Sale Question (40% off Cabinets)
How is the quality of Lowe's / Home Depot cabinets?
Are Lowes Kitchen cabinets really as bad as some reviews say?
Ok so let me give you some totally unsolicited advice here. I'm in the process of building about 30 total cabinets for my fully remodeled home. I've got a lot to learn still, but here's the BIGGEST thing I've learned so far:
The quality that a homeowner perceives in their cabinets comes about 80% from the quality of the installation and 20% from the quality of the cabinet manufacturing. A really good installer can take Ikea crap and make it look wonderful. He can make it level, square, plumb, true. He can make them pop by making sure that everything lines up nicely and slides smoothly. Give him quality cabinets to install and he will work magic.
Now the problem with Lowe's installation services is that they hire the job out to a third party carpenter. This person might wind up being talented, but they probably will not be. Talented cabinet installers can make a very comfortable living by working directly with cabinet makers.
I don't want to go so far as to knock all carpenter's who would work with Lowe's, because I'm sure that plenty of them are pretty good guys who are just trying to get their start somewhere, so they are taking the "easy job". Like I said before, you might wind up getting a very skilled craftsmen to install your Lowe's cabinets, in which case you will be much happier with those cabinets than if you spent twice as much on custom cabinets from a shop.
The bottom line is that cabinets can be mass-produced at a very high quality in a very cost-efficient manner. Installation is another bear altogether. You get what you pay for, because there are way more people out there who would rather slop cabinets together quickly than take the time to carefully get everything perfect. It's an old school art-form...one of the last few left.
More on reddit.comLowes cabinet installation very high labor rates
Videos
Anyone know how Lowes outsources their labor?
Do they go to multiple bidders?
Is there a known markup on their labor costs Lowes adds?
For instance, we were quoted:
so that's $228.28 for one 8 foot piece of molding, painted x 3 since we need 17' of it, which is crazy expensive, but then they add labor of $720 to install 17' of crown molding!
How much of that is a high bid from the installer, or a huge markup from Lowes?
Many examples of this type of crazy charges.
Question on a sale that I noticed for 40% off cabinets if you spend $20,000 or more.
Is this a pretty common sale price? We are planning a kitchen remodel but not for about 12-18 months. Is it worth trying to take advantage of a sale like this or is it likely we will encounter it again next year?
Thanks for input!
I've never renovated a kitchen before and I need a relatively large renovation done. I have a contractor I may use vs using Lowes / Home Depot's subcontractors; however, how are the cabinets from them quality wise? When I Google for reviews for their brands I see a LOT of complaints but is that just bias bc those are the people who post? Which Lowes / HD brands are good? Is it worth going through them or should I do a local smaller store? I feel like those prices would be higher? I'm clearly new to this and could use some advice.