Hi all, we're closing out construction and have moved into unpack mode. I thought I'd share some final images and thoughts.
Overall, we are very, very happy with the way the kitchen turned out. The cabinetry, particularly the drawers, are extremely high quality. We chose fingerprint-less matte black for the island and walnut melamine fronts with absolutely NO hardware. We have kids so no handles to bump heads on. Everything feels very high quality, is adjustable (drawers 3 ways, hinges 3 ways) and opens/closes smoothly.
If you are going with FORM, get the UPGRADES to the steel wall drawers, all of them. And get the non-slip mats, they are SO nice.
Issues/Things to keep in mind:
[1] We had a few things damaged in transit, one cabinet in particular appeared to have taken quite a tumble. We are very handy people and were on a timeline so fixed the cabinet ourselves and moved on. We are working with FORM on the backend for remittance. Also, a few of the feet were slightly or fully broken. Luckily (and so surprisingly) the cabinets these happened on, happened to be cabinets we were removing the feet anyway to install toe-kick drawers.
[2] European cabinets don't play nice with American appliances. The only appliances we did not have to modify a cabinet for were the ovens. Nothing else fit as is. The KItchenaid gas cooktop (which has a downdraft required the back panel to have to be turned down to accommodate its depth, even thought it was "supposed to fit." Same thing with our Krauss workstation sink, too deep. To accommodate the bosch panel front dishwasher, the cabinet directly behind it had to be a custom depth.
[3] The installation instructions are ABYSMAL. FORM/Nobilia literally just sends you a box with 1000 screws, brackets, etc in little baggies, nothing labeled, nothing in order, sometimes in German. There are "baseline" instructions but they are not great either. Our GC had never installed European cabinets before and it took quite a few extra days work and me figuring a lot of it out on my own and then working with the GC. IF you can find a GC or a company that speacializes in or installs European cabinets, particularly Nobilia, HIRE THEM.
[4] Toekick/plinth drawers are SO COOL and great added storage. However there is literally not ONE SHRED of documentation on how to install them. NOT. ONE. SHRED. Oh my!
So, would I do a FORM kitchen again, ABSOLUTELY. Would I recommend them to a friend, ABSOLUTELY. We saved SO much money on extremely high quality cabinets. But, if you're ultra-detailed oriented like me, and know more than your fair share about architecture, construction, and etc, then expect to be pretty hands on in the whole process.
Also, not that anyone asked, but sharing is caring. We ordered our quartz countertops through Ikea. It's a LOT of counter and the quotes were were getting were more than a small car. Ikea was AMAZING, we got the counters ON SALE (2x a year they go on sale, 12% off) and their quartz is Ceasarstone. Also, the local installers Norwood (Wash DC Metro area) were legitimately absolutely amazing.
Feel free to message or comment with specific questions.
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wood floor & lowers, white uppers/hood
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