Fabuwood vs Medallion

Stocked in New Jersey, Built to Order in Minnesota

Start with how each company gets a cabinet to your driveway, because nearly every other difference follows from it. Fabuwood brings in components from overseas partners, then assembles, finishes and inspects them at its Newark facility. Popular collections sit on the shelf as finished boxes, which is why a Galaxy order can leave in about a week and a typical order arrives in two to four weeks. The catalog is deliberately limited to what can be stocked.

Medallion runs the opposite way. Its site says every cabinet is built to order, so nothing exists until your dealer submits the drawing, and the factory can change a box before it builds it. That is where the style range and the sizing freedom come from, and it is also why there is no stock to ship tomorrow. Cabinetworks Group, the privately held parent that also owns KraftMaid and Merillat, calls Medallion its premier luxury brand and describes the product as semi-custom.

Neither model is a quality rating on its own. A stocked cabinet can be built well, and a built-to-order one can be specced down to its entry construction. The comparison that matters is the one printed on your two quotes.

Silverline, Gold or Platinum: Read the Line Name First

Medallion sells three framed kitchen lines, and a quote that says only “Medallion” tells you very little. Silverline is the value tier, full and half overlay with a curated set of popular doors, finishes and modifications. Gold is the broad middle, adding many more doors and finishes and, on most doors, a choice of center panel. Platinum is the top: all-plywood boxes standard, the full finish list, the most modifications and accessories, and inset construction, where the door sits flush inside a ¾″ face frame.

In August 2026 Cabinetworks announced that Medallion now also offers a frameless line, plus Ceruse finishes, a wider Paint on Oak palette and walnut as a species. Those are new, and dealer familiarity with them will vary, so ask to see physical samples before you order. On our side, Fabuwood’s frameless answer is Illume (furniture-board box, Blum® Merivobox metal drawers, 15 Catalina finishes) and Ovela (plywood box, dovetail drawers, 15 finishes). The framed Allure series spans six collections, from Galaxy’s 14-finish shaker to the Luxe flat panels.

One more thing to check: Cabinetworks also lists a Medallion program sold only at Menards, separate from the dealer lines above. If your quote came from a home center, find the exact program name before comparing specs.

What Each Base Price Actually Includes

Medallion’s Silverline and Gold boxes use ¾″ solid wood face frames over ½″ laminated furniture board, with ½″ maple plywood offered as an upgrade. The drawers are good at every tier: ⅝″ hardwood sides, dovetailed, with a fully captured ¼″ plywood bottom, and soft-close doors and drawers come standard. Standard guides carry 75 pounds, with heavy-duty 110-pound guides as an option.

Fabuwood’s Allure and Ovela start where a Medallion Silverline or Gold quote ends up after the plywood checkbox: plywood sides, tops and bottoms, a one-piece ½″ plywood back, solid wood mortise-and-tenon face frames on Allure, ⅝″ dovetail drawers on full-extension Blum® Tandem runners, and Blumotion hinges. Illume is the exception on our side, with a furniture-board box and metal drawers.

So when the Facebook threads ask which brand is “better built,” the honest answer depends on the line. A Platinum cabinet and an Allure cabinet are both plywood with dovetail drawers. A Gold cabinet on standard construction is furniture board, which performs fine in dry locations but is the one to watch at the sink base. Match the construction line on both quotes before you judge the price difference.

Modifications, Inset Doors, and Where Stock Sizes Stop

Fabuwood builds in standard sizes on 3″ width steps, with only a short, fixed list of factory modifications (such as toe-kick and panel cuts and reduced depth on select units) rather than free resizing. A designer handles the leftover inches with fillers, end panels and layout, which is invisible in most rectangular kitchens. It gets harder in a room with an out-of-square corner, a window that dictates an odd run, or an appliance wall that leaves an awkward gap.

Medallion can change the box itself. The site describes Silverline as offering helpful modifications and Platinum as offering the most, though it does not publish a line-by-line list of which width, depth or height changes each tier accepts. Take the plan to a Medallion dealer and ask which changes your specific cabinets need and what each one adds.

Inset is the clearest dividing line. Fabuwood makes no inset cabinet in any series. Medallion Platinum does, and if a flush-door kitchen is the goal, a stocked overlay line will not get you there. Among the brands we carry, St. Martin Heritage is the framed inset option.

The Calendar and the Quote Gap

Medallion does not publish a production lead time, and because each order is built after it is placed, the date depends on the line, the finish and any modifications. Get the ship date in writing from the dealer. Fabuwood’s schedule is simpler to plan around: Galaxy can ship in as little as seven days and most orders arrive in two to four weeks. If the countertop fabricator can’t template until the boxes are set, that difference moves the whole project.

On price, Fabuwood kitchens we quote at 10×10 typically fall between $4,000 and $9,000 depending on series; a Galaxy B12 base lists at $560, and the Desert Oak and Natural Oak finishes run about 20% higher. Medallion sells only through quotes, and the figure swings with the line, the plywood upgrade, the species and the modifications, so we won’t put a number on it. To see the real gap, have both quotes drawn from the same plan with matching widths, door family, box construction and accessories. Then the extra money on the Medallion side is paying for specific things you can name: inset, custom sizing, a species or finish Fabuwood doesn’t offer, or nothing you’ll use.

Deciding for Your Layout

For a standard-size shaker or slab kitchen, Fabuwood gives you plywood, dovetail drawers and Blum® hardware in the base price, and it arrives in weeks. Paying built-to-order prices for a layout that never needs a modified box buys flexibility you won’t use.

Medallion earns its premium when the design depends on something a stocked line can’t make: flush inset doors, boxes resized to an old house, or a stained walnut or ceruse finish. In that case it is the right tool, and we’d say so. If you are still undecided, send us your drawing or your Medallion quote, and our free 3D design service will price the same room in Fabuwood so you can read the two totals side by side.