jeanar -- Might I ask what Amish line she is pushing? I had similar thing happen to me recently.

She never said which. I got the impression they weren't a 'line' per se, but rather a bunch of Amish folks sitting around making cabinets just for her.

Seems a little fishy to me. I considered Brookhaven and thought they were nice, well made cabinets - I didn't go with them because I found something similar for less, but I would hardly describe them as crap.

I have Brookhaven, and they are not crap. They are not even slightly cheezy. They do have laminate interiors while the Woodmode cabinets have finished maple. If you want Amish cabinets, fine -- but if you like the Brookhaven, you should have no reservations about getting them. One of the reasons we went with Brookhaven was that we had never read a single complaint about them on this forum. How rare is that? They seem to ship carefully and have a minimum of problems -- nice to know when you are trying to do an install with a minimum of down time.

Even now -- nearly 2 years after we ordered, I recall one recent comment about some old Brookhaven thermofoil cabinets -- not sure if they even do those any more -- and I think the problems with thermofoil failing have been fairly universal to all brands over time.

She does a lot of very high end work and used Brookhaven in a bunch of million plus condos and said she was very very pleased with their quality. I don't really have Brookhaven in the budget so I haven't committed to it, but each time I've looked at their displays I've been very impressed. Definitely not crap.

good luck,

anita

My KD talked me out of Brookhaven simply by telling me that I'd pay $3k more for Brookhaven than for Wildwood, the other brand she reps.

I'm sure she makes more money from selling Wildwood, but I believe her that it saved me money too.

She didn't knock Brookhaven quality at all, FWIW.

Here is a link that might be useful: WildWood

A friend has had Brookhaven installed for two years and is happy with them. They were our second choice. We went with DeWils mostly because we felt we could work better with their dealer than with the Brookhaven dealer--more a personality issue than a quality issue.

It has been reported on this forum that prices vary widely for Brookhaven among dealers and that hardware stores that carry the line may be the cheapest. The three preliminary quotes I received varied but not by a really huge amount, but then I have a tiny kitchen. Shops that sell BH may be able to get volume discounts and incentives and the like. The KD at the place I used said, "Nobody pays list," so maybe it was true at her place. She felt WoodMode, Brookhaven's custom line, was over-priced so she didn't sell much although she said she would have made more money. WM finishes are even nicer than BH's nice finishes, and we ended up buying a few cabinets in the WM line because we wanted/needed a few cu$tom $ize$.

After nearly three years, we are pleased with our painted Brookhaven cabs. We like BH's more matte painted finish than other lines. Virtually everything was perfect on delivery. I think an after-ordered shelf was a tiny bit crushed, and they replaced it without question. In over three years on this forum, I have seen no BH complaints, esp. no QC complaints. Sadly, I have seen a number of QC finish complaints re Kraftmaid ordered from the Big Box stores. They are eventually resolved, however.

Brookhaven's white melamine interiors make it easier to see in the back of cabinets than our old wood interiors, so I don't mind it a bit. Also, it means I don't have to line the shelves.

With Amish cabinets, would you have face-frame (vs. frameless) cabinets, and does it make any difference to you? Would the finish hold up as well as factory cabinets, or is your family not hard on things? Would Amish cabinets enable you to get totally custom sizes, or is that not much of a factor in your space?

Best wishes,
Donna

We have BH. Love them. We wanted a painted white finish and they offered a great finish that we expect will look good for many years.

jeanar -- How did you go about getting your million other quotes? Am getting nervous about biting the bullet on our cabs and have 48 hours to get other quotes if I really want to. Wondering whether that is even possible.

Go to the Wood-Mode/Brookhaven Web site (http://www.wood-mode.com) and use their dealer locator tool. That's how I found dealers near me for my quotes. Be warned, the locator isn't 100% accurate, but it's a good start.

I had Brookhaven in my previous home for 7-8 years, it was not crap at all. The painted finish held up beautifully. I'm currently having Wood Mode and Brookhaven installed, and again, they are beautiful. There were a few minor flaws, but the company has been extremely quick in replacing things.

Thanks all. I'm back to Brookhaven and comfortable with it. Now I need to get comfortable with the dealer. I play poker with the GM, but their KD leaves a bit to be desired. She's new and young. Enthusiastic, but not a lot of experience and her customer service is already circumspect, with her taking a few days to get back to me with every question. Again, thanks everyone.

Starfish, the best advice I received was from an architect friend who said to have 'no timeline'. Easy enough for me, since we don't have any big events coming up that the house has to be ready for. So our plans were done in early March and I've been visiting cabinet places ever since. But I DO want this done by the end of summer, so I can take advantage of the grilling/outdoor/vacation season while my house is trashed.

Just to chime in, my Brookhavens were installed in Nov 04 and I love them. I have stained Maple, and the maintenance on the cabs is a breeze! Drips & spills wipe off so easily, even those that I don't discover till much later. (My old cabs were white and showed every drip and you had to scrub to clean them, ugh!)

I will second what lascatx said. I've never read a bad review of Brookhaven here. One of the things that drove my cabinet search (like the OP, I got about a million quotes) was that I wanted a lift-up pocket door for my appliance garage (I don't like tambour doors). Brookhaven which I was sure was out of my price range, offered one, so I got a quote just for grins, knowing it would be too high. Lo and behold, it was about 10% higher than Kraftmaid at HD! For that 10% I got what I considered to be much better quality, frameless cabs, better service (going with a kitchen shop whose owner/manager with years of experience did my order and intelligently helped me resolve some problems), and of course, my lift up door.

After reading of many problems here with cabinets, I was thrilled that my entire order came exactly as ordered, no mistakes or missing parts, no damage, no problems at all. I can highly recommend Brookhaven with no qualms at all.

the best advice I received was from an architect friend who said to have 'no timeline'
Yup, that's some darn good advice! Whenever I'm having work done in my house my mantra is, I'm not in any hurry, please take your time and do it right.

I'd already be worried about your relationship with the dealer's KD. The design process is stressful enough without the added angst of a non-responsive KD. If the dealer has others on staff, I'd talk to them, too. Try to find one you can "live" with easily. As I mentioned, I didn't choose Brookhaven because the shop near me gave me a KD who thought she was God's gift to the world--I just couldn't see spending weeks dealing with her.

Also, experience is crucial in a KD. My guy has 25 years in the business, and explained finer points of measurement to me that no one else had spoken about. My cabs aren't installed yet, but I'm guessing that the inch or two of cab width he made me give up in the interest of him being able "to sleep at night" over cabinet fit will also allow ME to sleep at night during the install.

My friends put in Brookhaven about 5 years ago -- in a house that is probably worth about $1.5mil. They still look good and are not by any means crap.