I have had accounts with Wolf and Wellborn Forest both for a while in 2011 / 2012 I did a kitchen for a person I met from here using Wellborn Forest. He posted pictures of the cabinets after he opened the boxes. Everyone recommended they be boxed up and demand a full refund.. We did not do that as made to order cabinets are not returnable to the factory who made them. The Wellborn Forest Rep at the time came to the project and made a long list of things to replace something on every cabinet be it the box, door, drawer, shelf etc.... The owner ended up doing a nice job putting the kitchen together and I got him the replacement parts..... I had the pattern of something going wrong on every order by damage, missing items on the truck, or they were found when the truck was unloaded at the biggest dealers warehouse in our area. They were nice to me to meet me so I could get my things.... I asked the person I met if that was a common thing. He said it was and had been that way for years. I decided that night to walk away from my $7,000 investment in showroom display and samples... My samples were not machined as well as I thought they should have been as explained below. I learned that dealer who was their biggest account switched to Debut / Legacy since then as the problems must have intensified since I gave up.... I am sure Wellborn has made efforts to improve how they do things. They have a lot of mitered door styles most of my samples in those styles had more then enough space to get a credit card in the joints. I was told if the space was larger then a credit card they would replace it. If not then it was normal. They did not offer to replace any of my samples I paid for that were as large as a credit card in the gap between the cuts.... Companies are funny about their reputations. A lot of the factories I have worked with have the attitude they are perfect and you are the idiot when you complain you can not run a good business with how you are treated. My experience has been they choose to terminate your account and replace you with another dealer instead of looking at how to improve. I did not make a lot of strong complaints to them. I just walked away..... Several other companies I have tried to explain my frustration with the lack of quality and service at times to have the presidents of the suppliers close the account based on my account history not being a large buyer of their products... Truth is if any one else is having the same experience which surely they are the boat is not rocked. Many dealers are scared to stand up to their supplier when things are not right.... Everyone is about the money and deals with the problems instead of trying to improve.... My largest cabinet buyer in 2012 did a wolf painted shaker kitchen with me he never got his final payment on as the owner was not satisfied with the cabinets.... I had Wolf sales rep meet me there to replace the doors and drawer fronts the customer did not like. I also had glass doors I was asked to add to the cabinets after the fact. I ordered glass doors which did not fit. Most product lines that are constrained like wolf is for color and size limitations use a glass door for 15" and 2 of the same for 30" cabinets.... I order 2 15's not realizing they would not fit. I needed to order replacement doors instead that were cut for glass. The first set of doors came broken which we waited a month to get. The 2nd set came another month later which I went to install to realize they were not the correct width for the double door cabinet.... I called Wolf and figured out the problem and ordered another set and waited another month..... 3 months pass by the time the correct glass doors come. When I return the last time to install the correct doors I am informed the paint is pealing around the sink area on the doors and drawers. Many factories will tell you if you have excess moisture in the wood from being sloppy with water and the paint peals there is no warranty for that. They ask for the door that is pealing to be returned and they check it for water stains and moisture content. I had the sales rep come back again and he told me they are spilling to much water on the cabinets and not drying them quickly. He offered to replace the units needing it once. We did so and reminded the owners that water must not be left standing on the doors.... The contractors who did the remodeling job have now become by business partners. I heard a few weeks ago they still have never been paid the final payment on the project and the area around the sink is pealing again... I complained to wolf that it had taken so long to get the glass doors right between me and them that I could not wait another month to replace the pealing items.. The cabinets are in stock, there fore, as a warranty issue, I wanted the items replaced with parts off the in stock cabinets, not replacements to be ordered... They finally agreed to do that. They sent me boxed cabinets to get the parts from. I took the needed parts off the cabinets and installed them in the kitchen. Wolf calls me a week or two later and asks to come pick up the cabinets less the parts I had taken. I told them I discarded the rest of the cabinet I did not use as no one said I needed to keep them and nothing was given to me in writing to give back partial cabinets... They said if I did not pay the full price of the cabinets I discarded I would be taken to collections and my account would be closed. I called my sales person who I blew up at after he felt it was reasonable for me to assume they would want the cabinets back incomplete after not telling me they would. I said the driver should have mentioned that and we could have removed the parts on delivery and they could have been taken back at that time. I should not be expected to know their policies when not stated..... I politely reminded him I had introduced a few other dealers to them who were buying from me and I thought they should buy direct who were doing a lot of business with them. After thinking about that he decided he would be satisfied if my account was closed and I would not be charged..... I would consider the wolf cabinet to be a lesser quality cabinet then Wellborn forest if both are mortise and tenon door styles... Wolf is in stock with less cabinet sizes available and they finishes are very limited as well. To me that makes them lower quality from the point of view that choice is lacking.... Most people on here are fans of Ikea, locally made, or cabinets which are the high end brand names like wood mode and others. You will probably not get much feed back on the names you are asking about..... Companies I use which are similar: I used to offer Brandom cabinets which last year decided to focus on TX and make doing business with them not feasible outside of their surrounding area..... I was trying to use Wellborn to offer nicer looking finishes door styles and literature as a more elegant alternative to my lowest cost brand Brandom... After looking around for about 6 months I decided to go with Waypoint Living Spaces by American Woodmark to replace Brandom and Wellborn. Their finishes are limited and so are the cabinet sizes which I still do not care for....On the plus side, Waypoint gives me excellent service and the cabinets are consistent from order to order so far..... I also use Kabinart which is similar in price to Wellborn Forest but lacks the life time warranty people love to have.... Kabinart has the following strengths that Waypoint currently does not - more cabinet sizes available, they do a better job applying glaze if you like things to be uniform, they will make any finish color Sherwin Williams and the like offers, as well as offering custom cabinets when possible that are not offered in the book.... Marsh Furniture is who I picked up to get me the ultra low price point for those bargain hunters who need cheap and fashion is not the reason for installing cabinets. Marsh allows me to be very close in price to Ikea in all but there Harlig door style which is practically free in price... I have been ordering from Marsh for a few months now and expect to be their biggest dealer in my area shortly... They are far from perfect also. I have had to order some things here and there to replace items shipped that were not correct at all or not made the correct size... I did a kitchen recently where the owner felt like the price of Marsh was a mid grade cabinet based on prices he could find online. I had 15% more profit in his quote then I would a contractor for example. This makes the price look higher then some Chinese cabinets on line for example. If I had given him the repeat price it is no more expensive then any website I have been able to find to date. The customer now that the install is done is looking for perfection when Marsh is my least expensive painted shaker cabinet of the 5 companies I offer.... Point being to some extent you get what you pay for... Our Marsh display is not perfect in the showroom. Not all the drawers and doors line up with each other some doors are a 1/16 or so taller or wider then others. Drawer fronts and not perfectly lined up etc.... We did not take the time to rebuild the display to make it something that it is not.... It is the least expensive one we offer and the result shows to a reasonable extent.... Showplace one of our nicer lines starts out 100% higher in cost but comes with quality that is not like that for the larger price.... Too many people I meet do not want to pay for that and they get something with me or another store that many on here would consider sub standard per say.... So there is some aspect of you get what you pay for and some aspect of various companies may have more of their act together then others as the product flows from Manufacturing to distribution to installation....

