# Lounge > Home and Garden >  Kitchen cabinet recommendations

## G-ZUS

I am looking to get a new kitchen shortly. Does anyone on Beyond do kitchen cabinets or can recommend one they've had good experience with?

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## ExtraSlow

What end of the budget spectrum are you thinking? 
Ikea has some pretty good cabinet options, and cabinets are going to be one of your largest expenses. 

I have no contractor recommendations, unless you want bottom of the barrel cost for rental house or similar.

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## G-ZUS

> What end of the budget spectrum are you thinking? 
> Ikea has some pretty good cabinet options, and cabinets are going to be one of your largest expenses. 
> 
> I have no contractor recommendations, unless you want bottom of the barrel cost for rental house or similar.




Will have a look at Ikea's selections. Always thought they were bottom of the barrel for some reason. Im looking for something on the cheaper end of the spectrum but not bottom of the barrel

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## ExtraSlow

Well, you won't find cabinets cheaper, so in that sense they are bottom of the barrel, but in my opinion they are decent quality if they are installed well. The other items in the kitchen, like backsplash, flooring, appliances and coutertops (if you don't use IKEA counters) will have a big impact on how it all looks in the end.

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## realazy

I've looked into this in the past, Ikea cabinet boxes and hinges/slides are actually good quality. The hardware is actually all blum. If you are okay with their limited sizing which means you may have to use more filler pieces, they are a great option.

There are places online (not sure about locally) where you can order custom doors for ikea boxes to give you a more custom look.

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## speedog

I currently sub to Woodcraft Kitchen Cabinets, I really don't much about their pricing but they can do some quite economical stuff to much higher end as well. Components/hardware can really start to inflate a kitchen's cost - the sky's the limit with that stuff.

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## Lex350

> Will have a look at Ikea's selections. Always thought they were bottom of the barrel for some reason. Im looking for something on the cheaper end of the spectrum but not bottom of the barrel



They aren't very good cabinets. Look at things like the hardware but more specifically the drawer construction....cheap.

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## mr2mike

Cabinet solutions maybe? 
If you go Ikea, get ALL the cabinets at the same time. If one is backordered, there is a chance they never get it and you're stuck with a mis-matched cabinet. Happened to someone I know.

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## bjstare

When we bought our house, it had an Ikea kitchen. It was garbage. The hardware was worn out, drawers and doors were poor quality. The only redeeming quality is the price (granted that obviously counts for a lot). When we redid our kitchen, the cabinets were done mostly by dreamspace interiors and we're very happy. They won't be competitive with Ikea prices though.

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## dj_rice

Happy wife = happy life. Spend a little more and get better quality and it'll pay back in long run

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## ExtraSlow

> Cabinet solutions maybe? 
> If you go Ikea, get ALL the cabinets at the same time. If one is backordered, there is a chance they never get it and you're stuck with a mis-matched cabinet. Happened to someone I know.



If you go ikea, wait for the kitchen event. I believe they do it twice a year. It's worth it.

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## Lex350

I have had clients use these guys quite a bit:

https://www.denca.ca/custom-cabinets...-kitchens.html

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## vengie

Currently using "New Look Cabinets" to do an overhaul of our kitchen.
We are mid-project so I can't speak to the finalized work, but the customer service back and forth has been fantastic so far.

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## triplep

You should get multiple quotes, you will be surprised at the difference in costs. Stay away from Home Depot and Lowes. 

We got quotes from Zen Living and Albert Cabinet Manufacturers (I believe). The guy that did our quote at ACM, was made when I told him his quote was higher then the Zen Living. He said if he knew he was competing with Zen Living, he wouldn't have bothered to give me a quote because there is no way he could have beat their prices. Depending on your time frame, I think Zen offers a 10% discount or something like that if you are willing to wait to get your cabinets made in China and shipped, as opposed to getting them made in house. We did have a bit of issues using Zen, the guys that came to measure, measured everything opposite, and I would say that 70% of our cabinets were remade twice, as we were using existing counter tops and what the designed didn't work, second time was because they messed them up again. All in all it took longer than expected, but for the price I was happy. Also, they ended up running a bead of caulk from the cabinets from the ceiling and a couple months later the cabinets started to drop and ripped apart the ceiling so they had to come in and put on a crown molding piece to cover the separation. They originally wanted me to pay $500 to get this fixed, but after talking to the owner about all the issues we had, they fixed everything for free.

I would use them again if I was looking for cabinets, even with all the issues experienced.

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## speedog

I used to sub to Zen, quality control has become an issue with their product since they moved their manufacturing overseas. Pricewise they are very competitive but knowing what I do I, I look to other cabinet companies in Calgary as there at least 150 of them. Word of warning, stray away from Calgary Custom Cabinetry - the owner there rips both his customers and his subs off.

