First, in the 10 or so places I've lived in over the past 20yrs, whether plywood or solid oak or MDF/particleboard, I've never personally experienced a box that broke or didn't support its shelves. I have seen crappy hinges and poor finishes - I think this is the biggest issue, and the source of most complaints from Gardenweb members.

Second, regulations are only regulations. The EPA can't inspect every item that comes through - they can just spot check random shipments and hope that that fear of being caught keeps the importers in line.

Yes, Fabuwood is Chinese import but now with all of the EPA regs nothing to worry about and quality is just the same.

I know nothing about fabuwood and I do know several people who have Chinese RTA and are happy, but I would run like heck from anyone capable of voicing that sentence. Where were the EPA regs when lumber liquidators was importing flooring with levels of formaldehyde way above what's allowed, for instance?

Makes sense Re: EPA, guess you REALLY never known until story breaks on CNN.. But as for the box, guess box is box and I've heard some good things too about Fabuwood. Decisions....

I'd run from made in China cabinets, counters, flooring etc

Then go with Ikea boxes. At least we know they're not putting in things you don't want. Seems to me, the health of my family is number one and I wouldn't want to chance it with chinese made boxes.

And you are getting real feedback from people who have been looking at these issues for a long long time. Sounds like your mind is made up without our input.

LD, post your layout re: sink/dishwasher placement.

Quick changes which would improve things

Most people prefer drawers in the lower base cabinets to doors as it makes the contents much easier to get to, so would look to replace most of your base cabinets with drawers.

The dishwasher and trash would work much better flipped in position (so the dw is to the left and trash to the right).

Definitely swap trash and DW. And I agree with drawers. I would do drawers on island as well. It'll cost more than regular base cabinets.

I'm having a hard time reading the dimensions.

Do you have a thread asking for layout help? If not, I suggest you start another post.

OP wrote-

Hands down I would prefer to support USA made products. But at a markup of $6k for same layout, don't think anyone has that kind of change to support USA made

---- I agree. at 6k more, that's enough for me to consider other options (not US made). 6k - that could be a nice fancy stove paid for...

Your layout/kitchen looks beautiful by the way!!

People were also putting in the Lumber Liquidator floors for years too and they were more popular than even Fabuwood.

ikea boxes are probably cheaper than Fabuwood boxes and ikea gets extremely high marks. Have you looked at them?

What did she dislike about them? If it was the door styles, you can buy just the boxes from them and get doors elsewhere. There are many companies that will make just doors for ikea cabinets.

You can put Ikea boxes in for next to nothing and get doors from at least three national door makers.

It was the door styles but also limitations in widths of cabinets.

Post your kitchen layout here and we'll help you to work within the Ikea cabinet boxes.

I hope that you don't really have to pay $6k more for American made. There is Barker and Conestoga, for examples, and both offer infinite sizing. Even the semi-custom lines carried at Lowes can be ordered with MDF sides on the cabinets instead of plywood to reduce cost -- and will be just as stable.

I found a local cabinet maker who came in at a lower price point than any except Ikea.

But if you can't truly meet your price point with an American made product, then the better Chinese made boxes will be okay. I would just rather support our nation's manufacturers and workers if I can. It seems like we don't have that many products any more that give us that choice.

I looked into the ikea cabinets/third party doors option but I found it wasn't cost effective. If you are DIYing it, or have an inexpensive but reliable handyman (which is sort of like DIYing it) it can absolutely make sense. Otherwise, too many people involved to point fingers when things inevitably don't fit perfectly. One person who measures and orders, another to make the doors, a third to assemble and install. I like to limit my points of contact to one who is responsible for all of that so if it doesn't fit they are responsible for fixing it (and you have some holdback $ to incentivize them). In the ikea/third party situation the designer, ikea and the door guys have been paid in full before installation even begins. It would be unfair to lay the financial burden of making sure everything works together on the assembler/installer who is only 20% or so of the price anyway.

