Have Shiloh inset, very happy with them.

I can see why they don’t sell Shiloh if they have Plato. Plato is way better, all the way around. Tighter fitting inset, with better fit and finish for everything, and better construction specifications. Easier on installers too. Plato is up there with lower level Great.

Shiloh is good, but not as in a, “wow! that’s good!.“ As in, after viewing obviously great, you go, “OK, that’s OK. Good even.” If you’re coming to them from a lower level cabinet experience, they are going to be a higher level, and you’ll love them. If you’ve experienced great quality like Plain and Fancy, or Woodmode, or Plato, or Omega, you won’t care for the comparison, even if you like the lower cost. Like if you’re the valedictorian of your high school in your town, and you get into Princeton. Only everybody there is too, and now you’re a C-B student compared to that world. Or you go to State U in your hometown, and you stay a A+ star in that world. Your opinion will depend on what world you’re in.

Yes they are a bit more difficult for installers. Big gripe with their inset is the slightly larger gapping for their inset. They do that to make it less of an issue with sticking when people don’t control their humidity. It just doesn’t look right to someone used to traditional tighter gapping standards in inset.

@Celadon Thank you. Your analogy makes perfect sense to me.

And sure, if money wasn't an issue, I wouldn't need to work within a budget, and I wouldn't worry about spending $8k + more for custom finish with Plato - I'd just do it.

I'm definitely not coming from the high-end kitchen spectrum. I've been struggling to find the right balance between cost, reputation, construction quality, options, and finish though for quite some time. I've seen Plain & Fancy in showrooms, and they are definitely beautiful - but they do carry a hefty price that almost definitely puts them out of my budget, and I don't think they have the stain finish my family wants.

For comparison - the last kitchen I did was in my old house, and I went with Shenandoah from Lowes. It was fine for me. My boyfriend wasn't a part of my life back then (15 years ago). I had a maple door with a cognac finish, and a dark granite countertop. Met my boyfriend. Turned out he absolutely hated my kitchen because he doesn't like brown (maple cognac) in a kitchen.

I eventually moved and we're in the house we have now.

The current kitchen in this house is... pretty much a nightmare. I really should have looked closer at the cabinetry when buying the house. It LOOKS (Looked) pretty to me. And when it was just my boyfriend and I, along with 2 cats, the kitchen size seemed tight, with limited countertop space, but doable.

Now, I'm raising a hungry teen, we all have different snacks, and we have 5 cats, 2 rabbits, 2 dogs, and a bearded dragon (which means lots more food stuff to be stored). So current storage is not adequate, and neither is the countertop space.

But worse - is how these cabinets were made in terms of functionality. The shelves in the wall units are not adjustable, and we can't put anything taller than about 7.5" in any of the uppers. There is no soft-close anything, no roll-out shelves. There is very limited base cabinet space, and a useless blind sink corner that is the black hole of stuff shoved in. There are only 4 base cabinets (including the useless sink corner). Of the 4 base cabinets, two do not even have full side walls. The one drawer base unit, if you pull out the drawer "too far", it will literally fall out - no glides. We live in a suburban-to-semi-rural area (like I've found deer sleeping on my patio as well as by my front door, and raccoons crossing my backyard in broad daylight)... which means we also get a lot of field mice that like to slip into our house. We found out that said mice are able to get into the sink base by traveling up the exterior of the pipe. And from there - it's open season, because the sink base does not have full side walls - so they can (do) skip from there right into the next cabinet (which also does not have full sidewalls) and they have a field day if they find any food that is not a can in there. So now I have to store boxed and other non-canned packaged foods either in an upper cabinet (if they even fit in there) or on top of a bench in the kitchen (because at least there, we have five cats that are quite willing to go after any mice they can get). We were told when we bought the house that the cabinets were cherry. Recently found out that the previous owner had these built by someone and then to sell the house, they had them refaced with a thin cherry veneer, which is now bubbling up in some areas. Oh, and boyfriend hates the kitchen color, because well, it's brown (cherry veneer). If it was his pick, we'd be putting in a white tile floor, with white painted cabinetry, a white countertop, with white backsplash and white walls and white ceiling.

