Keep in mind that ONLY KraftMaid has the two-coats finished process of their doors/drawer fronts whereas Diamond, Schuler, and other comparable-priced brand only have one-coat finished process. if you go to your dealer or Lowes or Home Depot and feel the smoothness of the doors/drawers' finishes, you will find that KraftMaid has the smoothest feel and a more durable finish than the other comparable competing brands. Also KraftMaid construction and its drawers/doors holds up very well and last longer, and stays good looking longer. I have a Diamond Reflections/Intermediate series with Ply-Ends box construction which weren't cheap and after two years, the quality has started to show its weakness resulting in issues needed to be replaced as such the tall wall cabinet doors starts to bow out, shelves warp down from the weight of the dishwares, drawers are skinny thin the thickness of your pinky finger, especially if you have a pots and pan drawer that's 30 inches or wider, the weight will make the drawer box bow down and become treacheously bouncy as if it's going to break off. The bottom of the drawer boxes on base cabinets of 30 inches and wider do not have a spine the in center under the "floor" of the drawer box to prevent the floorpanel from bowing down, from the weight of the items in it. ONLY KraftMaid has these spines attached from the back to front under the center bottom of the wide drawer boxes for structural integrity. Their drawer runner guides are wider, thicker and much more durable as STANDARD feature. With Diamond, you would have to upgrade to the most expensive Intrigue/Advance series to get that wider and strong drawer runne guides and wood veneered interior boxes. With KraftMaid's the wood veneer interior boxes (only available on APC All Plywood construction) is standard and cost less than Diamond Intrigue/Advanced series. Diamond does have very nice door styles, wood, and color finishes and Diamond is the only leading brand with the most variety of paint color finishes than the other brands. You just have to pick your priorities or poison. If you are concerned about quality finishes and durability, then go with KraftMaid- they are guaranteed to last a very long time as I have seen its true test of time of cabinets as old as 1984 and they haven't aged much at all.

Do NOT use Home Depot or Thomasville. Home Depot forgot my toekick drawers despite being asked if she included them 5 different times. She said they were ordered. When my cabinets came in there were no drawers. I immediately went back to HD and the same designer lied and said my cabinets were too heavy for the drawers- i had pictures ftom the website with my ordered configuration. 2nd problem is Thomasville - they have shipped defective product 4 times now. Their shipper lost 1 shipment for a week and today they never showed up with the 4th attempt to give me usable cabinets. Even with a specialist agent from Thomasville I can't get this resolved. I ordered the cabinets 8 months ago. I could have special ordered cabinets for the same amount of money and had my kitchen back together by now. RUN to anyone else although I've been told Lowe's is even worse.

Legacy is a lower end line...Presidential series is their super beefed up construction option, if I remember correctly. I used to sell Legacy years ago. The contractor works for you...is it in his contract that HE supplies the cabinets?? On one hand, I can understand why some contractors pick certain dealers to work with. They work well with them, trust them to get the order right....etc. Delays can cost a contractor a lot of $$$$. On the other hand, contractors need to find a good, better and best cabinet line options or they are limiting their clients on cabinet choices. You should tell him that at a minimum you want a semi-custom line. Semi-custom lines have better finishes. Legacy is a lower end line with several box construction options (ie Presidential). I wouldn't use that line...unless you are on a budget. But my guess is, presidential and semi-custom wouldn't be that far apart in price. My only other advice is on the espresso finish. It became popular about 10-15 years ago when Starbucks stores remodeled with all espresso finishes....to complement their 'coffee theme'. That style is now hugely dated. Consider another stain. If you want something more timeless, go with a medium brown....not too red or yellow. I've not seen the Legacy charcoal but assuming its a dark gray? or almost black? The gray trend is also starting to slide. But if you love it....go for it. It's your house.

The Kitchen Place, Kraftmaid all plywood Sonata Maple in Canvas Suede. A Kraftmaid rep did come to our home to see the issues and in response stated, "in relation to the cabinet boxes with the thin paint finish the best way to remedy that issue will be to install decoratvie panels and use touch up paint for any areas the panels will not cover." Masco mailed us a can of spray paint which stated on the instuctions that is was only to be applied wearing appropriate protective breathing apperatus in well ventilated area. Difficult as the cabinets were already installed. I will try to post photos of chipped door edges tomorrow for you. www.kitchenreviews.com/cabinets/reviews/kraftmaid/ There are reviews for 2019 here and most express the same problems.