I always assumed credit scores were an integral and historic part of the American financial system.
They were not, they are very recent，most of your parents didn’t have credit scores growing up, and as you can probably tell or at least intuit, it’s mostly just a b******* scheme for those with capital to accrue more capital by invading your privacy.
I recently was a cabinet seller, and basically 100% of my customers either paid cash or paid on the Lowe’s card to get the 5% discount, then paid it off immediately with a different card.
So, among the population of people doing kitchen renovations, it seems your case is toward the “overextended” end compared to how most people do it.
In your case it was probably just credit utilization ratio that got you. I doubt they’re considering the types of purchases.
Just saying, in my experience at a big box home improvement store, basically everyone who buys cabinets does so with cash on hand.