So, coming from the kitchen I currently have - I'm thinking almost anything would be an improvement. I'd even happily use Shenandoah / American Woodmark if my family had found a finish or two that we all liked, but we didn't.

But I'm only going to get ONE chance to do this renovation correctly, and it's not even money that I have sitting around - it's a HELOC - so all the more reason to make sure I get this as right as possible from the start, within the budget I can work with.

And that's why I appreciate your (and everyone else who responds) honest answer, with as much detail as anyone is willing to give. (And hey, photos of Shiloh kitchens would be great too).

Thank you - :)

@MDLN Thank you! Do you mind if I ask when you got them? Would you mind sharing any photos? Painted or stained?

Look up photos of the dearly departed @Anglophilia’s kitchen. She had both the framed inset and the full-overlay frameless, I believe, in her kitchen, and she raved about them!

Edit: I saved you the trouble of looking up her kitchen.😉

Anglo’s kitchen reveal

2014, they are painted white and look as good as the day they were installed.

While I like stained cabinets I have walnut HW floors and wanted to lighten up the kitchen.

I felt Shiloh offered the best value. I did not want/need the "best of the best." Have done that with other things that I grew tired of looking at, before they wore out.

Am also very happy with the drawer base cabinets (not roll-out shelves), they store so much and are so easy to access.

Good luck!

@Sammy Thank you! that was extremely helpful :) btw - I love that window by her sink. I wish I could have that. I do need to replace some windows, including over my future sink location. I wonder how wide her window unit was. Mine is 62" and currently has a pair of double-hung windows, including 12" wide of vertical support and molding in the dead center.

I am definitely starting to feel better about this.

I’d guess that window to be about about 52 inches, just by ball parking the cabinet sizes. I’ve also been looking at similar window options—but I need 75” of width, so a garden or projection window that size is looking pricey for my budget. I’m still looking though, ha.

We are in such a similar spot with our remodel! The only stain that my spouse and I agree on is offered by Shiloh, so it's likely the winner for that reason alone. I have never had inset before, but it is in reach with Shiloh and might be more of a stretch in some more luxury brands.

I can't speak to durability, but we just had Shiloh inset installed in our new build. We haven't moved in, but they look fabulous. We chose the harbor stain and repose gray.

Did you get flush inset or beaded?

@helaurin93 FWIW I have heard nothing but outstanding things about Shiloh's customer service and that they will stand behind their product. They hadn't initially been on my radar until multiple people responded to a thread I posted a few months ago, but I'm glad they are now.

@kjb84 Same here - what stain(s) did you find you liked? We liked both the Cotton and Cadet stains. Now, we are trying to decide if we want to use only one or the other throughout the kitchen, or if we want to use Cadet (the gray) on the base cabinets, and Cotton (the white) on the upper cabinets.

@helaurin93 We are looking for a specific kind of green, and the Moss stain is the best we've found by far. We want to use oak, unsure on whether QS or standard. Also trying to decide if we should use it all over, including the island, or whether it should be used on only the island, or some other ratio. We would want to do something to contrast, maybe the Clay or Mineral stains? I am more lost on that one because our floor is your standard medium brown red oak and I don't want to go bananas with oak grain. I love Cadet!! Which wood for the stains? Um Cotton is incredible! I hadn't realized they could do stains like that or Seagull or While Sands... maybe I need to expand my horizons! What are you thinking for countertops? That might inform how much of each color to use.

@kjb84 - sorry I got flush inset, no beading.

Not the best lighting but here’s our flush inset.

@colindbmc Thank you so much for sharing a photo, it is gorgeous! Repose gray and Harbor are stunning together! I'm actually planning on flush inset as well. What door style is this? Looks like what we like.

@colindbmc What are you doing for flooring? New build must be exciting! We are slowly updating our 1987 house, so we are working with what the house gave us, not starting from scratch. That's my dream though, a blank slate. Haha.

@kjb84 thank you! I'm thrilled with how they turned out. This is hartford shaker. I am very impressed with the look of the stain on our harbor cabinets. We wanted black, but with some warmth, which the stain lends. The floor is white oak with a frost craft oil. They are in but not stained yet.

