Description
Yorktowne Cabinetry Reviews – Round Up:
Yorktowne Cabinetry Company Information:
Kitchen Unit Quality: Fair – Good
Price Fitted: varies with dealer
Supply Only: varies with sdealer
Warranty: Limited Lifetime
Designer Qualifications: Yes
Designer Status: employed with bonuses
Commission rate: N/A
Yorktowne Cabinetry in brief:
All Yorktowne Cabinets are made in the USA
With more than a century of woodworking experience, Yorktowne know that being in business for 100 years is not what matters most; it’s about how they do business. At Yorktowne, craftsmanship begins with their designers creating better solutions for the ever-changing American home, and continues with their woodworkers who bring the innovations to life.
Yorktowne Cabinetry’s deliberate choice to use local forests and manufacture cabinetry in the United States shows their commitment to sustainability and country, building a future for generations of Yorktowne employees, customers and consumers.
All cabinets bear the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturer’s Association certification label, which confirms compliance to the American National Standards Institute’s performance guidelines for kitchen cabinetry.
Who Are Yorktowne Cabinetry?
Yorktowne Cabinetry are part of the massive Elkay group based out of Oakbrook, Illinois.
A family-owned company, the fourth-largest cabinet supplier in the USA, Yorktowne Cabinetry offer a wide range of beautifully designed cabinets and door fronts, with semi custom and full custom options on special feature items. Cabinets are furniture-board box frames with solid wood dovetail drawers and come with a lifetime guarantee.
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Margaret Shafai –
This is my 4th kitchen I installed and the worst cabinets. I thought I was getting quality cabinets not the case. The finish wasn’t consistent. I don’t think they prepped the doors well before apply stain. Cabinet doors weren’t the same size. They were off 1/16 of an inch. So they can’t match up when closed. The panels for the refrig were sent the wrong size. When I got the new ones after the installers installed them I noticed that the panels weren’t the same size. The installers tried to adjust it but it was still noticeable to me and others. The representative had nothing to say about it. The garbage cabinet fell apart. Glass doors were scratched. Glue residue. Drawers aren’t installed level. Dents. Pantry internal panel wasn’t attached. I had the manufacturer rep and the person I purchased from here and was very disappointed with their excuses.
KMAN –
Yep, junk, they suck, Came with my Toll Brothers House, wow were we misled to thinking these were more than builder grade. Cabinet doors are flimsy and feel cheap, most never lay flat or close properly, some are warped. They were installed with blemishes, too many to count so we had the builder replace almost 90% of the doors. Then half of the replacement doors arrived smashed and blemished as well. The wood is soft the finish is cheap. Just lame craftsmanship and service. They are infuriating. We hate them and pray that they will last long enough to the day we can afford to replace them. Toll Bros now uses Century Kitchens and they are a wonderful company- had them in my old townhouse and we loved them and their retail stores.
Yoda –
As an industry professional with first hand experience this brand is a train wreck. The two reviews below are obviosly shills. Most likely a self serving attempt by the rep group (outed in reviews like the one here on kitchencabinetsrated) to rehabilitate its and the brands online image which has been lambasted across this site and others for sub par service and terrible quality.
This line is still a hot mess. Every dealer I speak too (and I know them all) is having ongoing systematic and continuous quality problems with Yorktowne and its alter ego Medallion. Yes, for the unintiated Yorktowne is nothing more than an overpriced Medallion cabinet with a Yorktowne label slapped on it’s box. I have first hand knowledge of several of the dealers in my region running for the exits and in some stage of the process of dropping both brands because of quality issues despite corporate assurances that “things have changed”. The FTC should look at the claim that it is a 100 year old company as after being acquired by Elkay they closed all of the original factories. Production was moved to Medallion factories designed to make both Medallion and Yorktowne products with virtually no differentiation in construction or specifications.
The regal dignified quality 100 year old Yorktowne company was in “York” PA and make no mistake, is no more. Contrary to the claim by some that the company has been remade it is a indisputable fact that production still comes out of a plant in Danville Virginia, a plant built by Elkay over a decade ago to lower costs and bust the union in PA. The Danville plant was directly responsible for the low quality that led to the demise of the original Yorktowne brand. It continues to produce cabinets and problems, spitting out the same problamatic product in 2015 as it did in 2005. Nothing has changed.
