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Luxury Kitchen Cabinets: What Makes Them Worth It · USA Cabinet Store Remodeling Podcast

• 0:05
  Welcome back to the Remodel Report. I'm Chris
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  and today we're talking about luxury kitchen
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  cabinets. And more specifically, what actually
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  makes them worth the money. Because let's be
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  honest, a lot of cabinets look expensive in photos
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  and then feel very different once you open them.
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  Joining me as always is Jessica. Jessica, where
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  do you even start with a question like that?
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  Hi Chris, I start with this. Luxury kitchen cabinets
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  are defined less by the price tag than by how
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  they're built and how they work every day. We're
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  talking about a box that holds its shape, solid
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  wood dovetail drawers on full extension glides,
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  soft close hinges you can still adjust years
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  from now, and a finish that still looks right
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  after a decade of cooking. The look matters too,
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  of course. But honestly, the look is the easiest
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  part to fake. The easiest part to fake? I like
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  that. So let's go piece by piece. What should
• 1:01
  people look at first? The box. That's the sides,
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  the bottom, the back, and the shelves. And most
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  of a cabinet's life depends on it. In American
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  -framed cabinetry, furniture -grade plywood is
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  the usual choice. It holds screws well. It stays
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  stiff under heavy countertops. And it copes with
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  the occasional leak under a sink better than
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  standard particle board. Now, High -end European
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  frameless cabinets often use a dense engineered
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  board with thick edge banding instead. And when
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  that's done well, it's durable too. So the real
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  difference between budget and luxury is the grade
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  of the material and how the edges and the back
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  are finished. My tip is simple. Ask what the
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  sides, back, and shelves are made of, and how
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  thick they are. Okay, and then the drawers, because
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  that's the part you touch every single day. Exactly.
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  Pull a drawer all the way out. In a luxury cabinet,
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  the drawer box is solid wood with dovetail joints
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  at the corners, or it's a premium metal drawer
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  system. And it rides on full extension undermount
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  glides, so you can reach the very back without
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  bending down and digging around. If you see stapled
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  particle board drawer boxes or side -mounted
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  roller glides, that's the clearest sign the cabinet
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  was built to a price. And hinges? I feel like
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  nobody thinks about hinges until a door starts
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  sagging. Right. Look for concealed hinges with
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  soft clothes built -in and with multi -way adjustment,
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  so the doors can be realigned as the house settles.
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  Name -brand European hardware, like Blum, is
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  common in better cabinetry. And it's worth asking
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  which hinge and glide models are used, because
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  replacement parts matter years from now. What
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  about the doors themselves and the finish? Five
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  -piece doors should have solid wood frames, ideally
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  joined with mortise and tenon construction, around
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  a stable center panel. Slab doors on modern cabinets
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  are usually MDF, which takes a smooth lacquer
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  and gloss or matte better than solid wood does.
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  And here's a trick. Check the finish on the door
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  edges and on the back, not just the front. A
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  luxury finish looks and feels consistent from
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  every angle. Then open the doors and look inside.
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  Better cabinets have a finished interior, edge
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  banded adjustable shelves, and a full back panel.
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  Here's a question I hear a lot. Framed or frameless?
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  Is one of them more luxurious? Not by default.
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  Framed cabinets have a solid wood face frame
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  around the opening. They suit shaker, traditional,
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  and transitional kitchens, and they add rigidity.
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  Frameless, or European -style, cabinets drop
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  the face frame, so the doors cover the box edge
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  -to -edge, and you get wider drawers and more
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  usable space inside. The right choice really
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  follows the style of your kitchen. Okay, so let's
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  say I'm standing in a showroom. Give me the quick
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  version. How do I check quality without a spec
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  sheet? Five minutes, six checks. One, open a
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  drawer to the stop. It should extend fully. Carry
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  a heavy pot without sagging and close itself
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  softly after a gentle push. Two, look at the
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  drawer corners. Interlocking dovetails means
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  solid joinery. Staples or glue -only joints do
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  not. Three, check an exposed side or a shelf
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  edge. You want layered plywood or dense board
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  with clean edge banding. Crumbly edges are a
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  warning. Four, find the hinge adjustment screws.
