My take is that it depends on how much you want your basement integrated with the rest of your home. If you want the "theme" to be the same, then the same or similar cabinetry would be in order.

If your basement is considered to be another space, you can distinguish it with a different theme. That was our objective.

We looked at several cabinet lines and settled upon IKEA. Certainly theirs are priced below many others but we liked the styles offered and we liked that the base units do not sit directly upon the floor. IKEA sells legs but we constructed our own risers from pressure treated lumber. This keeps the particle board from contact with the concrete in the event of water in the basement.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the suggestion.

As far the stock items, Ikea seem to hv the configuration I want w/o going overboard in getting customized.
(Just wondering if it's true on "you get what you pay for"...)

HD stock base cabinet seem to be a bit more durable built but need to see if I can modify it.

ps-liked your "built-in" shelving unit for the mechanical door. Just wondering if there's enough fresh air for your HVAC unit since there's no louvered doors in the pix.

I agree, you do get what you pay for. I have assembled both HD MillsPride brand and IKEA cabinets. Personally, I believe that IKEA has a better product - especially their hinges and drawer glides, plus they have more style options. Both control their costs by limiting the size options - this is where customizing becomes necessary to accomplish specific needs for an application. I'm certain modifications can be made to either product line. I also believe the factory finished fronts on IKEA are of better quality - interiors very similar.

Regarding my HVAC, there is plenty of air flow. We have approximately 18" in front of the furnace (behind the bookcase) but the entire space behind is open.

We used IKEA cabinets in our main family bathroom. Fnmroberts makes a great point about the cabinets being on legs, helping to avoid any issues should you have a water problem. We really like the quality. The cabinet boxes are solid enough (even custom cabinetmakers will use melamine covered particle board for boxes...). The doors look and perform well. I really like the hardware. The drawers look odd because they're not the wood construction one is used to, but they are full extension and self closing.... a great feature. We've opened and closed pretty much every drawer and door in the room for 2.5 years, and everything is working outstanding! (we have the kitchen cab system (akurum?) in the Adel medium brown finish.)