Comparison of KraftMaid and Mid-Continent, price and construction

15 years ago

I've tried 4 local cabinet makers. 3 of them didn't return calls after the initial visits and quotes.

KraftM at Lowes: Datkota Birch Square, Prauline finish with raised panel drawer heads.

Galley kitchen with 14' sink run and 8 ft range run.

Bells and whistles: 2 21" drawer bases for pots, 4 pull outs in the tall pantry, 2 roll outs in a base. 1 Micro upper, fridge upper and surround, 2- 9" base pullouts.

Quote: $8K for cabs, $1.5K for installation. 20% more for all plywood construction. That is with the free sink base, and 10% off. If I have them install I pay no taxes on the cabinetry (some weird La law). The only upgrade is plywood ends on the microwave upper. This also includes basic molding and some fillers.

Mid Continent with local cab company:

Same as above, except that the 2 pull out trays are gone, and I'll have wider, 27" pot/pan drawer bases, losing the 9" pantry pull outs which I don't really think I need anyway. All exposed sides are plywood, not just microwave cab. I can always add the Revashelf pullouts later.

Dovetail wood drawers with blumotion soft close are free as a special right now, (but that comes standard on KM.)

Quote: $7,000 and includes installation, but not demo.

The big differences I see are in things like the hanger rails -- 3/8" industrial grade 45# particle board with Mid C for all rails, GLUED AND STAPLED TO BACKS!!! All their backs are 3/8" 45# indust grade particle board. Is this a problem?

KM -- 3/4" solid wood on base rails, 1/2" wood rails for walls. I beam braces and corner blocks are 1/2", dadoed into face frame, end panels and BACK HANGING RAIL -- in other words, not glued and stapled. But, again, is this better or worse or what?????

KM's back is 1/8", engineered wood.

Both have solid wood 3/4" face frames. Hinges seem the same.

I'd definitely go with Mid Continent if it were not for my concern over the glued and staped particle board rails.

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Comments (4)

buddyrose
15 years ago
Wow, I have Kraftmaid Maple Shaker cabs with a Bisque glaze in my Co-op and Mid-continent in my weekend house. About the same amount of doors and my Kraftmaid cost me approx. $9,000. I didn't want any of the pull outs because you lose too much interior space but have all the other bells and whistles you named above.

My Mid Cont. have the Blum soft shut drawers, plywood, dove tail etc. etc. Plus two cabinets, upper and lower corners, have the lazy susans on both shelves.

If I could have gotten the same deal two years ago I wouldn't have spent that money on Kraftmaid simply because of this: For 20 years before I renovated my Co-op I lived with crap cabinets: formica covered particle board. And guess what? I never had a problem. Ever. No warping, no problems with doors or drawers. It was just ugly crap and I wanted Maple. But I learned from that that sometimes we all over-think things and worry about things that don't make that much of a difference.

If I were you I'd ask Mid-Cont. guy about all of their sales on diff. doors and unless you're in love and must have the ones you're talking about, you could even save more money. My Mid-Continent cabs., before the sale, cost $9,963.45. Sale price: $4,858.18. Gotta love that.
swickbb
15 years ago
I just got the Mid Continent cabinets for my bathroom vanities. They are the Rohe Maple, color Wheatfield. They are pretty nice, solid construction doors at least. I don't know if they are made any differently for kitchens. I think the plywood sides are only 1/2" for the ones I got.
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southernstitcher
Original Author
15 years ago
We met with a substitute KD Saturday (our KD was off) and spend lots of time refining stuff and asking questions, and he recommended that we go to a new subdivision where the homes were under constructions to see the cabinets without the counters on them.
Wow. I was sorely disappointed. I would maybe go with these if they had plywood ends, or all plywood construction, but even the KD said if we chose all plywood, he would steer us to another brand like TruWood or Shiloh, that does nothing but all wood cabinets.

These cabinets had the standard sides, not plywood. The sides were covered with paper laminate! Awful! Bubbly, not mooth at all. A disaster waiting to happen.

KM has samples of ther plywood, and particle board in Lowes, and DH said their particle board looked alot better than the Mid C particle board. The Mid C was very flakey, and you could just take your fingernail and flake it out!!! Couldn't do that with the KM particle board. It was very very fine and sturdy looking.
arleneb
15 years ago
SS: This doesn't address your original question, but you mentioned Shiloh in your follow-up . . . thought I'd mention that we just had a large Shiloh kitchen installed . . . the cabinets are beautiful, and the construction is excellent. Everything is perfectly square and they feel very sturdy. We had some odd custom areas and our very excellent KD worked out the details and everything fits beautifully. We haven't moved in yet, so I can't speak to their long-term use, but we're sure pleased at this point!

Comparison of KraftMaid and Mid-Continent, price and construction

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buddyrose

swickbb

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Comparison of KraftMaid and Mid-Continent, price and construction

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