@kjb84 sorry to keep posting - have you seen all the stains in person? I went in thinking I really wanted the white oak QS based on what I saw online; I ended up not liking it in person. You may love it - just throwing it out there if you haven't seen it in person. Clay was really pretty and we almost went with that. Depending on your layout, you could do two colors mixed how mine is if you're not afraid of a bolder contrast. I was nervous but I'm glad I went with my gut. The KD tried to talk me out of it in favor of a standard "island one color, perimeter another" option. I think this is a bit more modern.

@kjb84 we actually just went with a white quartz with very small greyish veining. Its vicostone misterio. We're also using white glossy subway tile for a backslash. We just tend to lean more modern/clean. I really want to see the moss stain! I was searching for the right green paint for ours instead of the black and never found something I liked. I wonder if I'd have liked the moss....I don't want to look tho because that ship is sailed!

ETA - I looked. I LOVE that! Check out white sands or dusty road as a combo. Both were really nice in person. Love that you're doing the green! I actually think you could go with a fun countertop actually. Especially if the second color is more neutral.

@kjb84 Thank you for all your input :) here's which they put those finishes on:

Cotton - alder, quarter sawn white oak, rift cut white oak, rustic alder

Cadet - American poplar, hickory, red oak, quarter sawn white oak, rift cut white oak, walnut

For countertops, I prefer granite. I am thinking of something with white, gray, and possibly black. Attaching some slab photos I took at a nearby granite vendor. Let me know what you think :)

grey lagoon

Silver Cloud

Absolute Forest

@colindbmc Oh my gosh, thanks so much for looking!! I think you're right that white sands or dusty road could work well with the moss stain. We'll try to get into our kitchen designers to see the samples, maybe we'll order one to keep like we did with the moss. Our house is a colonial-type suburban home, and our primary goal with this remodel was to make sure the kitchen looked appropriate to the house. It just can't support a clean, modern look, though I LOVE that look! How fun do you think I could get?? Because we have very little natural light in the kitchen, I want to keep it on the lighter end, not necessarily white or cream, but something that would not darken the room. Thanks for brainstorming with me, I appreciate it!

@helaurin93 do you think that you would stick with the same wood specie for both stains or would you mix it up?? It's going to be such a pretty combination.

@helaurin93 Your counter choices sound fantastic, but I could only see the photo for the last option, Absolute Forest. I wonder if they didn't upload?

@kjb84 If I use both stains, then the wood species would vary (Cotton is only available on one wood, and Cadet is only available on the other wood). I'll try to reload those other granites.

Grey Lagoon

Silver Cloud

@helaurin93 Ooooh, Gray Lagoon is pretty dreamy! :) Let me know what you go with!

@colindbmc I know this is a super old thread, but I’d love your opinion on the Shiloh cabinets. Good or bad, just want honest feedback. Thanks!

We just installed shiloh inset cabinets on polar white.  They are absolutely gorgeous!  Our installed said these are the highest quality cabinets he has ever installed, and he has been in the business for years.  He knew exactly how to tweak the doors so that they aligned.

Janice- do you have any pics of your cabinets? im stuck trhing to decide on wood and color. im thinking white, but dont want a harsh white.

Thank you! they are beautiful- what an amazing kitchen! what kind of wood are your cabinets? and, what did you use fir your backsplash?

really beautiful- thank yiu!

For all of you on this thread that installed Shiloh stained cabinets can you post photos please. I'm looking at white oak with one of the lighter grey stains but still trying to decide. Also looking at partial overlay. Any photos would be appreciated.

I'm looking at white oak with one of the lighter grey stains

@MA Scag - I would not have the beautiful white oak and then put a grey stain on it. You might as well then not spend the money for white oak. The whole point of spending extra on white oak is due to its appearance. Remove the grey stain from your choice. Or, if you really want grey cabinetry, then don't get white oak and instead choose one of the painted grey finishes. See @Sammy's comment above which has a link to @Anglophilia's beautiful Shiloh kitchen with grey painted cabinets.

Love, love, love... I have absolutely no regrets.  The quality of the stained cabinet on our island is top shelf.

My backsplash is tumbled marble. Smaller than subway tile.

Beautiful, Janis!

@Janis Gorski Jones-Duchnicki - great kitchen! Cabinets, counters, backsplash, all beautiful and harmonious. Can you please say what stone your counters are? TIA.

My counters are Dolomite/granite