Both brands for the last 8 years have resorted to “spiffs” or retail sales person bribery to stay in business and maintain market share. The internet is rife with posts describing this unsavory practice of paying the retail sales person a per box kick back to recommend this brand to you.
If you insist on buying either of these overpriced suspect quality brands, then go to Lowes and buy Shuler yet another me too cabinet line identical to Yorktowne and Medallion (same factory yet another label slapped on the box). You will save money and get an unbiased assesment because Lowes does not allow any company to poison it’s sales people with spiffs which is an industry catch phrase for retail bribe.
If you end up buying either of these brands good luck, As the great 21st century philosopher and sage Sol Goodman declared in the final season of breaking bad “Some people are immune to good advice”.
Spencer C. –
Since this post was directed towards me. I can testify that I’m not a “shill” and rather in actuality some one with many years of hands on experience. It in my opinion this review is written by a disgruntle representative.
Yoda Quote:
“Every dealer I speak too (and I know them all) is having ongoing systematic and continuous quality problems with Yorktowne and its alter ego Medallion”
This is problematic statement. Since this is a national company it is highly unlikely. Nice try buddy. 🙂
As for the spiffs they equate out to paying for a half a tank a gas per kitchen sale. Very mute point to bring up for incentive to sell a kitchen and not a determining factor to use the line.
The one thing you did get right is that the original plants were shut down and the product now comes out of modern facilities.
Few key changes:
Finish line was updated which has been a great boon for the painted finishes. This is great since white is trending again. A+++ On getting that right.
Packaging has always been on their high list of priorities. I’ve noticed on jobs the last few months the methods were updated again. The protective blocking must have been 4″ thick on the corners. Which would allow it to take a rough jostle in shipping or the job site. Likely the best packing I’ve seen so far.
Howard D. –
We had a Yorktowne kitchen installed in our home in 2009. The finish started to come off the drawers and cabinet boxes immediately. We reached out to the dealer who installed the cabinets (at that time they were Yorktowne dealers). After some time lots of calls and back and forth they finally sent out a rep from the company. He agreed there were problems with the finish and arranged for cabinet refinishers to come out.
That solved the problem for the short time. Fast forward to 2013, the same issues have plagued us. I contacted Yorktowne and they said I had to go through a “Yorktowne Dealer” they furnished me with a list of dealers. None of them were dealers One Gentleman, offered to try to reach out to his rep who handled Elkay (same company different name)He couldn’t help because he didn’t handle Yorktowne directly. I than contacted Yorktown again, They finally got me the name of a local Yorktowne dealer. I was asked to submit photos of the damaged parts. He didn’t get back to me. After several weeks I had called them numerous times, the person I spoke with told me they couldn’t do repair work on the cabinets but they could sell me a new kitchen, WRONG ANSWER.
I then called Yorktowne again and reached the “customer satisfaction” person. She requested photos invoice numbers and the like. I did comply. I was then replied to by email that this was considered normal wear and they would not take any action. I sent her another email and she didn’t reply. They apparently made their decision and were going to ignore any pleas on my behalf.
The quality of construction is average at best the dovetail joinery of the draw boxes is poor. The finish is worse, it doesn’t adhere to the cabinets. Shortly after the latest ignored emails, we noticed that tone of the cabinets appeared to be coming off the wall. Upon closer inspection we found out that the cabinet box was coming apart.
I WILL DO MY BEST TO DISCOURAGE ANYONE WITH A SENSE OF REASON TO NOT BUY YORKTOWNE/ELKAY PRODUCTS.
Sol –
Out shopping for a new kitchen because our 2 year old kitchen got distroyed by Sandy. Wanted to share our disgust with our old Yorktowne cabinets.
The finish was horrible. When they arrived 20 out of 21 cabinets were defective finished. Have never been right since.
They use flakeboard as a standard construction and charge an gigantic 16% more for plywood. Our flakeboard cabinets turned to goo when they got wet.
Good Ridence to Bad Rubish. Thanks Super Storm Sandy!!!!!
Kay Levy –
When we had our new home built by Toll Brothers in Bucks Pa. These were the only cabinets the builder offered. We knew they were bad before the house was built. We tried unsuccessfully to get the builder to use another cabinet company.