I am definitely going with all drawers on the lowers and only 4 uppers 2 on each side of the sink window and 2 on each side of the range with a microwave bridge. All uppers with glass doors preferred frosted glass. We have the option to add uppers later or put some open shelves if we need it. Drawers are infinitely easier than cabinets, I simply cannot get down on the floor to search the back of the cabinets. If going with cabinets highly consider having pull out full extension trays in them.

Made in the US is no guarantee. Lots of domestic makers including many of the conglomerates are using Chinese ply and hardware. That said you are guaranteed to get that kind of hardware on the imported cabinets. Yes the box is the box and the least important part of the cabinet. Hardware, frames, doors and finish count far more.

I know the big box store lines get slammed here sometimes, but we went with the American Woodmark line from Home Depot. They are made in the US. We chose a partial overlay in the Ashland line, espresso finished maple. So far, I've been very pleased with them. The customer service from HD was great--we had two cabinets delivered with scratches on the doors--one call to my local store and they had new doors shipped directly to me for free within a week, no questions asked. They were running a pretty good special with a free upgrade to all plywood when we purchased, along with several other freebie cabinets like the trash pullout. The construction seems very solid with four piece dove-tailed drawers and soft close hardware. My granite guy even commented about how square and level the units were (score one for me who installed them!). We spent right at $12,000 for 11 base cabinets (including several large drawer units), 11 wall cabinets (one with glass inserts), 5 bathroom vanities of 36-48 lengths (36" height), a knee drawer for my vanity, and all the crown molding, trim, fillers, toe-kicks, and a 4x8 finished sheet of plywood for my island back. We even got free hardware for the bathroom vanities (I wanted Ikea handles in the kitchen).

The reason I would avoid chinese made cabinets is the chemicals used. I remember Lumber Liquidators flooring, lead paint in toys, the pet food recall, also the baby formula that was tainted (which fortunately, never made it's way to the USA, but the poor chinese babies sickened and a few died from it, as I recall) The chinese cabinets may look great and be well built, but its the chemicals that would be my big concern. Not worth the risk IMO. That's not to say you can't get a bad product in the USA, but there is a bit more oversight and regulation here.

If I can't pick it up and toss it out, I don't buy it if made in China, nothing affixed ever! Same reasons Iam stated.

Before you go with all drawers on your base cabinets, think specifically about what you keep in them. In my case I like having a wide base cabinet with doors, it suits certain things that I want to keep in the kitchen. Otherwise I agree you will appreciate having more drawers.

At my last job, I was setting up a showroom. I had the opportunity to carry any brand of cabinet that I wanted. We needed an entry level line. I had many distributors courting me, bringing samples etc.

So, I had several of the Chinese cabinets sitting around for a while. A few stank so badly right out of the box that they went in the trash immediately. Most of the door samples had poor joinery, poor sanding, and an even worse paint finish. From 3' out they looked average. Closer, or touching them, yech.

Fabuwood was the best of the lot. Damning with faint praise. Their Chinese knockoff Blum hardware wasnt installed with the greatest precision, so it got slightly bound up when you pulled the drawers in and out. The joinery was much improved over their brethren, but when I pulled the "plywood" shelf out that looked so good on the surface, it had skips and voids in the ply internally. Those had been filled in any of the exposed plywood edges of the boxes, but not the shelves. And when I cut it apart, the story was the same.

The fake Blum hardware on the doors was actually pretty good. I had no problems with it over the almost 3 years that I left the sample sitting in my showroom---to sell against

I went with Aristokraft for my entry level line. It was actually cheaper. And made in Indiana. Yes, Chinese hardware on it too, but at least not the fake Gucci purse type. No name fakery attempted. I never sold their plywood version, as it is a completely unnecessary marketing hype upgrade to get a good quality cabinet. The furniture board construction was a fine cabinet for the money at a decent price point.

Realky, if you are looking at Chinese sourced anything because of budget, you need to wait and save more. A kitchen project will quickly get you in over your head on the budget front. Permanently installed cabinets is NOT where you need to save pennies.