Anywhere else? I need three for my utility room. Anywhere to get blemished cabinets?

When we were looking a few years ago, Surplus Warehouse was the cheapest. And theirs are not "used or leftovers" like I had originally thought their products were, but instead from a big manufacturer. we priced Lowes and Surplus for ours and ended up purchasing from Surplus, including our countertop. However, they don't carry all the coordinating pieces and trim, so for somethings we had to buy them from Lowes.

+1 for Surplus Warehouse. Often times, their regular price is well below Lowes and HD's knock-down price for damaged or blemished cabinets.

Check the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Bryan. I was there yesterday, and there were a ton of cabinets in the warehouse (it's across from the main store).

To get there, if you are heading north on Texas, turn left on Lake Street (across from Harmony Science Academy). Take the first right. ReStore will be on your right; the warehouse on your left.

I have installed the lowes/ home dept cabinets in several properties around town. I do use surplus warehouse so I decided to try the cabinets. They were extremely hard to stain and paint. The surface and texture of the wood seemed to be inferior to the other cabinets. The first time I thought it was a fluke. But again the second time they would not take color evenly and it took days of re-application to get them to look decent. They turned yellow when I painted some white even after 4 coats of paint. I would not use them again because they took entirely too much work and still never looked right.

Surplus Warehouse has taken to collecting up the QC fails, strays, and over-runs from places like TriPac and Conestoga. Those boxes are in all sorts of states of finish--in type and kind.

The sort of thing what would need a good scrub (or three) with TSP, before a full coat of lacquer-based Kilz primer. And letting each of those steps dry a full day before moving on to even thinking about a (or first) finish coat.

But, that's me, I've spent along time around casework and renovations and the like.

Often, the "least expensive" answer is to spend more up front, rather than spend a bunch of time wrestling with getting things to match afterwards.

But, I've seen people descend upon the old KMC clean-the-warehouse-out sales buying "an entire kitchen" up out of mis-matched woods, styles, and finishes, too.

"I have installed the lowes/ home dept cabinets in several properties around town. I do use surplus warehouse so I decided to try the cabinets. They were extremely hard to stain and paint. The surface and texture of the wood seemed to be inferior to the other cabinets. The first time I thought it was a fluke. But again the second time they would not take color evenly and it took days of re-application to get them to look decent. They turned yellow when I painted some white even after 4 coats of paint. I would not use them again because they took entirely too much work and still never looked right."


Are you talking about the prebuilt unfinished oak cabinets that they keep in stock ?

what kind of primer did you use on the ones that turned yellow ?

I have not personally finished a set but was looking at them a while back and the boxes are actually much better construction than same kinds at lowe's because the lowe's boxes use particle board and the ones at surplus are made of plywood. The hinges and drawer guides are not the best but those can always be upgraded.

[This message has been edited by JP76 (edited 12/4/2011 4:32p).]

Yes, I used the unfinished oak cabinets. The quality of construction was fine. The only issue I had was with the finish. I did clean them with TSP but only once. I primed them with latex kilz in white then painted them gloss white. I started to notice yellow in the priming phase but I kept thinking it was me or a fluke. I used several coats of primer. The wood absorbed lots of paint. I used at least five coats of paint on top of the primer. I did eventually get them to look alright but it took too much of my time. I'm definitely a perfectionist so the minor flaws bugged me.I was rehabbing rental houses and I only had a few days to compete each property. If I was only working on one property or my own house and had the time to work with the cabinets it probably would not have been such an issue. I also stained some of their cabinets and it took significantly more stain than anything I have done before. The wood seemed so soak up so much of the color. It took days to get the color even. I did find them easier to stain than paint.
I do buy from surplus ware house and I do recommend them for some items. I just wanted to share my experience with the cabinets. I also would advise staying away form the kingston brass faucets they sell. They break easily and are very difficult to repair. Other than that I am happy with everything I have purchased there.

We purchased prefinished cabinets and have been more than pleased with them. They were comparable quality to what was installed in the house when it was built in the 90s. No idea about the finish or quality of the do it yourself stain/paint varieties.

I don't know anything about these guys, Guess they are drop shipping RTA cabinets.

From what you have seen texags, are these prices very good?

http://www.collegestationcabinets.com/

I purchased cabinets in May, and received tons of pricing. The Pricing below is ball park on what I received.

Lowes - 7.5K
Home Depot - 7.2K
Kent Moore w/ Installation - 6.5K
Cabinetstogo.com - 4k
Custom Cabinet Maker w/ Install - 3.8K
Ikea - 3K

We went with Ikea, One because of the price, and the wife liked the ability to choose various options and changes without going back and forth between a salesmen.

They are "lower quality" than Lowes or Home Depot but they look nice, have some added features that the others did not come with, we could get them within two weeks, and I put some in a rental of mine about two years ago and they have held up well, so durability was not a question.

[post contained repeated name calling -staff]

[This message has been edited by TexAgs staff (edited 12/17/2012 9:42a).]

I suppose I am a "some people."

Buster, why do you equate least expensive with lower quality.

Actually I did look yesterday at Habitat for Humanity and they have a wealth of cabinets that are new and still in the manufacturers wrappers that are actually of superior quality to those I saw at Lowes and Home Depot.

Cost? The cost was about 1/2 that of Lowes and Home Depot. The $82 cabinet at Lowes is $52 at HFH.

Different busineses have different overhead costs, higher labor costs, etc., etc., etc. for even the same exact item.

Using your logic, a person should never go to a Wal-Mart or Target as they are normally "cheaper" for comparable items than the full service stores.

Why do some people always equate less expensive with lesser quality?

What is great about America, is the guy with a small budget can purchase wherever and whatever the hell he wants.

I am all for shopping locally, but when I can not find a product within 10% of the price, comes with the same features, or has lead times that are equivalent, I do not feel the responsibility to babysit a company just because he is local.

Besides, the "custom cabinet makers" I spoke to get their doors, lumber, stain, and hardware all from manufactures that are not local. So by ordering Ikea cabinets and paying my finish carpenters to install them, I probably spent around the same "locally".

[name calling removed -staff]




[This message has been edited by TexAgs staff (edited 12/17/2012 9:40a).]

A true custom cabinet maker makes their doors - that's the biggest cost of a cabinet. They also build any size that you need (not on 3" increments)

Personally, I used a large custom company to do my utility room and it is great but to each his own.

My time is more valuable than what it takes to stain something 3-4 times... unless of course it's a craft project