Diamond NOW is the stock cabinet line MasterBrand makes for Lowe's, and the single most useful fact about it is one the listing states plainly: the Arcadia range is white laminate, not painted wood. It rates 3.9 stars across 9,148 reviews, and a full kitchen of it costs more than the equivalent Home Depot kitchen. Direct Cabinet Deals is an authorized online dealer for Fabuwood, Jarlin, Kitchen Cabinet Distributors (KCD), CNC Cabinetry and Eurocraft. We sell cabinets and do not install them, and we do not sell Diamond NOW. Every Diamond NOW price and rating below was read off lowes.com on 2026-09-23 at the S. Tampa, FL 33611 store.
Quick Answer: Are Diamond NOW Cabinets Good Quality?
Diamond NOW Arcadia is competent stock cabinetry: fully assembled, stocked locally, and fine for a rental, a flip or a laundry room. What it is not is a wood cabinet. The boxes and doors are laminate over engineered board, which is why Lowe's own reviewers raise chipping, damaged arrivals and misaligned doors often enough to hold the line at 3.9 stars. The surprise is the price: a representative 10 cabinet kitchen comes to about $2,548.00, which is more than the same layout in Hampton Bay and within reach of a real plywood kitchen. For roughly $268.49 more than Diamond NOW you can have Jarlin with a plywood box throughout.
Diamond NOW, Diamond and Diamond Express Are Not the Same Thing
This trips up almost every comparison article online, so it is worth being precise:
- Diamond NOW is the in-stock line at Lowe's. Arcadia is its best known range, and it is laminate.
- Diamond is the semi-custom line, ordered rather than stocked, with more door styles, finishes and sizes.
- Diamond Express sits between them. The Jamestown range, for example, is listed as white painted plywood, and it is priced accordingly.
All three are MasterBrand. If someone tells you "Diamond cabinets are plywood" or "Diamond cabinets are particleboard" without saying which line, the statement is not useful. Check the listing for the specific cabinet you are buying on Lowe's Diamond NOW pages.
Quality and Construction: What to Look At
Every cabinet argument comes down to four things. Below is the same cabinet, a 30 inch double door base, from two cabinets we actually stock, so you can see what each tier looks like instead of taking our word for it.
Value tier
Shown: Jarlin Dove White Shaker B30 Base Cabinet Double Door/Single Drawer 30"W x 34.5"H x 24"D- Plywood box, not particleboard
- Solid wood door frame
- Soft-close hinges and slides
- Ships assembled or ready to assemble
- Fewer finishes and door styles
Upper tier
Shown: Fabuwood Allure Galaxy Frost 30" W X 34 1/2" H X 24" D Double Door Base Cabinet- Plywood box throughout
- Solid wood doors and drawer fronts
- Dovetail drawer boxes
- Undermount soft-close slides
- Limited lifetime warranty
Box material. Plywood holds screws better, carries more weight, and survives a slow leak under the sink. Particleboard and laminate-wrapped board swell once water reaches the core and never recover.
Drawer boxes. Dovetail joints interlock and stay square. Stapled or doweled boxes loosen with daily use, and once a drawer racks it will not sit right again.
Hardware. Undermount soft-close slides and concealed soft-close hinges should be included, not an upgrade line.
Finish. Look at the edges and inside corners. That is where a thin finish goes first.
Laminate deserves a specific note. It is a printed surface bonded to engineered board. It looks uniform when new and it cleans easily, but it cannot be sanded, touched up or refinished. A chip is permanent, and that is the single most common complaint in the Arcadia reviews.
Diamond NOW vs Fabuwood: the Same Cabinet, Side by Side
Both of these are the same cabinet: a 24 inch wide double door base. On the left is the Lowe's stock tier. On the right is what we would put in that spot.
Diamond NOW Arcadia 24 in. base
Arcadia 24-in W x 35-in H x 23.75-in D White Laminate base, fully assembled. $249.00, and the Arcadia line rates 3.9 stars from 9,148 reviews.
What we would use
Fabuwood Allure Galaxy Frost 24" W X 34 1/2" H X 24" D Double Door Base Cabinet
Plywood box, solid wood door frame, dovetail drawer box, undermount soft-close slides, and a limited lifetime warranty. Same look, different build.
We do not republish Lowe's product photography, so their column links to the live listing rather than copying the image. Their spec tab is the authoritative source for what that cabinet is made of, and it stays more current than any screenshot we could post.
Spec by Spec
| Diamond NOW Arcadia | Fabuwood Allure | |
|---|---|---|
| Box construction | Laminate over engineered board | Plywood throughout |
| Door and frame | Laminate, recessed panel shaker | Solid wood |
| Drawer box | Engineered board | Dovetail |
| Refinishable | No, laminate cannot be sanded or touched up | Yes |
| Published rating | 3.9 from 9,148 reviews | Not published as a line rating |
| Finishes and doors | Limited stock range | Wide range across Allure, Illume, Ovela and Quest |
| Door sample | $9.99 | Available per finish |
| Availability | Mostly next-day pickup | Ships factory-direct |
What Diamond NOW Owners Report
The Arcadia line carries one shared rating across the range, 3.9 stars from 9,148 reviews on Lowe's own listings. That is a large enough sample to be meaningful, and the themes in the critical reviews are consistent: particle board construction, cabinets arriving damaged, and doors that need adjustment to line up.
