RTA cabinets, 6 square, lowes or conestoga

12 years ago

Please, please would love all input. Our kitchen is gutted, it took us 2 months (ok 3 months) but we are 99% complete. I ordered the appliances and cannot decide on cabinets. I was going to order from a company called closeout cabinets but when I went in for the final drawing the sample cabinet display I was going to order (wheaton) was taken down and another put up which looks like garbage. He said he could still order it for me but gave me no explanation as to why it was no longer being displayed. My husband and I are both very handy and are considering RTA cabinets. I am considering 6 square or conestoga. Conestoga are a little more expensive but 6 square comes asssembled. I am also considering Shanadoah from Lowes. I would like cream cabinets, conestoga and shanadoah are available in real wood as the 6 square the center panel in only available in MDF. I am not sure how a MDF center panel on a shaker style cabinet would age. Any info would be appreciated, if I dont decide soon I think my husband will lose it. Any other cream shaker style cabinet info would also be welcomed. Thank You

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Comments (8)

angie_diy
12 years ago
I ordered a "sample cabinet" from Scherr's and was favorably impressed by the quality. (I got the 3/4" plywood upgrade.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Scherr's RTA
remodelfla
12 years ago
I don't know much about 6 square but I do know from all my reasearch that conestoga is very well regarded. And a second vote on scherrs. we used them for our door/drawer fronts.
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My apologies for not being helpful, but I haven't gotten off the dime to place an order. I had some complications as wanted two file cabinets which were different than those normally offered. I wanted one top narrow utility drawer and a bottom file drawer to make them appropriate for night stand use also. This required different modifications as they needed to be free standing as I wanted them to be mobile as well. Conestoga by The Cabinet Joint was willing to custom the modifications, but I was concerned about tipping with the file drawer extended with the cabinet on castors. At this point, I am trying a different tactic and have requested a quote for Kraftmaid 30" wide file cabinets for my familyroom with library shelf wall cabinets to go on top. This is a small open concept patio home so they need to match the KM cabinets in my kitchen. The quote is due any day. If it comes in way too high it's back to the drawing board. KM is also giving me a quote for the bedroom cabinets with a cabinet box to go on corbels to give me a hanging nightstand drawer on either side of the bed. I have roll out storage drawers under the bed which is why the floor in that area needs to be kept clear. I will probably get a cabinet quote from Conestoga for the bedroom cabinets to compare with KM and have a carpenter build floating night stand drawers out of Conestoga components for either side of the bed. If I go the Conestoga route for the bedroom, I'll certainly post on this forum. One thing that makes me anxious is that I need two wall cabinets for the bedroom that will be used to hold nothing but books so need a solidly assembled cabinet with that kind of weight going into it. That is not what I want as my first cabinets to assemble. Sorry for the overly long reply, but I thought it was informative that Conestoga is willing to do minor modifications to their cabinets to assist customers with their needs.
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@emilyam819, did you give yourself about 6 inches from the ceiling like @beachem did? @lam702 - did you demo your whole kitchen before you took these precise measurements? I only have one run where the cabs have to fit in between two walls. Everywhere else I have some wiggle room. But of course this run is my sink wall, the only one I'd like to keep intact as long as possible. I was thinking that I'd order the cabinets so they're about half an inch smaller than the run (based on my measurements with the current cabinets intact), just in case - and if there ends up being a half inch gap, I'd put it next to the blind corner where it won't be seen. (See pic) @Sombreuil, this is EXACTLY what I'm looking for. I'm going to email Jim about it today. THANK YOU! @Sophie, you're so right. I have a few handy men in my life who have installed cabinets before so I'm trusting them with this. I think it also helps that I don't have many (any?) walls that need to be scribed to (and only 1 upper). But there's no doubt that installation needs to be on point for a good-looking kitchen!
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Forgot entirely. Hope this helps. The tallest item is this drawer is the white lemon juice squeezer which is almost 3.5". The face frame opening is 5" and the max height is 3.75. From the quote: Openings=R=15 x 5 S=15 x 5 T=15 x 14.5 Stile/Rails=A=1.5 B=1.5 C=1.5 D=1.5 E=1.5 F=1.5 It all depends on what you need to store! As you can see in the left stack, I have two shallow (5") drawers, and then a deeper one, for vertical storage. The opening of the deeper drawer, is 14 1/2". The cabinet on the right has a 5" top drawer opening, and then two 9.75" openings. Here are those specs: Openings=R=33 x 5 S=33 x 9.75 T=33 x 9.75 Stile/Rails=A=1.5 B=1.5 C=1.5 D=1.5 E=1.5 F=5.5
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chiefneil
12 years ago
I used Scherr's as well for my den. You can go standard or as custom as you want. I also ordered mine unfinished since they didn't have the exact color I wanted, but I've since heard they'll finish to a specific color if you ask.

Here's a photo of how it turned out. They also provided the crown molding, although I bought another piece at home depot to stack.
Kathy F
12 years ago
I've ordered a couple of RTA cabinets for my laundry room from Barker Cabinets. They look to have good quality construction and are pretty customizable. I really like that they are 100% made in USA; Barker is in Portland, Oregon. Dovetail standard, Blum soft close upgrade available. Lifetime warranty.

I got an email a couple of days ago that they were shipped, about 1 week after I ordered. I'll report back after I get them.

Just thought I'd give you another option.

Here is a link that might be useful: Barker RTA Cabinets
leelee5
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you for all the input. Cheifneil your cabinets are gorgeous. I will look into scherrs and Barker. Thanks again
cosanostra
12 years ago
katkatf - How did the cabinets from Barker turn out? My wife and I are considering them for our kitchen cabinets.
liriodendron
12 years ago
If you're up for RTA, have you considered IKEA? They are highly regarded in the RTA genre. They are low in off-gassing (no formaldehyde, meets EU air quality standards) and they have very high quality interior fittings (drawer slides are made by Blum, for instance.) If you like the doors, it's super easy. Even if you want different doors, which many people have ordered from Scherr's, they are still an economical choice. The only downside is they have only a fixed range of cab sizes, though lots of people have changed them up to get what they need. (But then you have to figure a work around for the doors - Scherrs?)

Try going to ikeafans. com. The website is very cludgy and somewhat hard to navigate, but it has a wealth of info and a super-helpful forum to answer questions. It is not an official IKEA site, but just a fan site, so the info is real.

I plan to use IKEA carcases (which are almost absurdly cheap), but different doors, to test out my weirder ideas for kitchen arrangement.

HTH,

L
petra66_gw
12 years ago
I second the idea of going with Ikea. Because of the quality/cost ratio, the excellent hardware and the flexibility of the Ikea system. I recently installed an Ikea kitchen and couldn't be happier with it. I went with a layout that has all-drawers and pull-outs in the bases and that works fantastic.

I'll link to an excellent example of what can be achieved with an Ikea kitchen:
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0801465812705.html?86
and my own kitchen:
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0712493717899.html

I would suggest you try the kitchen planner on the Ikea website to see what is possible in your space. Although Ikea only works with a fixed range of cab sizes, they just might be right for you. When you come up with a plan forum members here and over on the Ikeafans kitchen forum will only be too happy to look it over and suggest improvements and offer encouragement.

HTH, Petra

Here is a link that might be useful: How to use Ikea to get a custom kitchen (high quality)

RTA cabinets, 6 square, lowes or conestoga

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angie_diy

remodelfla

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RTA cabinets, 6 square, lowes or conestoga

Comments (8)

angie_diy

remodelfla

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chiefneil

Kathy F

leelee5Original Author

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leelee5
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