Are you looking for an issue? they may be different, but if the frames are all the same and the doors and drawers are the same, I would be fine with any difference.

I think it's just the light. looks like you are mid construction. Once everything is finished, they'll look fine.

If you are pleased with the finish, the shade of white shouldn't be an issue.

Mine look like that too. I’m not concerned.

Sometimes they are different colors depending on how the light is shining through the window. White reflects the colors that are thrown at it. Now my cabinets look white and gray, but as the sun goes down they may look more green and yellow because of the light outside the window.

I wonder if your hardware is throwing some light. My white walls near the wood crown moulding look peachy. Further down the wall is gray, at least right now. Later today it will be chartreuse.

Lyn - I’m not sure what you mean “Am I looking for an issue”? I spent almost $20k for brand new cabinets and I feel like the seams along the cabinets are an eyesore and I can’t unsee them. Unfortunately the frames are exposed and not just hidden behind cabinets so it is very visible to anyone sitting at our island.

Unfortunately once construction is finished it is too late to change. So if we notice something wrong, I’d rather tell them now before counters and plumbing are in.

I’m not sure why anyone would settle for 2 different color cabinets when they pay that much money?

@kelli_ga - you can noticeably see different colors on the same plane in your kitchen? Or is it different planes/angles? I completely understand that something angled different will reflect light different, and something on the bottom may appear different than the top, but seems strange to me that when it’s all on the same plane they look different…

Yes, I see the difference. I am the kind of person who notices this kind of thing -- truly not everyone is! It is unfortunate that this cabinet design shows so much of the face frame.

Now, having seen it would I seek to get replacements? Probably not if it was going to delay my project.

I have a 2-part sectional couch in which one section was made with a slightly different batch of fabric. I decided to live with it. I see it in certain lights, literally no one else perceives and when it's styled with pillows and throw it's basically unnoticeable. I would think that once counters, backsplash, final lighting, and any accessories are in place, I'm not saying it will disappear but the color difference will not be a bother.

Knowing that color representation on my laptop is unreliable, I do see a difference. The doors look a bit grayish.

In the shadows, mine look like the same color. In uniform light, mine look like the same color. In natural light, they look like multiple colors.

My cabinets are not installed yet, but they will be installed on a side of the room that does not get much natural light.

After dark, if you turn on the lights that you will be using, and if all those lights are the same color temperature, are the cabinets still different colors?

I see it

Yes, I can see the difference. Were it my kitchen, it would drive me nuts -- I am sensitive to minute differences in colors. I recognize that many are not, though -- only you can decide if you can live with that or not.

I definitely see the difference. I don't know if this is relevant, but we are aware that different woods take stain differently...could that be a factor with painted cabinets? I don't know, just asking. I am thinking of how solids and veneers might accept the finish in slightly different ways.

I see two different whites and would insist that it be corrected. Do you have a color sample board by chance to see which is closest to the sample you selected?

Once I hired a painter to finish painting the trim in my lower level - I was ill and couldn't finish the job. He ran out of paint, went out to a different paint store to match the color, and returned to finish. I could immediately see the difference. He could not - and I am sure that he truly couldn't, he wasn't a person that would pretend about it.

The correct color mixed in a different brand was the culprit.

Sometimes the same color in a different sheen will also look different, but that shouldn't be the case in your situation.

Most likely the frames and doors were sprayed/painted at different times, so the "dye lot" wasn't exactly the same and/or sprayed by different people at the shop ... causing a slight variation in the color/finish.

I also see a difference.

And this. It's a bit difficult using a crooked image, but it looks like the doors and drawer heads were built differently. I'd want them all to match, especially when they are seen together.

Which white did you use? It’s very pretty! I’m at that point (cabinet colors) in the new construction process and the way it’s been going I won’t be surprised if I’m faced with the same issue! So many mistakes! It would bug me too so now I’m going to thinking about what I’d do! Keep us posted!

I see the difference and I would not like it.

@Lomo - an Amish man built the cabinets from scratch. He builds them custom and sprays them all in his shop all together. I think your cabinet estimate also depends on location as well as kitchen size. And all of my research says the 30k estimate as average for a middle of the road kitchen seems excessive. Could you cite that estimate?

The fact that the cabinets are partial overlay, could explain the difference in price @Lomo stated. Full overlay, where the frames are covered by the doors and drawers, are more expensive.

As we’ve seen time and time again on this forum, custom doesn’t necessarily mean better quality.

Had you gotten full overlay cabs, the difference in color wouldn’t matter, as you wouldn’t see the disparity. Was full overlay a choice that you just didn’t want to pay for?

Depending on the size of your kitchen, and the number of drawers vs lower doors, even $30,000 could be a low number. Certainly would be where I live.