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## bjstare

> You should get multiple quotes, you will be surprised at the difference in costs. Stay away from Home Depot and Lowes. 
> 
> We got quotes from Zen Living and Albert Cabinet Manufacturers (I believe). The guy that did our quote at ACM, was made when I told him his quote was higher then the Zen Living. He said if he knew he was competing with Zen Living, he wouldn't have bothered to give me a quote because there is no way he could have beat their prices. Depending on your time frame, I think Zen offers a 10% discount or something like that if you are willing to wait to get your cabinets made in China and shipped, as opposed to getting them made in house. We did have a bit of issues using Zen, the guys that came to measure, measured everything opposite, and I would say that 70% of our cabinets were remade twice, as we were using existing counter tops and what the designed didn't work, second time was because they messed them up again. All in all it took longer than expected, but for the price I was happy. Also, they ended up running a bead of caulk from the cabinets from the ceiling and a couple months later the cabinets started to drop and ripped apart the ceiling so they had to come in and put on a crown molding piece to cover the separation. They originally wanted me to pay $500 to get this fixed, but after talking to the owner about all the issues we had, they fixed everything for free.
> 
> I would use them again if I was looking for cabinets, even with all the issues experienced.



Good lord, they must have been cheap. Any single one of the issues you had would be a motivator for me to spend more and get someone else, let alone all of them combined  :crazy nut:

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## speedog

> Good lord, they must have been cheap. Any single one of the issues you had would be a motivator for me to spend more and get someone else, let alone all of them combined



Cabinets just shouldn't drop and certainly any caulking the Zen people should have used shouldn't have ripped apart the ceiling unless it was silicone - silicone will easily tear things apart once it's set up.

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## Lex350

> You should get multiple quotes, you will be surprised at the difference in costs. Stay away from Home Depot and Lowes. 
> 
> We got quotes from Zen Living and Albert Cabinet Manufacturers (I believe). The guy that did our quote at ACM, was made when I told him his quote was higher then the Zen Living. He said if he knew he was competing with Zen Living, he wouldn't have bothered to give me a quote because there is no way he could have beat their prices. Depending on your time frame, I think Zen offers a 10% discount or something like that if you are willing to wait to get your cabinets made in China and shipped, as opposed to getting them made in house. We did have a bit of issues using Zen, the guys that came to measure, measured everything opposite, and I would say that 70% of our cabinets were remade twice, as we were using existing counter tops and what the designed didn't work, second time was because they messed them up again. All in all it took longer than expected, but for the price I was happy. Also, they ended up running a bead of caulk from the cabinets from the ceiling and a couple months later the cabinets started to drop and ripped apart the ceiling so they had to come in and put on a crown molding piece to cover the separation. They originally wanted me to pay $500 to get this fixed, but after talking to the owner about all the issues we had, they fixed everything for free.
> 
> I would use them again if I was looking for cabinets, even with all the issues experienced.




You call that "a bit of issues"? Hell no, not worth the price. They sound incompetent to me.

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## ExtraSlow

> Good lord, they must have been cheap. Any single one of the issues you had would be a motivator for me to spend more and get someone else, let alone all of them combined



I'd hope they were half the price of ikea for all that shitshow. Jesus fucking christ.

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## suntan

> Cabinets just shouldn't drop and certainly any caulking the Zen people should have used shouldn't have ripped apart the ceiling unless it was silicone - silicone will easily tear things apart once it's set up.



The cabinets just wanted to go back to their home country.

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## eblend

I redid my kitchen with Ikea during their kitchen event. I think the quality is really good if you ask me, Bryan Baeumler uses them often on his HGTV show. Mine is about a year old now, no issues at all. Their planning tool online makes it easy to plan the whole thing out and spits out the list of all the parts you will need. 

This was my kitchen when I was all done, the quartz is from Ikea as well and is part of the Kitchen Event

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## G-ZUS

> I redid my kitchen with Ikea during their kitchen event. I think the quality is really good if you ask me, Bryan Baeumler uses them often on his HGTV show. Mine is about a year old now, no issues at all. Their planning tool online makes it easy to plan the whole thing out and spits out the list of all the parts you will need. 
> 
> This was my kitchen when I was all done, the quartz is from Ikea as well and is part of the Kitchen Event



Looks good, what did that cost you if you don't mind me asking? pm me if you want

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## eblend

> Looks good, what did that cost you if you don't mind me asking? pm me if you want



All in $12k, i did all the work myself. Stone was like half of that, this does not include the 20% i got back in ikea giftcards.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, that price includes a new stove, new dishwasher, new microwave and a new induction cooktop, all from Ikea (made my whirlpool).

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## cidley69

In the market for kitchen cabinets. Anyone have recent good experience with cabinet makers other than Ikea?

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## ExtraSlow

Ikea kitchen event? No. I don't know the date

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## G-ZUS

> In the market for kitchen cabinets. Anyone have recent good experience with cabinet makers other than Ikea?




I ended up going with HP woodworks for the cabinets. they are of decent quality and have had no major issues with them. However, when they get your money and install your cabinets, they ignore you

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## msommers

Legacy Kitchens

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## bjstare

> However, when they get your money and install your cabinets, they ignore you



I suspect that's because the job is finished.

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## riander5

I just bought a full ikea kitchen, was about 40% cheaper including countertops than a reasonably priced custom kitchen I had quoted.

