I

If Wood-mode is in your budget I highly recommend it, but for the 90% who can't, with Fabuwood you probably get the best for you buck.

I can't think of any other line who meets that quality level in the same price point.

Mishmo

If you ever have an hour to spare, go to the beginning of this discussion from 8 years ago. i think you would appreciate some of the comments.

Wow. No need to personally attack me. I’m not a professional kitchen designer just a consumer. I’m just sharing my personal experience.

No you and Gigi are taking your personal experiences and extrapolating from them to make judgments that are Incorrect and uninformed at best. Then you are making recommendations that could cost people thousands of dollars and have them purchase cabinetry with the same problems.

I have sold dozens of cabinet brands from the least expensive to the most expensive. I have seen the samples in all these lines age over time and our displays age. ALL painted cabinets have the same problems pretty much equally. It’s one reason I have stained cabinets in my own kitchen in an almost natural maple finish. It will show very little wear over a lifetime.

However, as it was said above 80% of consumers buy painted cabinets today. They should expect the same chipping, scratching, expansion cracks, and water damage in EVERY painted cabinet brand they buy.

The good news is that a whole industry of furniture refinishers has grown that touches up painted cabinets professionally. These companies like Guardsman will touch up an entire kitchen often for only about $500.

Mishmo,

Sorry you got scolded- I know the feeling!

Wow....@mishmo thank you for your bravery of sharing your experience. You obviously need that to be able to share on Houzz. Your experience as a consumer was personally helpful to me. What stain did you go with on the other Fabuwood cabinets?

Thanks for starting this thread @gigi.

It seems one is taking a huge risk with painted cabinets which is awful when you are spending thousands of dollars on cabinets. I painted my own maple cabinets years ago using a specialized paint from Benjamin Moore and they have held up. No chipping, warping etc. Not sure why cabinets manufacturers aren't ensuring the type of painted finish they use isn't more durable. It's a disappointing reality to me.

All anyone can do is speak to their own experience. I never said I was a kitchen design professional. I’m a consumer that didn’t have an ideal experience with a product. I am not discounting the fact that stained cabinets hold up better than painted. That being said, when the painted cabinets come straight from the factory with defects in the finish, that is lack of quality control, in my opinion. The stain I have on my island is Cobblestone. The island is holding up well. All things considered, I’m happy with the overall look. I’m just disappointed in the durability of the paint finish on the other cabinets.

I believe there's a need for more awareness to clients prior of buying about the paint issue, sales staff don't like it because they to make the sale but it's wrong.

I urge my clients to do stains and even acrylic doors which aren't real wood, those who insist on paint I give them options from top of the line to low budget but regardless I make them well aware how fragile paint on wood cabinets is, as long it's paint on real wood the splits are unavoidable!

specifically if they have kids at home I do my best to discourage them from paint.

I explain to my customers as well how painted cabinets will react. I have had customers with Fabuwood painted cabinets for years with no problem and I have gone into kitchens that are 10 years old and from custom brands and they look like garbage. It's all on how you live in the space. I usually ask folks what their door moldings and baseboard trims look like and even the doors. I get mixed answers. Those that tell me they are all beat up and they have to paint them or touch them up every year, I will steer them clear of painted cabinets.

I let my customers do their own research as well and then tell me what they want to do.

Cabinet Manufacturer's paint is in fact MUCH more durable than the paint someone would paint over their cabinets with. However, as Debbi says different people are harder on cabinet finishers to an amazing degree. For example, I break everything I touch, and our home needs to be painted every few years even though we are empty nesters- because we are so hard on things. On the other hand, I've had customers with small children that had painted cabinets for decades without a scratch. As I mentioned, if you do choose painted cabinets, there are refinishers that can fix scratches and chips relatively cheaply. The important thing is to understand what the properties are of the things you are buying and not to be spending more to get something that isn't more durable. Or convincing others to not buy this brand or that brand based on faulty assumptions. The expensive cabinet brands that we sell have an infinite number of finishes. And their stains are as beautiful as fine furniture makers. They also offer unlimited customization. This is why they are more expensive. Not because their paints are more durable.

Ok- I must be crazy, because I just read through ever one of the posts on this 8 yr old thread, lol.

I came to the forums to read up on thoughts about Fabuwood, as Im making some choices now.

Im totally just joe average consumer... but it seems to me, some (many?) of the self described complaints on the product were either due to specific American made only support or installation/dealer issues.

Im actually much more comfortable talking with our local designer, dealer after reading all of this.

