Call your GC. Ask if s/he would be happy with that in his/her home.

Have you asked the manufacturer for replacement cabinets?

They shouldn't come like that. They should be expected to crack a bit as the seasons change because that's what painted wood does; it's part of its charm. But this is pretty bad!

I would not be surprised if you had to sign off on the order that you were aware that painted wood cabinets can do this or some other way they can get out of replacing, but ask for it. This is not okay, even for those of us who appreciate a bit of separation.

You CAN move into your kitchen while the doors are being replaced. Don't let renovation exhaustion keep you from getting this fixed as much as possible. You're almost done!

We’re those stored in a container in the humidity for a while? Is the HVAC on in the house? What brand are those? Local custom? Have they been fully installed? Because there shouldn’t be that out of plane gap between carcasses either. Someone either didn’t build them square, or install them square.

This is why mitered doors in paint are a very bad idea. Stick and cope only.

Mitered joints on cabinets that get a regular work out like kitchen cabinets are best avoided. Hopefully the miters were reinforced in some way during construction. I would expect your cabinetry designer to take you through the pros and cons of mitered doors when you made your selection.

I'd put a little white fill in; they'd nearly disappear.

And the fill would drop out come winter and low humidity conditions, looking far worse.

If they are wood rather than some composite material mitered corners will do that as humidity changes. Wood shrinks much more across the grain than with the grain; when the wood gets narrower a crack opens at the top, when it fattens in higher humidity it can open on the other side. Fighting wood movement is always a losing game; it's better to design around it. Mother Nature _will_ win in the end. Someone should have at least warned you that this is the normal outcome with mitered corners. The ways around it are to not use real wood (use a dimensionally stable or uniformly changing material instead), to just live with it, to avoid mitered corners (my choice), or to maintain rigid environmental humidity control at exactly the level of the cabinet shop where they were made. A flexible filler might sort of hide it, but will introduce its own problems as it bulges and sinks when the wood moves.

So what you're all saying is...these were the worst possible cabinets to choose. Our contractor brought samples but never mentioned any of this to me. I know nothing about construction so it was basically like, pick one you like, the end. I just can't believe we paid extra for these and they look awful before even finishing install. We haven't even moved back in yet. I'm so angry.

"Those most likely weren't stored or handled properly."

If this is the case then the vendor is not responsible. This would be on the GC.

You have to give us more info to work with here. What brand are they? When were they delivered? Where were they stored after delivery? For how long? Is the home climate controlled? Who did the install? What were their qualifications?

They weren’t a great choice, no. But it looks like the severity of the issues here are more site oriented, and originate from the GC. Unless some backyard in a shed guy is who built them.

I honestly don't know what brand they are--I'd have to ask my husband, but I know they came from an established cabinet manufacturer, not a backyard shed guy. The house does not yet have HVAC. They were delivered this past Thursday and sat boxed up until Saturday when they started installation. I frankly don't know the qualifications of the guy doing the work, but he has done the majority of the work on our house and was hired by the fire restoration company who are established and have dozens of locations throughout the country (which of course doesn't mean the person doing the work is infallible, just that we didn't hire some unknowns).

Cbinets, wood floors, etc, all require climate controlled environments. A hackofall is NOT a cabinet installer. Close attention should be paid to the install, with checking with a level going in all 6 directions. And look at the screws thst they used to attach them to the walls, and to each other.

>They were delivered this past Thursday and sat boxed up until Saturday when they started installation.

No excuses at all.

>A hackofall is NOT a cabinet installer.

First of all who uses diagonal jointry for kitchen door fronts today? Should have been vertical. A consumer does not know... This is not acceptable. Is this home job cabinets or chinese bulk door fronts?

Here is vanilla Aristokraft cabinets with a proper vertical joints(MasterBrands same as Diamonds etc - in no way high end in my book, would never pay premium for them)....

Same exact thing happened with my son’s cabinets! Not sure if they were mitered or not, but they came separated at the joints. Had to send them all back!

@NCSandyfeet Did he end up getting the same cabinets, and were the replacements any better? I am in NC too, by the way.

He kept the cabinets. His builder is either getting doors elsewhere or building them himself.
Where in NC are you?

Is that a mitre?

@NCSandyfeet northeastern corner. Camden County. It's hard to find good help around here.

So, mitered doors in cabinets are not really that rare. There is no reason to do a mitered door on a shaker cabinet and since shaker cabinets are so ubiquitous, mitered doors are not that common. However, as you add details to the door a miter becomes more common.

I suspect this is a problem with the construction method of the cabinets that is compounded by the miter.

What did your contractor say? How is he going to fix this?

I just wanted to say I’m sorry you’re going through this. Very frustrating. I hope they do the right thing and replace the door fronts, right and quickly for you.

I’m afraid of what other repairs have been done in your house. This cabinet issue might be the tip of the iceberg.

you need to hire a Public Adjuster...if it’s not too late. And the insurance company using their own restoration company...not the best idea, imo.

you need someone to look out for your best interest because you can bet the insurance company is not.

and why are you living in an RV? Your insurance company should be paying for decent living arrangements.