Building it and installing over next 2 weeks. Will share pics.

Don't have the budget for full custom, I'm no aspenite. However my kids *do not* drink pop.. so maybe im halfway there

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## ExtraSlow

Ikea kitchen cabinets cannot be beat for value. Unless you go up to full solid wood, dovetail drawers kinda level.

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## bjstare

@ExtraSlow
 my ears were burning.

In case it's helpful for anyone else that comes across this thread, here's a couple pics of what dreamspace did for us (the faces are quartersawn black walnut; 4 years later, and I still regret not using a lighter stain to show more of the wood):





(ignore the poor alignment on the top of the door here, that got fixed before we moved back in)

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## killramos

All that money on cabinets and you kept that range?

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## bjstare

> All that money on cabinets and you kept that range?



Heck yes we did. It might not have red knobs, but it's actually really good - it's a Dacor from the pre-Samsung days. We'd have had to spend a lot of money to get something measurably better, and in a house we're not staying in for the long haul, it just didn't make sense.

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## ExtraSlow

I approve of that cabinetry.

- - - Updated - - -

I also think appliances are the least interesting thing about a kitchen.

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## killramos

I like pretty appliances, and dated ones really turn me off regardless of how well they function.

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## prae

If you're looking for something in between IKEA and Legacy, we had an independent guy do beautiful cabinetry from https://www.ddcontractingltd.com/fine-cabinetry I cant say I'd recommend our installer (work was fine but the process of getting to the end result was a hassle), but the cabinetry was top notch for a very reasonable price. Worth paying them a visit for a discussion.

edit: to clarify, the installer we hired was unaffiliated with D&D, he just sourced the CNC-cut boxes & faces from D&D, and painted them himself.

I've installed ikea cabinetry and would generally agree, the quality is great for the price. I've also installed a fair bit of of https://cabinetsolutions.com/ and would probably choose them over IKEA for the ease of installing pre-assembled boxes.

Cabinet solutions bases with ikea el-cheapo sink & faux-butcher-block top


d&d contracting kitchen




pretty appliances for killy's benefit.


I really like the maple drawer boxes that come with cabinet solutions, a lot more than ikea's melamine-coated particleboard. But ikea's hardware, and general quality-of-construction is great for the price. if you aren't doing the labour yourself, I think the time savings of something like cabinet solutions ends up negating any additional cost versus IKEA.

IKEA cabinetry & melamine countertop in laundry, with a diy backsplash

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## suntan

Need to see if 89coupe says it's builder grade crap.

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## prae

> Need to see if 89coupe says it's builder grade crap.



I am the builder and I can confirm, am crap.

I'll also add, ikea's cleverness with drawers and small space storage is really top notch. For our small 1.5pc ensuite I did one of their floating vanities, and in that laundry cabinet, there are all these clever extra drawers.

You don't get that with cabinet solutions and even our legacy kitchen currently has none of the fancy small-space tricks that ikea employs.

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## msommers

That looks great man. 

Plus that espresso setup  :Love:

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## Rarasaurus

> I just bought a full ikea kitchen, was about 40% cheaper including countertops than a reasonably priced custom kitchen I had quoted.
> 
> Building it and installing over next 2 weeks. Will share pics.
> 
> Don't have the budget for full custom, I'm no aspenite. However my kids *do not* drink pop.. so maybe im halfway there



Are the horror stories of stock and delays now resolved at Ikea?

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## JordanLotoski

I have Marvel starting my Kitchen and Baths in a few weeks...Quality is 10/10
https://marvelcabinetry.com/

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## nismodrifter

+1 for Legacy. A quality product.

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## benyl

I havent had any issues with HP Woodwork. They still answer me. They did some nice custom shit for us that was a bit out of the norm. 9ft door that hides our stick vac. Wish we could have afforded solid Walnut, but this will do. 







Its all CNC. This is not cabinet maker cabinets. For us, they used grass slides. 

They also booked matched where they could.

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## npham

Solid black walnut cabinets are the dream:

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## benyl

> Solid black walnut cabinets are the dream:



Those aren’t solid. Veneered ply wood with a solid edge.

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## msommers

Walnut is beautiful but most walnut types are actually quite soft and prone to dings.

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## bjstare

> Walnut is beautiful but most walnut types are actually quite soft and prone to dings.



Fwiw my kids and dogs have abused the shit out of mine, and they still look the same as when they were installed.

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## cidley69

For anyone looking for a list of Beyond recommended cabinet shops:

D&D Contracting, 4619 6 St NE
Woodcraft, 3651 23 St NE
Legacy kitchens, 2980 Sunridge Way NE
Cabinet solutions, 2980 Sunridge Way NE
Dreamspace, 601 28 St NE
Evolve kitchens, 4220 23 St NE
Yyc cabinets, 666 Goddard Ave NE

Zen, 4216 61 Ave SE
Denca, 555 60 Ave SE
HP woodwork, 1030 34 Ave SE
Marvel cabinet, 271028 Range Rd 11, De Winton

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