Schuler Elkay Lowes painted cabinets

We absolutely love our new kitchen and all the work Lowes did for us.  But do yourself a favor and don't buy Schuler Elkay painted cabinets from Lowes.  If we knew then what we know now...we never would have went with that line of cabinetry. It's supposed to be Lowe's "top of the line" cabinets.  And we paid a lot of money for them.  From a distance, yes they look beautiful.  But up close you will see there are defects in the manufacturing of the cabinet (joints not put together tightly enough) and the painting has a lot to be desired.  Our cabinets arrived with scratches, bubbling in the paint, splits, painted too thinly so the joints show, ink marks, etc.  We had to replace practically every single cabinet and drawer.  And then most of the replacements arrived in worse condition than the originals.

Just take a look for yourself...

Appears to be ink...

Painted way too thin...

Obvious scratches...

And here is one of the very few cabinets that came in with decent painting on the joint...you can barely see it.  So why can't all the doors look like this one? 

Here is the Schuler reps response to our letter of complaint.  I wonder if she even looked at the pictures?  It only took about an hour to get this letter back from her after we sent our carefully composed letter to her.  

Hello,

Thank you for your email, and I apologize to hear of your dissatisfaction.  I am familiar with your project, as I know my representative Jim Collins has been to your home, along  with having been in communication with Deb at the store.

Unfortunately, with a painted finish, we have the possibility of seeing joint lines, especially as the cabinet goes through humidity changes during different seasons.  This is something that is very common, and will increase and decrease over time.  I know there is concern in the “gauges” by the joint line coming together, in which I believe I addressed at the time of the first replacement order, that you could receive this again, due to this is how we receive the doors from our vendor.

As I stated, I am more than happy to put in another replacement order, especially where you have scratches and light paint, but if we are replacing others due to the indentation or visibility of joint lines, that is not something I can guarantee will be different.  Please let me know if you would like to proceed forward in this manner, and I can put in a special request, however again I could not guarantee.  I would just need a list of following doors that you would like replaced.

Thank you,

Cara Welch

Regional Sales Manager - Northeast

Elkay Companies

630.272.7606- cell

630.366.2569 - fax

Seasons?  Humidity?  We have barely gone through one.  The cabinets were just installed in November.  Humidity is not an issue.  It's winter here in Massachusetts.   They arrived in that condition.  How about addressing the problem with the way the cabinets are sent to them by the "vendor"?  She can't "guarantee" they will look better?  How about talking to the right people and getting to the root of the problem so perhaps it can be improved or actually resolved?  We will reorder all the cabinet doors and drawers that we still find unsatisfactory and maybe...just maybe...we will get lucky and get one good one in the bunch.