I am curious if Saracino Industries Inc. Stone Sales is still around and would give thoughts about the now 8 yr old cabinets

Hi Patti,

So courageous of you to read 8 years of the Fabuwood thread!

i went with Executive cabinetry 8 years ago- painted white, and outside of the few dings i made myself, they have held up wonderfully. i cannot attest to Fabuwood, but there are so many ”experts” on this thread that are more than happy to school you on their merits. While I find Houzz to be very helpful, I didn’t rely on it to make my final decision, since many of the comments were from contractors that sell Fabuwood. i did some deep research online, which led me away from Fabuwood and to a different line. Best of luck!

I just purchased Fabuwood Cabinets imperio dove in my home and i am very diappointed with the quality. lots if cracks , i have one cabinet warped , and if anything by accidents glides against the cabitnet it will chip it . very unhappy and little response from my dealer

Can you please let me know which cabinets you ultimately went with? i am also ready to order cabinets and I want to make sure I am ordering the right ones.

My husband and i bought a set od kitchen cabimets 6 months ago and we are still having issues with getting defective doors replaced. Between the showroom and the manufacturer, they both have discusting customer service. We bought stained wood doors. The wood is very soft and one door hinge is already loose due the the wood being stripped. We had to wait another 6 weeks for a partial reorder after problems with the inital order arrived. Now the new reordered cabinet is darker than the rest of the kitchen.

The initial order came with several problems from flaws in the finish to dents in a very pricy custom door. Multiple phone calls to the showroom and the one to Fabuwood, No one responds and calls us back.

Never again with bussinses like this again.

The construction just plain is aweful if this product and the customer service is just as bad. Do you research, unlike us, and learn from our lesson. Everything people are saying about this company is true. Listen to those who have made the mustake of buying, Not a company makimg excuses for shotty quality.

So sorry you had such an awful experience, I thank God for the honest people on Houzz who steered me clear from the Fabuwood. Distributers of the product are not always forthcoming.

personal experiences are important to share but also remember that these are individual and likely isolated stories, we in the professional dealership world go through hundreds of kitchen and see the overall picture hence we have a different perspective.

If the story of HU-562889277

would be typical with Fabuwood, you can be sure we or any other distributor would throw the line out, there's enough brands out there to chose from.

we choose Fabuwood cabinets for the great experience we have with the product and service.

Of course there's situations where a kitchen isn't satisfactory, we as the dealer stand behind it and make sure the manufacturer comes through, and they do.

from what I'm reading it appears to be a lack of ownership from the distributer not manufacturer, some dealers just don't care and ignore the consumer when it comes to claims, which is wrong and I think Fabuwood should cut them off as dealerships.

Keep in mind Fabuwood is one of the largest manufacturers in the nation, they produce 4-5 thousand cabinets "per day", that's almost 100 thousand cabinet boxes per month!

if all or almost all Kitchens would be like HU's experience, there would of been over a million negative posts here, the fact that there's only 25 in 8 years tells you something.

In our experience and reading other distributors on this chat, I can say with confidence that every Fabuwood job we sold is complete, if an item came defective the manufacturer stood behind and replaced to the consumers satisfaction, (otherwise we would of thrown it out of the showroom like we did with some other brands) in some cases they even sent out a finishing team to refinish the entire kitchen or replaced a full kitchen, whatever it took to satisfy the customer.

I hope this helps and gives a better understanding and sorry HU-562889277

For your experience, you should contact the distributor, if that doesn't help you should contact the manufacturer directly to get assistance.

Thank you for such a thoughtful explanation. After reading some of the unkind comments these past 8 years, i had almost given up hope!

Thay are a stock manufacturer, assembling imported, poor quality, parts. Their volume is pretty low, despite what the above company employee writes. It pales in comparison to a maker like Kraftmaid. They are also way over priced for a stock import cabinet.

Do you like the set up of your cabinets? Can you just replace your doors and paint or stain? Did this with my bathroom cabinets and am very satisfied. We painted the kitchen and bath cabinets and so far so good. 5+ n the kitchen and 2+ in baths. Both were sealed with something before painting and we had to move out for a couple of days because the smell was so bad. Brain cells were dying. But it worked well.

I also sell Fabuwood. I cannot comment on their volume, but we sell quite a bit and rarely have an issue. They are strict with their policies of reporting damage - there is a window all damages need to be reported in, you must have pictures, you cannot install the cabinet in question.

I don't often have an issue and folks seem quite happy.

The previous customer had mentioned a " very pricy custom door ", not sue what that is. I've done customized cabinets with them and nothing was that pricy.

