I have looked at Wellborn, Cabico, and Karman. I know what you mean about decoding the literature. I am scoping out cream-colored cabinets on maple with a brown glaze. So far, I like Wellborn the best. Looking at the Cabico sample in the cabinet shop, I thought I would like the Cabico cream finish the best, but, after looking at it in my kitchen, I felt the brush stokes were too regular. I haven't looked at Kraftmaid or Medallion.

I am beginning to realize that the cream colored finish with brown glazing appears to be somewhat tricky. What painted finish are you looking at for your kitchen?

I don't think you can really go by the literature, I think some of it is just "marketing fluff." I do think that it is important to get the catalytic conversion varnish finish. I have looked at custom cabinets as well, but it's harder in the sense that you have to come up with the paint swatch and have a couple goes with the finisher to find the one you like.

I am thinking of going with Wellborn at this point, and using the Cabico "blue" painted finish for the dining room side elevation.

karena_2009,

That is surprising and I would have thought the same thing. I am looking for either a cream or a yellow. Medallion has a yellow that is called Saffron that is pretty nice. Kraftmaid only has cream and I am not thrilled about their straight painted finishes. I haven't seen the Wellborn in person but they have some yellows. I will check them out since you like them and because the quote I got for them was very good. There is also a frameless line called Ward's that will do basically anything I want.

My GC got a good deal on Wellborn, so we went with that in the Divinity finish. I was thinking about yellow, but Wellborn's yellow seemed REALLY yellow to me. I think the color was called honey butter?

maureeninmd - I remember your cabinets! I love them. I did not realize they were Wellborn. What door style is it? Are you happy with them? Their yellow is too yellow for me as well. I guess I want a deeper yellow than that. They seem to have a nice selection of cream finishes.

Odiegirl: I have Medallion cabinets with a creamy white painted finish. The color is "divinity". I didn't realize that Wellborn calls their painted creamy white the same name? I am VERY happy with my Medallion cabinets. I picked them for many reasons, but one of the most important was the look of their painted finished. It does NOT look like plastic like a lot of other brands. I think for the price point you can't beat Medallion! Good luck with your decision.

Barb

I looked at Medallion and got Brookhaven/Woodmode. I thought those two lines had the best painted finishes of all those I saw. At the time, Medallion did not offer a frameless line, but we also thought their framed cabinets wasted less space than the other framed versions we looked at.

I love my Omega vanity painted cream cabinet. I went with Alma with Caramel dry glaze. This company has lots of glaze options. I felt a lot of the glazes looked like a heavy brown stripe around door panels. I wanted a more subtle minimal glaze. THe finish is durable but beautiful.

http://www.omegacab.com/glazes.asp

My cabinets aren't finished yet, I'm still waiting for some side panels (skins?). My GC forgot to order them, and then didn't order enough. (he's not a kitchen guy)

Hopefully I'll be able to posted finished pictures in a few weeks. The trim is now up, but I can't posted new pictures because DH is out of town with the camera.

The cabinets are Wellborn Hanover maple with divinity finish. I'm happy, especially with the doors and the painted finish. I have never had cabinets built after 1950, so I can't compare them to other "modern cabinets". There are 18" cabinets next to the fridge on the other side of the room, and uppers to the left and right of the photo. We chose them mostly for the price - under 9k.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

bbtondo - I am glad you are happy with Medallion. They are definitely still high on my list. Like you, I think they are a good value for the money.

lascatx - That is interesting that framed cabinets can have a range in their level of access. We are coming from half-overlay with stiles always in the way so any upgrade is going to be better. I think Brookhaven is out of my budget but I am glad that Medallion looked good by comparison.

maureeninmd - I really love that cabinet. My quote was around that as well. It was even cheaper than the KM quote I received.

wendyb - I have never seen Omega except in their beautiful brochure. I have not loved most glazes either but those look really nice. Do those glazes let more of the wood grain show through vs. a straight paint? I need to take a look at those. They also offer some great door styles.

odiegirl:

I think Wellborn also has a nice "honey butter" finish. It was used on the HGTV dream home in Sonoma, CA. It is a light yellow finish. I am not fond of the counter top color that was chosen to go with it in the dream home, though, but that's my taste.

I'm going to check out Medaillon cabinets now based on the recommendations above. I did go to an appliance store and I saw some beautiful navy blue painted cabinets with an heirloom-like finish.

I priced out Omega for my kitchen and it was 10K more than the Wellborn price, so it's out of my budget. I'm not sure where Brookhaven/Woodmode would be price-wise relative to Wellborn or Medaillon.

At one point, I looked at Prestige cabinets out of Kansas. I liked their painted doors, colors, and finishes. I think this line is comparable to Kraftmaid. I just wasn't keen on how their boxes looked and the organizational components seemed to be lacking.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: HGTV dream home

Brookhaven is to Woodhaven what Dynasty is to Omega...meaning they're lovely cabinets but less expensive (not totally custom) but both companies are known for their quality finishes. I would price Dynasty and Brookhaven (Woodmode will be comparable or higher than Omega so don't waste your time).

Please, don't even look at Karmen. They're horrible...just horrible. 100% of our Karmen cabinets had serious damage or finish issues which resulted in the return of a 40,000 order to the distributer (and a lot of legal wrangling so we didn't lose the 40 grand). I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy!

Out of these we have discussed I have only seen Medallion. Do you guys think Medallion's construction is that much better than Wellborn's? Wellborn is probably more in line with my budget and Maureen's kitchen looks beautiful to me. I guess I need to get out there and look. Thanks again to everyone for the input.

