Kitchen Cabinets!

After endless searching for kitchen cabinets...here are two that we're thinking of.

1)  Fabuwood Wellington Ivory
2)  Ultracraft Alder with Storm Grey Stain

Both are beautiful, but we can only choose one!


We loved the idea of painted cabinets but the more we looked into them, the more I was turned off.  I know there are TONS of painted kitchens out there, but for us (a family of 5 who cooks often and would like to entertain regularly), I didn't think I'd enjoy the kitchen as much if I was constantly worried about or annoyed by the cabinets.

One of the major issues I had (and I know it's not that big a deal) was the potential for there to be cracks (even if they were hairline) in the cabinet doors.  These happen  in all cabinets, from what we are told, but they are most noticeable in painted cabinets (especially mitered ones). 

We also found that the Fabuwood display in the showroom had decorative columns that were a different color than the rest of the cabinetry!  I'm not sure if you can see that in the above pictures.  This obviously did not elevate our confidence in our ability to secure cabinets that looked relatively uniform if we were ordering them for our house.

There were so many choices to make that I can't even begin.  We are getting a sample of the Ultracraft Rockford door (Red Birch instead of Alder) in the Storm Grey, Low Sheen finish.  I'm crossing my fingers that in two weeks when it comes in we love it because I don't know how many more kitchen cabinet shops we can drag the kids through! We decided to look at the Red Birch because on the Janka hardness scale, Alder is a 590 and Red Birch is a 1260 (higher is harder).  It may not mean much because they're just for cabinets, not floors, but the store display of the Alder door looked a little dinged up and with 3 kids every little bit helps!  I'll post a picture when we receive the doors.  I can't wait!


**I should add, I am definitely not an expert in anything I post about in this blog so if you would like to RESPECTFULLY provide your opinion or opposing research I welcome it!  All I can do is share my personal experience and what I've found after countless hours scouring the internet :)