my wife and i were planning to take a week before christmas and reface (not replace) the existing cabinets and replace the old laminate with oak butcher block (for which i made a thread previously, but that devolved into name-calling match, so let's avoid it this time around, eh?)

but the existing cabinets are not that great: they don't go up to the ceiling (we both hate the open space there), there's nothing above the fridge, the corner is practically unusable, etc...and so we're considering just replacing them altogether so we can actually be happy with the kitchen instead of just tolerant

my first thought was something like cabinets to go...their quality gets pretty high marks (wood doors, plywood - not chipboard/particleboard - frames, good joints, etc) though their customer service is kind of meh...all in all, they seem to be a good value for RTA (ready-to-assemble)

however, a couple of random forums have revealed some folks who said they had a local cabinetmaker do cabinets for less than the RTA, with reasonable installation costs and timeline

any experience with either option? if so, who'd you use (or who did you buy the RTA cabinets from)? i'm comfortable installing them myself, but if i can help out a local maker and get a better quality for not much more, i'd obviously rather do that

12/4/2012 11:22:29 AM

http://www.ikea.com

12/4/2012 2:36:04 PM

^ definitely thought about it...might still do that, but since it's a day trip just to check them out, i figured i'd start here

12/4/2012 3:55:22 PM

I want to build a wet bar in my basement, but I am trying to figure out how you close in under the cabinets, I do not want to have to dust/clean under them.

12/4/2012 6:38:05 PM

Check out the restore

12/4/2012 7:01:54 PM

I've heard and seen good work from these folks. No idea on price comparison though. http://www.cksdesignstudio.com/about-company.php

12/4/2012 8:31:57 PM

Under the cabinets you put a toe kick (board). It's pretty essential if you have pets unless you want them trying to get under there.

12/5/2012 5:33:38 AM

Having done this for a couple of years, here's some ballpark numbers for you:

A basic kitchen with double sink, 8 lower cabinets with top pull drawers and 4 upper cabinets is the basis for these roundabout prices (keep in mind I got out of the business in 2007, so adjust accordingly).

Ikea Price will be $5-7k depending on options and materials
RTG/Lowes/HomeDepot/insert other RTA option will be $7-9k
Full custom local cabinet shop will be $11-14k plus $2-4k for installation (most we dealt with REALLY do not want to just deliver you the cabinets without doing the install themselves).
Full custom internet order will be $9-12k including freight.

We used a local cabinet shop in Garner for all our modern clients, and we used http://www.scherrs.com for any traditional cabinetwork. Scherr's does fucking gorgeous work and has incredible customer service. You can customize absolutely everything, and their prices are extremely reasonable and straightforward.

12/5/2012 11:57:34 AM

I had this done about 3 years ago and it was right at 15k. We had a small custom shop do the build and they did the island top as well. Their cabinets were solid compared to all the others we looked at and they built them at their shop. They were not pre-ordered out of a book. They painted them as well and did the install. Happy to share the name if you want to contact them.





[Edited on December 8, 2012 at 7:41 AM. Reason : img]

12/8/2012 7:40:10 AM

^at a glance that is a really quality job. No edge spacers, consistent double/single spacing between uppers and lowers. The real devil is up close looking at the tolerances. Most RTA cabinets will get you 1/8 clearance between doubles,while most customs will give you 1/16.

That's also a really fair price for the number of cabinets you had done. I guess the economy has forced the custom guys to stop charging an arm and leg

12/8/2012 1:10:43 PM