Well, I looked at Medaillion cabinetry today. One thing that I liked about Medaillion is the fact that you can get descent wood ventilation hoods. I even found one that came with a 900 CFM Vent-a-hood liner already installed. Wellborn also offers ventilation hoods, but the 47 inch hood only had 720 CFMs, which is not enough for the oven I'm planning to buy (La Cornue Fe Albertine).

Right now, it appears that the Medaillion paint finishes including the Hierloom paint finish is 50% off. This is in line with the discounts being offered by Home Depot on their Thomasville line of cabinets. I am evaluating the heirloom doors now (a cream colored door and the black door). From what I can tell their finish seems to be a bit more mat, that is, less shiny than the Wellborn door samples that I looked at.

I think I actually like the Medaillion accessories better. They offer several different glass door options from very contemporary to old world (seeded) glass options. The one dealer near my home actually gave us the contractor's discount so they are actually $2,000 less than the Wellborn quote that I got. I am going to mull it over and give Medaillion some serious thought.

Thanks for the update karena_2009. The 50% discount would certainly help me. Do you know when it expires? I am interested in the vintage finishes (I think). Do you know which construction line you would go with? A quote less than Wellborn sounds like a very good quote.

Hi odiegirl,

The designer said it was only available until April 1st (this Wednesday). I would be going with their Designer Gold Wall and Base cabinets.

Darn! Oh well. Missed that one I guess.

Actually, you didn't. The salesperson was just pressuring me to make a decision (grrhh). I think it actually goes through until May 1st at least in our region. Since I found out that Medallion and Schuler were one in the same company, I have priced out Schuler at Lowe's and the cabinets are much less at Lowes, about $4K.

Both DH and I liked their "saffron" color. It is a beautiful warm yellow. I was pleasantly surprised with our Lowes' sales associate. She disclosed the cost of things all through the process and she ordered samples for us in the Morel Vintage finish, the darker creme finish (the name escapes me right now, and the saffron finish. The company is going to send the samples to our home.

It appears that the full extension glides and plywood construction, and the painted finishes on the displays were of a higher quality that Diamond/Thomasville, which are also the same company. The sales associate indicated that Diamond would be about $3K less than Schuler.

I got a lot of great information and also quotes for the granite installation. I particularly liked one of their vendors, Sensa, whose granite includes Blanco Lebon--about 1/2 the price of some of the local granite shops and contractor prices that we have been quoted. This is looking like a very good option!

I am so happy that you are making a little progress. Saffron is the color I am interested in as well. I can't seem to find a line in that price range with that shade of yellow. Thanks for telling me that you could get samples.

Not all of the Lowe's in my area carry Schuler but I may go track one down. Will you let me know how your quote turns out for you?

Good luck!

It turned out well and it is a viable option for me. I asked for all the bells and whistles including soft close hinges for all the cabinet doors, a wood range hood, two super susans, soft close drawers, full-extension glides, two corner cabinet mullions with seedy glass, a wood enlay above the refrigerator, two corbels, five inch crown molding with a rope insert done in the black finish and black heirloom finish on the peninsula side. I also choose all plywood construction.

All of that for 16,498 without the tax. They have a deal where if you go with them for the installation they credit the tax towards the installation cost. They also throw in the sink base and have 10% off the cabinets as a whole.

I have decided to see if CP can come up with something in that price range. So, yes, I'm finally making some progress.

The only thing is I had to go with their Pacific door to get the finishes I wanted (Morel Vintage). I think this also locks you into having the raised panel door fronts, too, which vary according to the size of the drawer. I'm not 100% thrilled about that. I think their Saffron finish is pretty special, though. It coordinates nicely with the cayenne and paint finishes I think. If I weren't working with my busy oriental rugs, I would seriously consider those finished together. Absolutely gorgeous!

I am glad it went well. What door style did you really want? Are you saying that you cannot get Morel Vintage or Saffron Vintage on a recessed panel door like Sugar Creek?

I really love the Saffron and I also agree with you about the Cayenne. I have had fleeting thoughts about trying to do the island in the Cayenne but I don't think I would actually do it. Maybe the black? I could end up with the Morel or Oyster as well instead of the Saffron.

Thanks for giving me the scoop.

Hi odiegirl,

Sorry I didn't make myself clear! Since I want the full overlay door with the Morel Vintage finish, I had to settle for a raised panel door called "Pacifica." It has an ever so slight arch to the raised panel door. I actually wanted a square raised panel door.

You are limited to certain door styles for the full overlay option. It's kind of confusing because I don't have the specification book. However, once you pick the Pacifica door style it automatically comes with a raised panel door front whose raised panel height insert varies according to the dimensions of the drawer. I'm not sure I'm keen on this option. The deeper the drawer front, the larger the raised panel.

I think you could do the Saffron with a black island quite nicely. Perhaps you could use a bit of cayenne color in an adjoining area or pick up the color in the backsplash?
Yes, Oyster is quite nice as well, but the Saffron is really on the same spectrum, just has a bit more of the raw umber color coming through.

All in all, I think the painted finishes are really gorgeous. I hope I'm making sense now hee...hee...

Sorry I misunderstood. I shouldn't type so late at night.

I know what you mean about the drawers. My "plan" was to have the top drawer done as a slab and the other larger drawers in the 5 piece shaker. KM had that option on some of its door style but not others. I wonder if you have to go with Medallion to get that or maybe you can't get it at all.

You've really got me thinking about the Saffron.