This is full overlay. Frames not visible.

I actually did not say he sprayed with house paint. I said he matched the color to our trim. He used the proper paint type for cabinets.

They didn’t ask if we wanted full frame or not. It was full frame on all of the design work and renderings. We never okayed not full frame so hence another point of contention!

There is nothing in that image that looks like a low quality coating or inexperienced person spraying it. It looks like a high quality finish done well.

Mismatched coatings on the cases and doors are not acceptable at any price point. I don’t care if the entire kitchen only costs $3,000 and is made out of high quality construction paper… it still has to match.

The most common reason this will happen is a cabinetmaker ordering finished doors and trying to match the cabinet coating to it. That is a massive time savings but can lead to issues like this. There are other reasons that coatings can be mismatched, but it really isn’t your job to figure out the reason the defect occurred.

Bring this to the attention of your cabinetmaker. You are not being too picky, this is a problem and it can be fixed.

They dont match.

My cabinets are done by the Amish and are better quality than anything I could have gotten. Five years in and as beautiful as the day they were installed. And they were almost 1/2 the price of the semi custom cabinet companies. And yes Lomo, I do know quality cabinetry

The do not match, and you’re eyes are correct. I would not be happy.

Yes they are two different colors. No doubt. It would drive me crazy. But it is totally unacceptable that the doors and drawer are not a full overlay. It looks like the frames were built for inset but they used overlay fronts. I would insist that the final product match the drawings, get new door and drawer front that do the job right and then while they are at it, tell them that the new fronts need to match the box color.

So if you can point to your contract, notes, or drawings showing full overlay doors, make them give you the full overlay you should be getting, solve both problems at once!

They didn’t ask if we wanted full frame or not. It was full frame on all of the design work and renderings.

In many areas, mine among them, we say that cabinets are full overlay, partial overlay, or frameless. Some people contend that full overlay doors can be on framed or frameless cabinetry, but that is not the norm used in my area. I would read full frame as "full overlay, face frame cabinetry," but I would ask as that is not a term used in my area.

Full overlay doors and frameless cabinets have some disadvantages that posters on this forum love to ignore. With frameless cabinets you get a small amount of extra space but have to deal with fillers against walls and corners that can significantly reduce available space in small to medium sized kitchens. I also hate trimming them, do you trim to the frame or the door? Neither look right to me. So I don't love frameless cabinets... (it seems like a good time to note that my wife does love frameless cabinets and so we compromised and I built frameless cabinets).

While I don't love frameless, I hate full overlay framed cabinets. You get all the problems with fillers in the corner but none of the extra room. So I wouldn't fight for full overlay unless I was fighting for frameless and I suspect that is not a fight you are likely to win.

Renderings are not shop drawings or specifications, that the cabinet makers didn’t even provide.

I admit, it has been a hot minute since my contracts class... but I am struggling to remember any requirement for shop drawings or specifications created by the merchant/producer.

The documents delivered to the cabinetmaker outline his obligation. That obligation can be modified in the contract but that modification must be notorious. A good rule of thumb is that if you are given a visual representation then your modification should include a visual representation.

This really isn't, and shouldn't be, rocket surgery. If someone hands you a rendering and asks you to produce it, then the end result has to reasonably match that. You can't make something different and expect to get paid because the drawing you were given wasn't up to a standard that you didn't enforce before signing the contract.

And the “Amish” are not some infallible wood gods either. The marketing bs about that mystique uses people that rarely are even Amish.

Obviously not, but that is irrelevant to this discussion.

Yes they seem to be different. In my experience very few cabinet makers so called make their own doors the farm them out and so that could be the issue. As for not building what you wanted that was up to you to make sure what was wanted was understood not just some drawing . I think if you had got full overlay doors then this would not be a big issue. Let us know how you make out .

Are my eyes playing tricks on me? Because I’m having a hard time standing behind this is just a lighting issue….

True about lighting. Also the fact that everyone sees color differently makes issues like this kind of a pain to figure out.

The only way to prove color difference is to use the same process that's used to make color in the first place - you measure it.

Because can't argue with data.

When you can't schlepp items in question to the paint store to get measurements, I recommend hand-held color measurement devices. Favorites are Variable Inc.'sSpectro 1 Pro $299 or a Color Muse $70.

Make sure the settings are D65 Illuminant, 2° Observer. And use the "Compare" feature of the app(s).

The apps for both devices display Delta E which is the industry standard for measuring color difference. The app for the Spectro will document the difference between colors down to a diagram of the spectral curves - the Spectro is a spectrophotometer so it captures more of the color's energy which is how/why the app delivers more information.

There is a difference in the box and cabinet color and since this is a new project the painter should correct this with no questions asked.