I saw Kraftmaid mentioned - Lately, I have had huge issues with their quality control, but they are getting better and are still a solid company that I will continue to sell. Things happen - manufacturing has taken a huge hit after the pandemic and it will probably be many years before it gets back on track to the way it was.

I don't discount what happened to them. It just has not been my experience.

Good luck to everyone!

Fabuwood has a 1 million square foot manufacturing plant in New Jersey. The Digital Journal did an in depth analysis of the cabinet market and listed the top 18 global cabinet market players in the cabinet industry. While Fabuwood, American Woodmark, and Ikea were mentioned Kraftmaid was no longer listed.

Had a bad experience with Fabuwood in 2019. Had a small kitchen with 3 lowers and 6 uppers used Allure Galaxy in Frost white. Every cabinet had at least one problem. The paint on the frames was thin as hell with many small defects. The dovetail joints of most cabinet boxes were poorly executed as were two of the three drawers of a base cabinet.

Representative from Fabuwood came to the house. They eventually replaced 3 doors for paint defects, 1 corner base door that couldn't be aligned, 1 drawer for poor construction, 1 finished panel for dark blemish, and touched up the paint on the frames. He was unable to adjust the drawers of the base unit to fully align and offered to replace it, but we had already installed the Silestone countertop so we just lived with it.

The cabinet doors held up well over the last 3 years, but the wafer thin paint on the frame flakes off if you look at it sideways. Maybe I was just expecting more craftsmanship for $3000. About 6 years ago my sister purchased Thomasville cabinets through Home Depot and they look much nicer than our Fabuwood ones. They have also held up quite well and show a lot less wear - she loves them.

I guess there will be some unhappy customers when you assemble and paint 100k cabinets a month. Here is a link to some pictures of the cabinets.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2ZuyMco5Eh1AdQpn7

Hi Jimmy,

Home Depot's Thomasville cabinets are Masterbrand's Diamond. If you upgrade them to all plywood construction to make them comparable to Fabuwood they are at least 40% more expensive. They will have better quality control and better dovetails for the extra $1200 to $1500 you would have spent. However, we have not noticed that the paint is any better looking or more durable. Perhaps you are tougher on cabinetry than your sister, and more critical of your own cabinets as you would scrutinize them more.

When you get 9 cabinets with all plywood construction, Blum soft close hinges and soft close tracks, dovetail solid wood drawers, delivered to your home for $3000 you may be expecting too much if take out your magnifying glass and camera.

If you buy a Hyundai (I have one) you are happy that you have a reliable car that looks good and runs well. I don't compare it to a BMW or expect performance like a Ferrari.

@ everyone with problems with their Fabuwood cabinets. I am in the same situation as you. Since intallation I have had problems with chipping, cracking, paint just falling off even on cabinets that are not touched. Any small tap on a cabinet leaves a dent. I am so disappointed as my kithen remodel of under a year and a half, looks like I need new cabinets. Did anyone have any recourse with the manufacturer that was acceptable in remedying these issues? My kitchen cabinets that we replaced were in better shape then what I have now. Products this costly, should not be sold with this lack of qulaity. I plan to pursue the issue until I have a solution that is acceptable. I know another person who did a kitchen remodel same time as me, and has all the same issues as well.

So sorry to see yet another person having issues with Fabuwood. My husband’s co-worker just purchased them also, even though I encouraged him to read this discussion I started 9 years ago

@gigi how are your Fabuwood cabinets holding up after 9 years, any photos you can share?

@ Gigi, if I ever would have known these problems existed I never would have made the purchase. I would have preferred to have spent more money and had no issues. I trusted my contractor and didn’t do my own research. Instead I need new cabinets not even two years in on the Fabuwood cabinets. I hope your husbands co-workers experience is different but somehow I doubt it will be. Next question. Are all these pros that comment employees of the manufacturer? Their comments make you believe the only job they have is to discredit the post of people who actually own these cabinets and are giving others info about their real life experience with owning these cabinets that are made with poor quality.

@HouzzUser-318703344 i can only speak for ourselves, we are professionals in this trade, we have been verified by Houzz.

Reason why we comment, is to educate nd users who have no experience or knowledge, to give the professional aspects. owledge, to give the professional aspects.

consumers reading this blog like to hear also from professionals in the trade, not only from a one time buyer.

if Fabuwood sells north of 500,000 cabinets annually and there's about 20 complaints over 9 years, that says something.

Always put things in contaxt and add professional knowledge and information.

If you read my previous posts, I never spoke highly about Fabuwood cabinets, I'm personally a fan of other brands,

I just added pieces of information to educate the consumer that I felt was necessary, mostly about paint, cracks and hair line/joint splits, which is across the cabinet industry.