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  Five, run your hand along a door edge and look
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  at the back of the door. The finish should feel
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  just as smooth there as on the front. And six,
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  ask for the warranty and writing and find out
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  who stands behind it, the store or the manufacturer.
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  I love that. Now the big worry with luxury cabinets
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  is the weight. Custom cabinets can take forever.
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  Is there a middle ground? There is. Custom cabinets
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  are built to order from scratch, which is why
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  lead times can run several months. Semi -custom
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  manufacturers start from a set of standard box
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  sizes, door styles, and finishes, and then let
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  you choose and modify from there. The better
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  semi -custom lines use the same construction
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  methods you'd look for in custom work, so you
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  get a luxury -grade build on a much shorter timeline.
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  A good example is Fabuwood. which USA Cabinet
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  Express carries as an authorized dealer. Walk
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  us through the Fabuwood lines. Sure. Allure is
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  Fabuwood's framed line, with door styles like
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  Galaxy, Luna, Fusion, and Nexus. According to
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  Fabuwood's current specs, Allure uses full overlay
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  doors, with solid wood mortise and tenon frames
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  on the wood frame styles. There's a half -inch
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  veneered plywood box with the side panels dovetailed
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  into a solid wood face frame. 3 quarter inch
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  plywood shelves, and 5 eighths inch solid wood
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  dovetail drawers on Bloom full extension soft
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  close runners. The hinges are Bloom too. Soft
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  close and six way adjustable. One honest note,
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  Fabuwood's spec book says, lazy Susan, easy reach
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  and pie cut cabinets don't have the soft close
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  mechanism. So ask about your corners when you
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  plan the layout. Good to know. And the frameless
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  option? That's Illume. Fabuwood's frameless line
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  for modern kitchens. It comes in the Catalina
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  slab door and the Tuscany shaker door. Catalina
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  has four signature finishes with standard lead
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  times. Bianco gloss, Grigio gloss, Bianco matte
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  and Carbone matte, plus a bigger palette of made
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  -to -order designer colors. The box is engineered
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  furniture board with Fabuwood's three -spine
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  click construction and a white linen finished
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  interior. The drawers run on Bloom's Marivobox
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  metal system with full extension slides and soft
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  close. And both Allure and Illum carry a limited
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  lifetime warranty on qualifying cabinetry, subject
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  to Fabuwood's written terms. So that's the build.
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  Let's talk about what's inside. Which storage
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  features are actually worth paying for? The ones
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  you'll use every day. Full extension drawers
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  are number one because they bring everything
• 7:11
  at the back into view. Then pull -outs and roll
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  -out trays for pots, pans, and pantry items.
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  Corner solutions because corners are usually
• 7:19
  wasted space. Adjustable drawer dividers so your
• 7:23
  utensils and dishware each have a place. And
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  if you love the look, lit display cabinets with
• 7:29
  smoked glass, or an open pantry with LED backlighting,
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  add a real high -end feel. Many of these are
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  available as accessories for semi -custom lines,
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  not just custom ones. And the big one. Are luxury
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  kitchen cabinets worth the money? They usually
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  are if you plan to stay in the home for years,
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  because cabinets get daily use, and they're one
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  of the most expensive parts of a kitchen to replace.
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  Just spend in the right order. Box drawers and
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  hardware first. A premium finish on a weak box
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  won't last. Perfect. Give us the key takeaways.
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  Luxury is mostly construction. Box material,
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  drawer joinery, hardware and finish quality,
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  solid wood dovetail drawers, Full extension soft
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  -close glides and adjustable concealed hinges
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  are the fastest signs of a well -built cabinet.
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  Framed and frameless can both be luxury. Semi
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  -custom lines can give you that build with much
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  shorter lead times and by the storage features
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  you'll actually use. Great stuff. If you want
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  the full guide with the comparison tables and
• 8:31
  the showroom checklist, it's on usacabinetexpress
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  .com. And honestly, the best test is in person.
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  USA Cabinet Express has showrooms in Virginia,
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  Texas, and Missouri where you can open the drawers,
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  check the joinery and compare finishes, and their
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  designers can put together a free 3D design of
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  your kitchen. Thanks for listening to the Remodel
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  Report. Thanks everyone. Go open some drawers.
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  See you next time.