We spent $20,000 over the last three years with AJ Madison outfitting our guesthouse and home. All new washer/dryer (Bosch and GE), dishwashers (Bosch and GE), stoves, and refrigerators—the works. The dishwasher in our house never worked right. We had technicians out five times in the first six months before I contacted AJ Madison. I emailed the sales agent I had dealt with for all of the purchases. She referred me to Kellee in the “Client Experience” department. This is the email I got from her: Hello, Thank you for reaching out. We apologize to hear you are having troubles with the unit. While AJ Madison offers a 30 day return window on un-used and un-installed items, the manufacturer provides a full year of coverage. Should the technician deem the unit non-repairable, GE with authorize a direct replacement and organize the exchange. Should you have any additional questions, please give GE a call at Since I purchased AJ Madison’s “White Glove” delivery service and had it installed, this absolved AJ Madison of any responsibility, from their point of view. Lesson learned: don’t bother with their delivery service which was mediocre at best. Better to use someone local that you know and trust. Anyway, AJ Madison’s “30-Day guarantee” is worthless if had your appliance installed. How would someone know the appliance was defective if they had not installed it? I responded that I bought my dishwasher from AJ Madison, and I expected them to replace a defective product they sold, just as when I bought a KitchenAid mixer from Target and it went out two months afterward. I took it back to Target and they replaced it on the spot. The next email I received from AJ Madison informed me that if I continued to have trouble, they would be happy to call on my behalf to schedule service. I can do that. I DID do that, several times. After this, I never heard another word from them. I thought a retailer with the bulk of appliances they sell, that AJ Madison would have the bargaining muscle to take care of their customers; obviously, that’s not the case. Several friends had urged me to use Best Buy, Lowes, or Home Depot, which take back appliances that are defective, but I thought I’d support a lesser-known supplier for better service—my mistake. I’m so sorry I ever dealt with AJ Madison. They don’t stand behind their appliances and they don’t stand behind their word.

Costco was one of the 'big store' places where we got an estimate. Where I live, they use many of the same cabinet manufactures as does Home Depot, the same countertop vendors. The only difference was they required us to pay close to $300 for the kitchen design service as part of putting the cabinet order together that they then applied to the cabinet purchase. Their labor install was a bit more expensive than HD as well. We went with HD Thomasville cabinets, and spent hours with them as they arranged our cabinet purchase to fit our design. The kitchen designer was / is wonderful: she knows the product, she knows the instructions installers need...all at no added cost. We are finding that their product costs (both Costco and HD) are more reasonable, probably due to their bulk. We got great discounts on cabinets and quartz countertop. But, their labor is high, so we are shopping around for our own installers / contractors. Regardless, we had wanted to go with either Costco or HD in case we had installer problems so we could use the parent company to help fix any issues. I sensed HD kept better tabs on that as the Costco rep made a point of telling us that we'd deal directly with the installer at that point. One final benefit with HD: they offered better financing incentives - 12 and 18 month same as cash- nothing near that at Costco. But, to answer your question - two of the private contractors we got estimates from (a total of 4 private contractors, plus Costco and HD), assured us that the quality of cabinetry now available through the big chains is much better quality than a decade ago. We purchased a shaker style as well (Eden), and were warned to make sure the panel was 'reverse hung'...something like that..to prevent the panel from eventually shaking loose and rattling, and that technique was/is used in our doors, a nice thing to learn. Hope this helps. Anna

fwiw...some cheapie hints... Home Depot online can be accessed through EBates, which gives a little rebate for the referral. Go to Ebates first (have to register), then go to HD. Some of the other online kitchen stuff companies are also available through the Ebates internal referral service. I got a $35 refund check from them one month. I wish I had known about Ebates before I spent big bucks on two cast iron sinks and two faucets through HDepot online. Look for online codes and/or holiday discounts from the various vendors. You'd be surprised what are considered "holidays" by the online companies. Mayday might be a 10% off day, that kind of thing. I know that "Black Friday" after Thanksgiving was a good discount day (actually the entire weekend and the Monday afterward) and even April Fool's Day had a discount for some vendors. Often the home web page for a company has today's discount code listed on it. I've sometimes emailed the company on the "contact us" and asked point-blank, "Is there a discount today or in the next week which I need to type in when I buy online?" Often they give me the info. Or they tell me to register for their email newsletter so I can snag the upcoming code for the next "sale." At least that tells me that there is a sale coming up.

Walmart has them. A friend bought one and loves it. I picked up one, but haven't used it yet. I do have a Seal A Meal system, but with no cupboard space I have to get down on my hands and knees and climb into a corner cupboard to get to it. Next year we'll have the kitchen redone and I'll have a pantry. Hopefully will be able to reach stuff. Kathy G in MI