And lastly, i am sorry for your personal bad experience.

Thank you for your response and your desire to educate consumers. Unfortunately, after looking online and reading other reviews on numerous platforms, it seems the statsitics you provided about the number of complaints from Fabuwood consumers to be a lot lower then what is actual. It absolutely stinks because I am left with cabinets that are not worth the value of what I paid as they absolutely need to replaced, as they are fully falling apart. Which also leads other items such as my countertops and backsplash to be valueless as they will need to be replaced to remove the defected cabinets. Hoping that Fabuwood will find a solution to remedy the issues, as I plan to continue to pursue my loss until we find a acceptable answer for the products I purchased to not be defective.

That sounds absolutely frustrating and needs to be addressed, even though I haven't seen any photos I do believe what you're suggesting.

I would suggest to refer to your authorized dealer where you ordered the cabinets and place a claim with the manufacturer, it's under warranty and they should handle this and resolve your concerns to your complete satisfaction, most manufacturer in this industry handle claims properly, it can always be a bad badge of finish and you are an innocent victim.

Best luck

HU and Gigi,

You are both misinformed. Whatever individual experience Gigi had that started her 9 year anti Fabuwood quest, hers was a single kitchen. We sell 1 1/2 million dollars of Fabuwood cabinetry per year. We have given the Fabuwood cabinetry we sell a lifetime warranty for the 8 years we have sold it. Long before Fabuwood upgraded their warranty to the lifetime warranty they give now.

We have zero unresolved complaints in eight years of selling Fabuwood. Not one review out of the 400 of our reviews that appear on Google, Houzz, Customer Lobby, and other sites mentions any customer dissatisfaction with Fabuwood or any of the other brands of cabinets that we sell. This is partly because we educate our customers so that they know the properties of what they buy from us. And if they ever have an issue we take care of it as quickly as is possible. This is the responsibility of the cabinet dealer and not Fabuwood's.

We have also tested the Fabuwood painted finishes against the other painted finishes for the 7 brands we sell. There was no detectable difference in Fabuwood's standard finishes and only a tiny increase in the possibility of chipping on the Fabuwood custom finishes. Those custom finishes are twice as thick so a small increase in chipping was not surprising. I was impressed that the difference was so minute.

I cannot explain other people's bad experiences other than to guess that possibly:

1) Their cabinetry was poorly assembled by the dealer and not by Fabuwood.

2) Thier individual order was defective in some very unusual way.

3) Thier expectations were unrealistic concerning the durability of ALL painted cabinetry.

Once again- you did not disappoint. You start every reply with a nasty comment about others. Very Sad!

I could not even reply to his comment. It’s a waste of time.

Kitchen & Flooring Outlet

After doing some research, I opted to go with another brand, and very happy I did. My cabinets look just about the same as the day we installed.

Gigi you didn’t even buy a Fabuwood kitchen. Yet you spew misinformation for nearly a decade? FYI your handles are installed sideways making it uncomfortable opening cabinetry against the direction of the hinge on the cabinet door. Not surprising from someone so misinformed.

Main Line,

First of all, thank you for being so kind.

Now to your comment, first of all, I spewed nothing, only commented on information given to me from others, including pros. Secondly, I saved a photo in my ideabook from Houzz pro- Old World Kitchens- I’m sure they will appreciate being told the are wrong.

Gigi, I’m so happy to hear your kitchen is holding up after ten years and your not experiencing any of the issues Fabuwood considers to be ”normal”. My kitchen is gorgeous and looking at the cabinets makes me so sad. The issues with them have nothing to do with installation, it‘s from the poor quality they were manufactured with. The gentleman from Main Line should be embarrased to continually try to undermine peoples firsthand experiences with these products. What is the purpose of you being on this thread? Other then telling everyone they are incorrect about something they are providing facts on. Please refrain from responding to me. I don’t care about your opinion or the nonsense you keep talking about in circles.

All-
I originally joined this thread around 2015 as we were updating our kitchen. We installed Fabuwood and had one very minor issue with a discolored door we noticed about a month after install and it was replaced promptly by kitchen design/contractor. We have since moved but we were happy with Fabuwood. I would strongly recommend that you see the cabinet in person. We went into the showroom looking at other brands because we were not familiar with Fabuwood at the time. We liked the feel of it and it’s construction. I brought home the sample door and left it on my counter a few days. I may or may not have end splattered it with different sauces etc to see how easily they cleaned up. Definitely not any scientific method but it worked for us! I can say that we are “regular wear” people but a family of 6 might be very different. I just wanted to provide a little balance to those who have unfortunately experienced issues because I think anytime a thread is created most people who respond will likely be those who had an unsuccessful experience. I know I almost didn’t because I don’t want to argue with anyone and just wanted to share my experience since this site has been helpful to me in the past.
Best of luck, folks!

