I contracted for kitchen cabinets for 24k from Eleet Cabinets.
I will get right to the point,
Design - A+
Dan did a fantastic job in utilizing all of the available space and putting together a package that was thorough and complete. If the end product was off by an inch total, you could not see it.
Quality - C
What you will not see in the showroom is how the cabinets are built. The boxes are put together with staples and hot glue, not finishing nails and counter sunk screws.
Wood. The only solid wood on the cabinet is the drawer front and door/drawer frame. The rest is plywood. The boxes themselves only use 3/4 inch plywood on end panels like where the cabinets end for a dishwasher or sink cabinet. The rest of the interior walls are less than 1/2 inch plywood.
Finish. Only the exterior wood is finished. The interior is sprayed with clear. The backs of the cabinets, the bottoms of the floors, the tops of the roofs if they have one are all raw plywood. Unfinished.
If you could make these cabinets for less money, in less time, I do not see how.
Installation. - A and C
The end product looked fantastic. No gaps, no obvious seams, trim on the top and bottom, it was completely finished when they left.
However - Their solution to problems, like a wall socket in an inconvenient place, was to dump the problem on you, the homeowner. Then they would hesitate, waiting for an answer knowing full well there were other solutions to see if you would suck it up and save them some hassle. Welcome to Miami.
After telling them I would not have an electrician come out and move a socket on two different occasions, they stopped asking and cut holes in the cabinets like they were paid to do. Their solution to the water line going to my fridge was more entertaining. First they wanted me to have a contractor re-route the line through the ceiling and down the wall to where the fridge would be. After I said no, their second solution was to dig out a channel in the drywall and hide the line, and the hole, behind the cabinets. In the end, they spent 20 minutes cutting up the cabinet to accommodate the water line ... like they were paid to do.
Their method for finding studs was unique too. Drill a series of holes horizontally in the drywall until you hit something solid. A stud finder is less than twenty bucks. Even using some basic math you could measure out 16 inches from the first one you found and reduce your holes by ten-fold. On top of that, they did attach the upper cabinets to studs. The lower cabinets? Nope. Didn't even try.
On another occasion they removed an electrical box and flexible conduit, leaving three feet of bare wire laying on the ground behind a cabinet, then proceeded to put a cabinet in on top of it. What were they thinking I would do with it and how? Not their problem. They were paid to put cabinets in and they just didn't give a damn about building codes or apparently electrical fires. I was glad I was there to stop them until I could remedy the situation. The end product came out fantastic. No way in hell would I trust them to do the work, unsupervised. There would be no telling what horrors would be hidden behind the cabinets.
So either go to work and don't come home until they are finished, and don't take a count of electrical outlets, or hire someone who knows what SHOULD be happening to supervise. Short of being completely ignorant, they are the only two ways you can be completely happy with your purchase.
Permits - F
One of the biggest reasons I was willing to pay a premium price for average quality cabinets was so I would not have to deal with anything. Permits included. One stop shopping was what I wanted for the high price I was paying. Otherwise, I could have bought the same cabinets at Home Depot for several thousand dollars less. When I brought up permits after choosing the cabinets and paying the initial seven thousand dollars to get the project started, Dan said he was not aware I needed a permit for cabinets in Palmetto Bay.
Well, I checked. And you did. For everything from the electrical and plumbing to mechanical for the hood and venting for the oven. Just one more aspect I had to deal with for this job I thought was included in the price.
Conclusion - Welcome to Miami.
No one is going to do a better job designing your room. That part was first rate. I have seen solid cherry cabinets built in quality homes so when I say C at best, trust me, these are not quality cabinets. There is more craftsmanship in the 800 dollar armoire I bought at El Dorado that was made in Mexico by hand than these cabinets. Some poor underpaid worker there went the extra nine yards and finished the inside and back as well as the outside. But these are probably the best you're going to find in Dade County. Short of installing them yourself, you will probably not find a better contractor to install them either. You are just not going to get better here, I am sorry to say. read more
