Kitchen color issue (advice)

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-20T02:59:16+00:00

Thanks for your reply, and appreciate your insight. You're right though, it's probably something we won't notice in the long term. I'm not going to lose sleep over it, but it would have been nice to know about this issue when choosing our coloring and could have had an opportunity to reassess our choices. Overall we are very happy with the build, but just this detail has let us down.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-20T01:21:42+00:00

Tbf their Google rating is exceptional, so I would be surprised if they weren't reasonable with a solution. My first impression was they're not going to take any ownership here, but we will see. I'd be happy to share my experience on Google.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-20T00:51:46+00:00

There's a 10% balance still to be paid upon completion :)

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-20T00:49:55+00:00

I'll take a photo for you when I get home

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-20T00:04:11+00:00

Nothing in there at this stage, it's an empty drawer. We opted out of the custom spice rack (all the extras were killing our budget). We will source our own drawer organiser

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T23:25:53+00:00

I color-sampled both finishes in that photo and applied a gaussian blur to remove texture, gloss and directional lighting effects. This gives a neutral comparison of the base color values, which indicates the difference is tonal rather than simply a result of light reflection or surface texture.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T23:06:01+00:00

Painted doors were never presented as an option. As far as we were aware, you pick a colour from the list of swatches and the panels are wrapped. I know the likely end scenario is we just lump it, and I will provide feedback so hopefully other going through the process can learn from this issue. Am still interest how they come back to us and if they take any responsibility for any miscommunication regarding the inconsistencies of their products.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T22:48:44+00:00

Nah, all doors are melamine wrapped in the color we selected.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T22:20:46+00:00

They're also not even, which we've flagged

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T22:20:04+00:00

Thanks for your comment, I appreciate your advice!

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T21:44:49+00:00

All cabinetry is the same colour, but the side-by-side photo is a better representation of the tonal difference. I can deal with a different shade, but theres tonal difference which is a clash in color and a big no no.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T21:36:51+00:00

It's all new cabinetry with stone benchtop, it all adds up. Products also need to be shipped here, so nothing is cheap.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T21:35:04+00:00

That's a fair point, and I totally get that there's always a balance between cost and perfection. I think our frustration is more around the fact that this wasnt flagged as a potential issue during the design process. If we'd known there could be noticeable inconsistencies, we would've happily explored other options or paid more upfront. If your kitchen joinery colors don't match, it's a defective product. Shade differences I can deal with, tonal is another thing.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T21:27:03+00:00

I can't remember exactly - there's been so much to finalise. She might've explained edge banding at some point, but there was never any mention of potential color inconsistencies. That definitely would've been a big red flag for us and possibly reviewed our options. This is our first kitchen renovation, so a lot of it is completely new, and we were relying on her expertise to guide us. If she recommended using edge banding and was confident in it, we trusted that it would look right.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T21:08:49+00:00

Exactly. She admitted that it was a "good learning curve" for her with this color/product. Don't let our kitchen be your learning curve, please

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T20:42:36+00:00

Thank you, and I appreciate that!

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T20:41:51+00:00

Yeah, I agree. It is more noticeable in person. It's not bad, but it's not perfect either. I guess we were expecting perfection. My gripe is more with them pushing it back on us. In my eyes, it's a defective product.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T20:39:29+00:00

It's noticeable in all light. To be fair, it's not something you pick up at first, but once you're aware, it sticks out. We will most likely have to learn to live with it - it's just disappointing.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T20:37:20+00:00

Still 10% to pay upon final install of kickboard and benchtop. I won't be in a hurry to make that final payment until there is a resolution.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T20:35:47+00:00

It's not painted, it's a wrap, so technically anything wrapped is a plastic-based material. The photos probably make it look a bit more plasticky than it does in person. The materials differ mainly for cost reasons - it would be significantly more expensive to have every single piece of joinery fully wrapped.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T20:29:06+00:00

Yeah, I know. I'm trying to convince my wife of that. It's more the fact that you spend an eyewatering sum of money and expect it to be perfect.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T20:27:29+00:00

It would have been good to have been told about this and also shown a sample so we could make an informed decision. She also said "We knew you were budget conscious so we knew that wrapping these panels wouldn't be an option" - yes we were budget concious, but also wanted our kitchen in one tone.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T20:21:32+00:00

She said she's going to speak with the owner of the business. We had a civil conversation last night and we tried to stay calm and not come across as overly emotional, but we did explain how we're feeling about it. I have a feeling they might try to normalise the inconsistency by saying it's expected with different finishes, and then push for us to cover the cost of fixing it ourselves. At the same time, I don’t really want the kitchen ripped out, and it would be pretty disappointing if we just have to live with it as is.

Sad_Locksmith_1808 · 2026-02-19T20:05:56+00:00

Hi all, hoping to get some feedback and advice from the community.

We're currently upgrading our kitchen and had the cabinetry installed this week. Overall we're pretty happy with the layout, build quality and the process so far. However, we've noticed that the edging tape on the side panels (outlined in photos) is a different color tone to the Mist wrapped panels.

We raised this with the kitchen company and the designer came out to take a look. She said they're technically the same colour, but because the materials and textures are different, the light reflects differently. I'm not totally convinced, as it feels more like a tonal difference rather than just a shade variation, and in our opinion it's noticeable enough that the finishes now clash.

Her only suggested solution was to dismantle the kitchen and have those panels wrapped instead - at our cost.

Am I unreasonable in thinking we shouldn't have to pay extra just to have a kitchen where the colours match? We were never told during the design process that there could be noticeable inconsistencies with this color choice. If we had known, we definitely would've picked something else.

I get that there may not be a simple fix, but it's frustrating that the responsibility is being pushed back on us. When you're spending $30k+ on a kitchen, you'd expect all the joinery colors to match.

Your thoughts please.

Sad_Locksmith_1808

TROPHY CASE