You need to have a conversation with your builder and ask him to reconcile what you saw in the finished house with what was in your allowance.

Be prepared for the answer to be, "the finished house cost a lot more than your allowance...!", which you already know.

Thereafter, ask him to show you what you CAN get for the allowance, and figure out what you can and can't live with.

Unfortunately, you have become the latest to experience the low-ball allowance game, designed to keep the initial contract price acceptably low. You don't describe the size and number of kitchen, bath and other cabinetry, but the normal allowance for a house your size and budget is probably double your allowance.

Good luck on your project.

I would be happy to take natural slab granite and the cost savings in place of man made quartz. I also believe simple cabinets look better in the long run than fancy ones. These materials should support the main design theme of the space instead of being visually dominate.

Well, I guess you knew your allowance was low so you expected to go over? The question is how much are you willing to go over to get what you want?

I am not familiar with MidC but we have Shiloh for our entire house. For Shiloh, painted is an up charge, full overlay is an up charge but inset is not. There is no up charge for glazing. Layout will play a big part in cost. 2 stacks of 18" drawers cost a lot more than one stack of 36".

Did you work with a kitchen designer at the cabinet place? I would ask to meet with him/her with the itemized list and look over ways you want cut costs. The big extras like trim end paneling etc. can really add got be cost.

You went to a cabinet 'supplier' or 'maker'? If only the supplier, ck out your local cabinet makers directly. It boogles my mind why allot of folks want 'brand' name cabinets.

Good luck Courtny, we were in the same boat, but not quite as bad. Not sure where you are located, but we had the same choices. Gave the Shiloh guys our drawings, (w no budget constraints) and they were too busy to even get back to us. Didn't care for the mid cont. build qty. we had 3 custom guys look and bid, but they weren't even close. Ended up at Home Depot, w Thomasville. Got all the options we wanted, built the way I wanted (plywood box, end panels finished, ....) and much closer to budget. I know people will complain about that option, but it worked for us. Simple shaker, painted in kitchen, stained in baths. Our 'allowance' was 24.5, we came in at around 28. Granite budget was 8 and that is doable for us. Good luck

I second robin's suggestion - check with local cabinetmakers. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Thanks everyone. I think my main issue is that they put decent cabinets in their spec house I saw, and I thought I could do the same for the same price (their cabinet supplier told me the price). It seems that they are now calling my house a "custom" build and are charging me a lot more for the same thing- actually a lot more for an inferior product.

I am going to have a talk with them about comparison shopping - if it is such a "custom" house, then I'm entitled, right!?!

I did look at Shuler's cabinets at Lowe's today. To me they seem much more solid than the midcontinent I've been quoted, so I'll get that quote at least.

My kitchen designer also had Mid Continent and Shiloh. I had her price out both cabinet lines with a simple shaker style door with painted on the perimeter and stained on my peninsula and my MC quote was around $10,500 and my Shiloh quote is around $14,000. With the Shiloh I will get beaded inset doors and glazing is also included. My kitchen is an L shaped kitchen approx 16 x 12 (so uppers and lowers) and a 9.5 ft peninsula which will have a bookcase on the wall above. I included a rendering and it's still a work in progress, but I am pretty sure I am going with the Shiloh cabs. I also faxed over my plan to an Amish cabinet maker but I have not heard back from them yet.

Wow. My kitchen is smaller than yours - 9ft wall and 10.5 foot wall, 5x7 island, but cabinets going to 10 foot ceiling, so perhaps price comparable. I think they are quoting me about $25k for MC for the kitchen alone. I got some prices online and per my rough (but generous) calculation I got about $13k, so much more in line with your experience.

At the price of my house, I really do not want to do MC. This is so helpful-I'm off to get more quotes!

"I also faxed over my plan to an Amish cabinet maker but I have not heard back from them yet."

Not surprised. Amish + Fax ??

Definitely shop around for quotes for the Shiloh- if you are in the Chicagoland area, for example, there are tons! Of dealers. You just want the highest potential discount off list.

DennyDine: The best price I found for Shiloh in the Chicagoland area was 52% off list.

Sorry to hear this.

We were in the exact same spot. Our home is 660k, 3800 sq ft. Our combined kitchen + cab allowance was $24k. The builder offers a choice between MC & Shiloh.

Notice the similarities :(

We ended up eating the extra Shiloh costs. MC is not that great, so we're doing it only in the mudroom. Total cab cost ended up being 38k. Shiloh everywhere, MC in the mud, only 3 upper cabs.

It's a cool trend I've seen actually where you do a wide open space, with lots of windows and few upper cabinets. Try that look, perhaps it'll work for you. We don't have a lot of stuff to store, so we dropped a bunch of upper cabs, added windows instead and really happy with the result. (Hopefully, drywall is not even up yet) :)

I find this concept of "allowances" rather confusing. We've built 3 custom homes, and each time we had these types of things picked out and/or paid for before the contract was signed so they were not included in our contract with the builder. The bank identified the items we paid for up front as part of the down payment (if you're doing financing). ie: cabinets, flooring, lighting, plumbing, etc. I guess it varies from builder to builder, and by different areas of the country.

Trust me this is the first and last time we will ever do it this way again!