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.

The in-laws just had Kraftmaid installed within the last two months and they seem to be happy with them thus far. They were going to have ***** (a major name) reface them and when the sub-contractor came out to measure he told them they could have brand new cabinets for the same price (I'm sure ***** would be less than thrilled with that kind of sales pitch but it was too good to turn down). We visited them in October and I was impressed with the self-closing feature (brand new thing for me - I've really been out of it in terms of what's new in cabinetry). Of course, most (all?) of the companies have self-closing features but I've noticed that, since being back home and visiting cabinet stores, some don't seem to close/function as well as others (which could be a result of being in showrooms (?)). We had custom cabinets in the last house and the quality was terrible so in comparison, the Kraftmaid seemed well-made. I had Amish-made custom cabinets in the house before that and thought the quality of the Kraftmaid was more in keeping with those cabinets (which were built in the pre-self-closing era but were very well made). Unfortunately, Wellborn Forest is not available in California - at least not according to their website, although Wellborn appears to be available. I've always had the impression Wellborn were well-made cabinets but I don't know anyone who has owned either line. I've been somewhat leery about Schuler because they're owned by the same conglomerate that owns Medallion (Elkay) and when I googled Medallion a few weeks ago this is one of the first 10 entries that came up (and from Gardenweb): "My frustration with Medallion Cabinet Co." I haven't ever looked at Koch cabinets because even though their website indicates they're available in California, they don't list dealer names and require a phone call for more information. I'm weird in this way - but a little thing like that aggravates me. I've actually emailed a handful of cabinet companies for more information on dealers and have never heard back from any of them (apparently the economy is better than I thought). I'm curious about Big Blue. Is it a store like Home Depot or Lowe's?

Made in China? Google Cliqstudios manufacture "Indiana" Warehouse? Sure looks to me made from scratch. Be careful on big box stores. Most of the cabinets for plywood box is a up charge 20%. Make sure the face is a hardwood. I did my masterbath 10 years ago from lowes. They looked great but cheap as hell (Cost was not cheap) Got sucked in with the dove tail drawers also bought two linen cabinets. SHOCKING vinyl contact paper fake wood grain on the outsides of linens. Also when screwing them together the screw went right through, split the inter frame "Pine" Total junk! However they don't sell this brand anymore but something tells me they were exclusively made for lowes? Also google Kraftmade reviews something must be going on over there, More for less?

Kraftmaid replaced a batch of drawer fronts, and we'll see how they hold up over the next couple years. Of course the labor to install them was on me. I have a couple doors by the dishwasher that are now peeling up paint from the bottom. The side panel next to the dishwasher is also looking pretty bad. I really think the painted cabinets and panels would be best if far from the sink, dishwasher, or frequently wet countertop.