Here is a pic on our moving out day for reference.

I think your kitchen looks great still. Very happy you had a good experience.

@lynn2235 My cabinets from Fabuwood were purchased during the height of Covid. I see many people on BBB with same issues such as me and my friend that all purchased in the same time range. I have been told multiple reasons for issues from many people in the industry that were rumored. One was a painter they had currently working during our time period of purchase. Next was they didn't want to raise prices so they instead lowered the quality, that person told me now they raised their prices and the quality. I know someone else who is a contractor and they have seen mutilple homes with the same issues. They think due to the increase demand of everyone wanting to redo their homes they rushed the manufacturing processing and didn't allow for proper hardening. That one makes extreme sense to me as the slightest touch on the cabinets leaves a dent. Very disheartening to see what has happened to my kitchen and to hear what others are experiencing too. Guess you were lucky to have had a positive experience when you were in ownership of the cabinets. At the same time, guess I was very unlucky to have bought these cabinets and waste thousands of dollars.

I feel like you will always find bad - that is all that people post about.

I cannot comment on either person since there are no photos of what is happening.

I do know that we just got a brand new display and we only had a mark on one door. Everything else was in great shape.

We also sell a lot of their cabinets and have minimal issues , even over time.

Just my experience

HU-318703344 I am having the same issues and starting to become depressed about the quality and this purchase. I spent xxK on my cabinets and now am doubting every single decision I made with the entire kitchen. I wish I would have read your comments and found this thread sooner. I will probably not even bother going to the manufacturer or designer. Your review made me feel less crazy so thank you.

Gigi, interesting thread, not a fan of the finish durability on my Fabuwood bathroom, thats why our kitchen redo wont be in fab.. what brand did you decide on for your kitchen ?

I've done numerous kitchens for both me and my kids over the years from custom cabinet maker-made cabinets in NC, North American, Omega, Ikea etc. I just did a townhouse that I am planning on using 6 months out of the year for the next 5 years and then will transition it to a rental. I decided to go with Fabuwood which I had been looking at and found out that my regular Kitchen dealer carried. I was going to go with Omega but the price difference was 25 vs. 17K so I opted for the Fabuwood. They are fine just installed some minor issues which my dealer is taking care of but they are definitely not the quality of Omega but are fine for my use. Also Good Housekeeping rated them very good https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/renovation/a42864437/best-kitchen-cabinet-brands/. I think the key is using a Kitchen dealer who will fight for you. Also painted cabinets are going to have issues over time. I've had $100k cabinetry where the paint has chipped. If that is an issue for you get stained cabinets where that is not a problem.

Everything on this thread is completely true and valid. I made the mistake of purchasing the Fabuwood Imperio Dove in 2021. No exaggeration you can literally look at these cabinets the wrong way and there will be a chip or ding. Actually they just develop hairline cracks radomly!

You can"t even blame it just on the paint quality. Everytime I look at them long behold there's another ding or crack. We have no children in the house and are extremely careful with them.

It's so bad that I cringe everytime I put a dish or pot away because just one wrong move or slip will mean a huge ding. It's really disheartening when you feel like you don't even want to cook in your kitchen because it's such poor quality it can't even stand up to normal usage. How I wish I had seen this thread before buying these. The dealer's response was to give me a touch-up crayon that just makes it look worse. I'm sick of running around trying to cover everything,can't even keep up with this daily damage coming out of nowhere. Before I read this thread I thought I was going crazy! But seriously all these people can't be wrong! These cabinets are true garbage!

BEWARE!

So sorry you are unhappy. As i scanned some of thes posts from almost 10 years ago, i realized that consumers were divided, much like our country. i have always spoken honestly, from my experience and research i did, but you have validated much of what steered me away from Fabuwood in the 1st place. Please be prepared to be lambasted for expressing your opinion.

Not defending Fabuwood or negating anyone's experience. We sell a lot of Fabuwood and have had little to no issues.

During 2020 and 2021, coming out of covid - there were issues with all my cabinet lines. Quality control was not good at all . A lot of experienced workers left the factories because they made more money staying out on unemployment. It was a very difficult time for most industries. It really shouldn't be an excuse, but it is what was happening.

My suggestion is to always go back to where you purchased and ask for an in home inspection if there are a lot of damaged doors/drawers. If it is only a few, maybe they will do a warranty replacement for you.

Good luck