We’re finishing up a major renovation including a kitchen gut. After pricing solid white oak cabinets w/ a few companies our contractor convinced us to price out the kitchen with a “custom” cabinet maker he had a long standing relationship with. We met, the guy made us a sample door. It was exactly the wood type, color, and style we wanted for 2k less. Fabulous! Cut to the install — the cabinets are not at all the grey/blonde white oak we’d approved. They are orangey/ yellow. We contacted him immediately to say we were unhappy and not accepting them. He agreed to meet with us and after some persuading by our contractor he agreed to make a sample of a different stain to try to achieve the color we wanted on the sample door we’d originally been given.

When we got the sample back (which was much closer to the original color we’d approved) we took it to the house to look at it alongside what had been installed. We noticed pretty quickly that more than color was off on the doors we’d received when comparing them to the sample we’d been given. The sample was solid. Heavy. The doors we had installed were not. We unscrewed the hinges on a door to see if we could look at the inside and low and behold—the doors we received are not solid white oak at all. They are MDF. We were sold and paid for solid white oak cabinets and what we have is orange MDF. The trim on them is also the wrong size to boot.

We’ve told the cabinet maker we’re not paying him a dime more as this is blatant fraud and now are stuck with cabinets we absolutely hate.

Has anyone dealt with something like this before?

Is there any kind of report we can make to someone regarding the fraud?

Is there a world where we can have just cabinet doors/drawers and fascia replaced? Or are we just going to have to live with this? I’m beyond irate and have no idea where to go from here.