Update: our restoration job foreman and contractor both act like they are appalled by this. The doors are supposedly going to be replaced and we can move in (in a few weeks when the job is finished) with no doors. Since we will be keeping the bases, the doors are coming from the same manufacturer. Hoping the 2nd set is much better. I feel like I don't have much choice at this point, because our RV rental is until the end of the month--then we have no where to go, so I can't wait on finding a new cabinet manufacturer and waiting for an order to arrive.

@ILoveRed there have definitely been other issues along the way. My husband has left early from work several times a week every week to talk to the contractor. The restoration company is virtually useless. Every party blames the other for issues. We considered a public adjuster right after the fire happened (December 23, 2019) after hearing so many horror stories, but when the insurance company offered to let us find our own restoration company and we couldn't find anyone who serviced us (we live in rural NC), we decided to roll the dice and go with their choice. In retrospect, a P.A. would have taken some burden from us. As for the RV...the insurance company did pay for a rental home for us (which we also had to find on our own--their housing company was also useless) but they wouldn't sign more than a 6 month lease. We fought with them but it was out of our hands (again, perhaps we should have hired a P.A. but we were desperate to get out of my parents' house ASAP). After 6 months, the homeowners decided to sell the house and with only 2-3 months to go, we couldn't find anywhere else to go. We've been in the RV for 6 weeks so far. They didn't even want to pay for more than a month of that, but we finally lost in on them and they agreed. Long story long--this has been the most challenging year of my life, by far. We are mentally spent.

rmcreech I am so sorry you are having to deal with all of this especially during this pandemic. We are in rural N.C. also, but not quite as bad as you as we are 30 min NE of Wake co. Good luck and take care.

Have them order a standard stick and cope door. Not a mitered door.

Six bucks and your nightmare is over:

Item 832410 Model S/25

Mixol - Oxide White Universal Pigment 2 ml at Woodcraft.

It's not going to "fall out". Geesh.

She should not have to do anything. These open corners on delivery are not acceptable.

Have them order a standard stick and cope door. Not a mitered door.

Look at the molding on the drawer front and diagram out the cope and stick for me. Cope and stick is simple and reliable, but it is not the answer to everything. The farther from shaker you get the less ideal cope and stick is.

The problem is that you shouldn't make mitered doors the same way you do cope and stick. One board should equal one frame, preserving the original orientation. Over time you will get some separation in the corners, such as this...

I believe that is the worst joint on this piece and as you can see, over time it has separated. This piece is almost 200 years old though.

I'm glad they are replacing them. If even one comes with any imperfection similar to this you do not accept them and do not let them install. Make them order something completely different. You can move in without cabinet doors! We moved in with no kitchen countertops, sink, plumbing or range and 2 of 3 bathrooms were still unfinished/not usable. We made it work... with 2 kids. Don't let that delay moving in!

BT:

The issue is proportionality. On a remodel this large, there are other problems or there are going to be. If you can turn a several thousand dollar problem into a six-dollar fix, your contractor owes you big time.

It’s not a 6 dollar fix. Everything would need to be repainted by a professional finisher after such a treatment. That would cost more than the $600 RTA cabinets with a 300% markup here. The fill will certainly drop out over time, with normal repeated seasonal movement. Or expose a bigger gap in a different direction come winter when everything shrinks. You can’t stop wood from moving due to its nature to grow and shrink due to moisture content. Moisture plus wood splits marble into blocks in quarries. It will certainly spit out fill.

It's not as important to "fill" as it is to color the line white. Right now the paint is only on the top. When the tint penetrates the gap, it turns the dark line white which fools the eye.

So it doesn't work. You're out six bucks and fifteen minutes. No cabinet repainting necessary. That is an incredibly safe bet which should be taken first.

Cabinets will open up like this, not typical when first out of the box UNLESS THEY WEREN'T STORED PROPERLY. If the cabinets were received and put into the garage or some other area that is not climate controlled, this can happen. Especially in the summer months where heat & humidity are at an all-time high. Even with replacements, anticipate joints opening at some point, more noticable on mitered doorstyles. Keeping thermostat at a consistent temperature helps.

@SHOW FLOORING that seems to be the consensus, and since our HVAC isn't installed yet, it makes sense. I just can't imagine why the cabinets would have been ordered before HVAC was done in that case.

Make sure they haven't put down wood floors either with no HVAC

I’m sorry this happened! Our cabinet guy warned us that with wood fronts there could be some separation over time, but right out of the box like that doesn’t seem right to me. I’m glad they’re at least willing to fix it! Hopefully it doesn’t set you back too far if at all. We are also rebuilding after a fire so I understand that whole stressful situation! ❤️

" I just can't imagine why the cabinets would have been ordered before HVAC was done in that case."

Who is GCing this job, pray tell?

@Joseph Corlett, LLC I hope it doesn't sound like I'm trying to slander anyone, because I'm not. I'm just frustrated with the whole process. Our GC is Jenkins Restorations. There is one guy actually performing most of the work, although a lot has been subcontracted out further, e.g. brick masons, electricians, etc. There is a project manager from Jenkins who does the coordinating and ordering so I would imagine he was responsible for the timeline of deliveries. I'm not sure what the main laborer's affiliation/role is with Jenkins, but he seems very competent and his work thus far has been quality, as far as I can tell. He does work slow, but in his defense, he was apparently told he had a year to do the job, our contract said 8 months, and our insurance company claims they were promised 6 months. IDK where the disconnect is, but here we are stuck in the middle living in an RV.