bosma- I don't currently have a mid priced frameless only frameless I offer right now is QCCI. I am supposed to be getting one from Mountaineer (current middle). I've investigated 5 brands seriously in the last year and a half looking for an in between inset and a well priced frameless- that is how I took on Mountaineer but still waiting for frameless from them. I had Apple Valley and liked thier better box and the finishes- out of business, also had another slightly pricier brand that is now out of my store. Where I use to work we had Brookhaven/Wood-Mode. Note- I'm pretty demanding as to what I expect "custom" means- a lot more than just sizes. You can get low sheen and some specialty finishes in many semi custom brands. The finishes vary by brand a lot. You can also get custom sizes in many semi's (I won't handle one that does not offer it). Sometimes worth the few bucks to size a couple of cabinets for the sake of proportion and overall function.

As others have noted it depends on what your goals are for this remodel. (1) How long will you be in your current house (the one you're remodeling)? [If a short time 3 years, remodel based on YOUR needs/wants] (2) What is the goal of your remodel? What kind of kitchen are you going for? Take the "The Sweeby Test". (3) How much do you plan to DIY? If at least some DIY, how good are your DIY skills? (4) What is your budget? (5) Look a the Finished Kitchen Blog to see sample kitchens and their various elements. (6) What is important to you? (I know, the best of everything you can afford!) You've already defined your kitchen's feel (Sweeby Test). (7) Now, armed with what you want out of your kitchen, your budget, and ideas from the FKB, list your priorities for you kitchen. Some people really want a granite or soapstone counter and will compromise on cabinets or flooring or appliances. Some want solid wood doors and all-wood door boxes while others want top-of-the-line, the-best-money-can-buy appliances. What are your priorities? To consider: Cabinets: ...Do you want well-built, well-accessorized cabinets or will basic (but still solid) cabinets with only a few accessories be fine? ...What style of door do you want...modern or traditional? ...Also look, at the style of drawer fronts...if you have mostly drawers in your base cabinets then drawer fronts will be a major part of the look of your cabinets in your kitchen. ...What type of doors do you want...wood, wood-veneer, metal, MDF? ...What construction do you want in your cabinet boxes...plywood, particleboard, metal, MDF? ...Do you need/want full-extension drawers and/or pullout shelves? ...Look at drawer & pullout shelf glides...are they plastic or metal? (metal is generally stronger and lasts longer) ...How much DIY do you plan? Some cabinets, like IKEA, come ready to assemble (RTA). Most come assembled. Other elements to consider: Countertop: granite, soapstone, quartz, solid surface, wood, laminate, recycled glass or paper, etc. Flooring: wood, tile, stone, laminate, etc. Backsplash: none, partial (continuation of countertop material), tile/stone, paint, etc. Lighting: recessed, undercabinet, pendants, etc. Appliances: You can spend 5,000 plus dollars on a range or refrigerator or you can spend One thing to keep in mind is that some things will last longer than others. Generally, appliances will need to be replaced long before cabinets and countertops so yes, you might go "light" on the appliances initially or even re-use what you already have. That would leave more of your budget for higher-end cabinets, countertop, and flooring--items that you change much less often. Backsplashes can be delayed. All these things are subjective...based on your needs and wants. You will get many opinions here; read them knowing that everyone is different and everyone (1) has different goals for their kitchen and (2) has different priorities. Filter comments through the lens of your goals/needs/wants. Good luck!

My kitchen got a facelift, using Decora paint-grade doors that were painted by a local firm in their shop. They used conversion varnish. It may look like paint to us, but that stuff is a completely different beast. I would say my finish has a very low sheen. Satin perhaps? It's not flat matte that can look dead and be difficult to clean. Mine has a low-key luster that is very easy to clean (they're white).