None of that makes Arcadia a bad buy at its job. It makes it a laminate stock cabinet behaving like a laminate stock cabinet. The mistake is expecting it to behave like a wood one.
What a Full Kitchen Actually Costs
Per-cabinet prices are close to useless for comparison because layouts differ. A standard 10x10 kitchen is the honest unit. Here is a representative 10x10 in Arcadia White Laminate, priced at the S. Tampa, FL 33611 store on 2026-09-23:
| Cabinet | Range | Qty | Price | Lowe's rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 in. wall | Arcadia 30W wall | 2 | $448.00 | 3.9 from 9,148 reviews |
| 24 in. wall | Arcadia 24W wall | 1 | $219.00 | 3.9 from 9,148 reviews |
| 24 in. diagonal corner wall | Arcadia 24W corner | 1 | $279.00 | 3.9 from 9,148 reviews |
| 30 in. bridge | Arcadia 30W bridge | 1 | $177.00 | 3.9 from 9,148 reviews |
| 36 in. base | Arcadia 36W base | 1 | $289.00 | 3.9 from 9,148 reviews |
| 36 in. sink base | Arcadia 36W sink base | 1 | $289.00 | 3.9 from 9,148 reviews |
| 18 in. base | Arcadia 18W base | 1 | $229.00 | 3.9 from 9,148 reviews |
| 18 in. 3-drawer base | Arcadia 18W 3-drawer | 1 | $369.00 | 3.9 from 9,148 reviews |
| 24 in. base | Arcadia 24W base | 1 | $249.00 | 3.9 from 9,148 reviews |
| Subtotal, 10 cabinets | $2,548.00 | |||
Lowe's shows "Bulk Savings Available" on these without publishing a percentage, so we are not applying a discount we cannot verify. Ask in store.
Now the same layout from us, live from the site right now:
| 10x10 kitchen | Box | List | Our price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diamond NOW Arcadia | Laminate over engineered board | $2,548.00 | |
| Jarlin Dove White Shaker | Plywood | $3,729.20 | $2,816.49 |
| Fabuwood Allure Galaxy Frost | Plywood, dovetail drawers | $6,365.00 | $3,819.00 |
This is the part worth sitting with. A Jarlin kitchen is about $268.49 more than a Diamond NOW kitchen, and that difference moves you from laminate over engineered board to a plywood box with solid wood door frames. It is one of the smallest gaps in cabinetry for one of the largest jumps in material.
Want the plywood box without the big jump?
Jarlin gets you a plywood box, solid wood door frames and soft-close hardware throughout for about $268.49 more than a big-box stock kitchen. Assembled or ready to assemble, shipped to your door.
Shop Jarlin Cabinets See the 10x10 PriceSo Which Should You Buy?
Buy Diamond NOW if you need fully assembled cabinets you can pick up this week, the kitchen is for a rental or a flip, and a laminate surface is acceptable for how long you plan to keep it.
Buy Jarlin if you want real plywood and solid wood door frames for close to the same money. Given how narrow the gap is here, this is the honest recommendation for most people who walked into Lowe's expecting a wood cabinet.
Buy Fabuwood if this is your own kitchen and you intend to live with it. It is the best build we carry: plywood boxes, dovetail drawers, the widest selection of door styles and finishes, cabinet modifications, and a limited lifetime warranty.
Not sure which line fits your budget?
Send us your measurements and a designer will build your kitchen in 3D with an itemized quote, so you can see the real number for each line before you commit to anything.
Get My Free 3D Design Order Door SamplesDiamond NOW Cabinet FAQs
Are Diamond NOW cabinets solid wood?
No. The Diamond NOW Arcadia range is listed by Lowe's as white laminate, which is a printed surface bonded to engineered board. Diamond Express Jamestown is listed as white painted plywood, and the semi-custom Diamond line offers wood doors. Check the specific listing, because the three lines are built differently.
Are Diamond NOW cabinets good quality?
They are competent stock cabinets with a published rating of 3.9 stars from 9,148 reviews. The common complaints are chipping, damaged arrivals and doors needing adjustment, which is typical for laminate stock cabinetry. For a rental or a flip they are a reasonable buy. For a kitchen you intend to keep, a plywood box is the better call.
How much is a Diamond NOW 10x10 kitchen?
A representative 10 cabinet layout in Arcadia White Laminate came to $2,548.00 when we priced it on 2026-09-23 at the S. Tampa, FL 33611 store. Lowe's advertises bulk savings on these without publishing a percentage. Local prices vary and your cabinet list will differ, so price your own layout.
What is the difference between Diamond NOW and Diamond?
Diamond NOW is the in-stock line at Lowe's. Diamond is the semi-custom line, ordered rather than stocked, with far more door styles, finishes and sizes. Diamond Express sits between them. All three come from MasterBrand, but they are not the same product and they are not built the same way.
What is a good alternative to Diamond NOW cabinets?
For close to the same money, Jarlin gets you a plywood box and solid wood door frames instead of laminate. For the best build, Fabuwood adds dovetail drawers, a much wider finish range and a limited lifetime warranty.
Does Direct Cabinet Deals sell Diamond NOW?
No. We are an authorized dealer for Fabuwood, Jarlin, Kitchen Cabinet Distributors (KCD), CNC Cabinetry and Eurocraft. The Diamond NOW figures here come from Lowe's own listings and customer ratings.