Yesterday I discussed my experience ordering ready to assemble from Barker Cabinets. Today I am going to share my experience with the packaging, and assembly of Barker cabinets.
After placing my order, it took a little over a month for them to be built. I waited another week for shipping. I thought the shipping company they used was one of the better ones. They called right away to arrange delivery. The delivery driver called that day to make sure I was going to be around. Overall, we were well informed when the cabinets would arrive.
The cabinets were packaged onto three pallets, surrounded by thick cardboard and then plastic wrapped. The driver pulled them off of the truck with a pallet dolly and maneuvered them into our driveway. I’m sure had the driver been able to, he would have backed up to our garage and unloaded them into the garage. But, unfortunately, our street is a bit difficult for deliveries. So, I had to unpackaged the cabinets in the driveway and carry the pieces into the garage piece by piece.
It was interesting to see how Barker had packaged the cabinets. All of the drawer boxes were fit into one pallet, while the cabinets were in the other two pallets, with the cabinet backs laying on top of everything. There were also separate boxes with all of the drawer glides and a HEAVY box with all of the cabinet hardware: assembly screws, door hinges, shelf pins, drawer glide bottoms and screws to install the cabinets. I think they provided absolutely everything we needed to assemble and install the cabinets.
They must have the packaging down to a science, because I don’t think we had one damaged item.
Because we were dealing with ready to assemble cabinets, the manufacturer bound all the pieces from each cabinet together (two sides, top, bottom and shelves, and every piece had a cabinet sticker on it, noting Barker’s cabinet number, which coincided with their packing list.
I took that packing list and went through my elevations, marking my numbers down on the packing list. This way I knew what room the cabinet went in. This helped during my assembly process, because I worked room by room. Remember how I mentioned that it would have been nice to be able to put a note for each cabinet? This is where I could have put my room name/cabinet number…that way my note would have been on Barker’s handy sticker. (You can see one of the stickers in the picture below on the adjustable shelf sitting in the bottom of the cabinet.)
In with the packet, Barker provided a simple set of instructions. I had watched all of the videos prior to ordering. So, these instructions were a good reminder. The first cabinet probably took the longest at 10-15 minutes. After that one, I was able to assemble them quickly.
During my research, I came across some reviews that the cabinet faces at the corners did not line up perfectly. I had a couple not want to line up within my limits (I like things perfect). But, I learned I could use a bit of pressure when drilling the sides together to get it where I wanted. The assembly was not difficult at all. I did all of them by myself, except for the 90 degree corner cabinets. There were too many pieces for one person to hold. Once the cabinets were together they were solid.
I was pretty amazed that there was only one miss cut out of three bathrooms, a large kitchen, a laundry room, an office and a homework station. When we contacted Barker Cabinets, they must have put it in their production right away, because we had it pretty quickly.
Overall, I have been happy with the manufacture, assembly and the quality of cabinets. Everyone who comes over and uses the kitchen notices the soft close drawer glides. It really is a nice feature.
Tomorrow, I’m going to share the drawers and their construction as well as the door fronts and what finish I decided to go with.
Have I scared you away from considering RTA cabinets and/or Barker cabinets? Have you ordered RTA cabinets before? What was your experience?
We’re gearing up to order cabinets right now and Barker’s is top on the list. Your series of posts has made it seem like they are the way to go. Great posts!
I’m glad to hear that the posts helped! Make sure to send photos of your finished project.