something. The hinges that were used have their limitations. I ended up having to trim the doors to get them not to rub. Casey

Hi tinker 2006, I can answer some of your questions, but not all of them. We are in the preliminary stage of planning our kitchen with Crown Point and we haven't made a final committment or paid a deposit yet because we are still waiting for our construction drawings. CP does have a number of in-house designers. Send CP your ideas (the email address is on their website) and they will match you with one of their designers. For the first go-around on the design, you don't have to send them formal plans, just general measurements and ideas. I think that many people who use them also use their own architect or KD. But you don't have to. The CP designer will work with you to make up a plan and will give you an estimate. I've found that they are super helpful and responsive to budget constraints. They respond promptly to emails and phone calls with no attitude (unlike my architect). They will, however, only work with you for a finite amount of time (perhaps two or three goes at the plan maximum) before you committ and pay a deposit. After you've signed a contract, CP will send their designer to your house to do the final measurements for the cabinets, preferably when the kitchen is down to studs for a renovation or at the wallboard stage in new construction. After they take the measurements it takes about eight weeks to get the finished cabinets. You would use your own trusted contractor or local carpenter for the installation.

If you are within driving distance, I suggest taking a ride to see their factory. We took advantage of the CP designer's offer to visit their shop on a Saturday, which was her day off (6 months pregnant) as well as the whole factory. We we stayed at the Common Man Inn, using a discount they honor for customers of Crown Point. The inn is a converted factory built along side a river. Our room was huge, with a fireplace and it seemed liked it had 16ft ceilings Another kitchen shopping task ended up as a great fall weekend trip. Visiting the showroom allowed us to get a lot of great ideas, see the quality and their process up close. Another NH company that was on display at CP was Carlise Wide Plank Flooring. We purchased flooring from Carlisle for our entire home, and they were another great company to work with. I'm not sure if I posted this before, but a month or two after our cabinets were delivered, I received a check in the mail for around $300 from Crown Point. The check was a refund for overpayment. I had no idea I had overpaid but I guess they caught something I missed and sent us the money. To tell you the truth, that was such a small amount next to all the items we were buying and spending money on during our renovations I would have never picked up on that. I was impressed.