They are even worse than we expected. Nothing matches each other in color, really cheap materials and plastic coated sides. The outside of the cabinet is chipping and pealing every where. The drawers are really shallow too. They are constantly getting jamed up.
We are not the only ones in our community who are disatisfied. The builder Toll bros used these cabinets in everones kitchen. Whenever we get together with our neigbors, everyone complains about the quality of these cabinets. If you walk down our street and talk to folks about their cabinets it’s like a kitchen cabinet trail of tears every one is miserable with them.
Don’t expect any warranty service either you are really on your own. The dealers in my area are so inundated with warranty claims that they no longer carry the line.
I regan –
WE REMODELED OUR KITCHEN WITH YORKTOWNE CABINETS, MAPLE WITH CHERRY FINISH, LESS THAN FIVE YEARS AGO. WE WERE TOLD TO ONLY CLEAN THEM WITH MURPHY’S OIL SOAP AND HAVE FOLLOWED THAT ADVICE. AS OUR FAMILY IS GROWN OUR KITCHEN IS RARELY USED. WE HAVE BEEN HAVING A PROBLEM WITH SHINY AREAS NEAR THE HANDLES ON THE CABINETS AND ALSO WITH THE STAIN COLOR RUBBING OFF. WE PURCHASED THE TOUCH UP KIT WHICH DID NOTHING. HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET SOME HELP FROM THE MANUFACTURER TO NO AVAIL. JUST GET EXCUSES. THE COMPANY THAT PROVIDED THE CABINETS HAVE GONE OUT OF BUSINESS. WORDS OF ADVICE. DO NOT BUY YORKTOWNE CABINETRY. THEY ARE OWNED BY ELKAY AND APPARENTLY ELKAY DOESN’T CARE TO PROVIDE ANY HELP WITH QUALITY ISSUES!
Dan –
This cabinet line deserves zero stars. AWFUL finish, low quality wood, and if poor craftsmanship isn’t bad enough to make your skin crawl, Yorktowne poisons its salespeople by offering outrageous incentives called “spiffs” to designers in order to push their lousy product. Designers and professionals in this industry know these cabinets are junk, but who wouldn’t push this product on a homeowner when the salesperson is receiving a whopping $30 per cabinet kickback. The bottom line? DO NOT BUY YORKTOWNE CABINETRY. If you walk into a showroom with this product, STEER CLEAR. Your salesperson will most likely convince you to buy these low-grade cabinets for a personal gain, rather than selling you a higher quality, better priced cabinet line that doesn’t come with a side of headaches and years of aggravation.
Mark –
I have these cabinets. The builder I bought my house from really cut corners everywhere he could and put in real low end stuff. My Yorktowne cabinets are no exception.
The way they are finished is terrible.
I have Hallmark Cherry cabinets in a Honey finish. The joints on all of the doors are splitting. Getting replacement parts is almost impossible because the dealers listed on their website either don’t sell it anymore or have gone out of business.
I got a bunch of replacement doors. They didn’t match in color at all and worse yet are splitting even worse than the originals.
I spent a lot of money upgrading these cabinets and am really dissapointed
Ron K –
These cabinets have the worst finish in the business. This company turned my dream kitchen into a nightmare. Instead of a select grade of lumber I foud out they use #2 common and they buy it in random widths. This bottom of the barrel lumber is considered the pink slime of the cabinet business. They mill and glue little pieces together to make the Center panels of the doors the results is that they look like a crazy quilt of little pieces that are mismatched in color.
I found the finish and construction quality really poor. Just one example. To join the face frame to the cabinet sides there are dozens of triangle shaped staples on the inside of our cabinet. Not only can you feel them(be careful they are really sharp) but we have a double-sided glass door cabinet and you can see dozens of ugly Staples just sticking out. The company told us “that’s Just the way we make them”
I finally got the truth as to why the salespeople pushed this stuff on me. I found out from another salesman in the kitchen showroom(who refuses to sell the stuff) that Yorktowne “spiffs” or bribes the individual salesperson that you buy your kitchen from up to $30 per cabinet to move this overpriced garbage.
Don’t let it happen to you.