We did Schuler at Lowes. Our kitchen is 13x 11'7 plus a 5' peninsula. We spent less than those estimates. Schuler is the same as Medallion. Medallion has several different lines. Our cabs are beautifully made and the finish is excellent. We wanted simple slabs because the marble is such a statement. Hope this helps.
Laura

Oy! You're opening a can of worms there! There's way too many choices, everyone has opinions, and prices / value / options vary on location. Pricing/comparing cabinets was one of the biggest ventures I've done to date - more than actually doing the install!

Best advise is to shop around and get prices everywhere. I was unable to find a shortcut in this process - and the info I had came in handy when it came time to negotiate the cost with the company we preferred to work with.

In short, there are good companies, bad companies. Check out custom shops - their prices might be more competitive than you think. But also know that just because "custom" is in their title doesn't mean workmanship is any better. For me I decided against the custom shops I looked at - while their prices with installation were very competitive, none of the custom shops I checked out would sell without installation.

I looked at RTA stuff online too. There's good and bad companies out there and look for reviews, and BBB ratings. In the end I decided against RTA as the savings wasn't significant enough to forgo the personal customer experience I felt was important here. Check where the cabinets are made too - I decided against giving China my business which took away the more "competitively priced" places. A lot of people speak high things about Ikea cabinets, but I didn't have a store close enough to meet my customer service requirements.

I actually got mine at Lowes. From what I hear, Lowes and HD are hit or miss and can really depend on who the particular sales person is. The pros, as a DIY'er, is their model for service often allows you to get really involved in the layout/design (and they probably rely on it more too). Many other places did the drawing and quoting behind closed doors which was a turn off for me as I wanted to really tweak design/pricing. I've heard a lot of complaints about the disconnect between sales and installation as they contract it out, but again, not an issue for me since I installed them. Without sales prices are high, but the sales are frequent, often big, and you can try negotiating.

In the end I'm glad I went where I went. The sales person made me feel important to them and that I'd get service beyond the sale, and the guy came through on his word. For me I knew I would have loose odds and ends after the purchase and dealing with a person who I could count on was one of the more important factors.

So not sure if that answers your question - but hopefully gives you some thought.

Cardell. My local kitchen guy who could put in Wellborne is putting Kabinetart in his own kitchen. It's the line down from Wellborne that they carry.

The best thing to do is shop different "avenues." I wish I had done a little more of this. I would start at Lowes/HD...have them do a drawing and explain their different cab lines and get an estimate on the one you like. Next, go to a few kitchen showrooms...again, ask questions, bring your layout, and ask for estimate just on cabs. Then, check out custom cab makers and get estimates. By then, you should feel pretty educated on cabinet construction, etc. and will have a good cross-section of cabinets to choose from and can pick the one you feel is giving you the best bang for your buck. We went with the kitchen place our contractor recommended and I am happy with what we are getting (Dynasty) but still wish I would have investigated a bit more for price comparison.

Kraftmaid is widely available from both dealers (usually better price) and box stores. It is considered a median priced line, but you can get quotes in it (and in ANY line) that are equivalent to one of the higher priced line if you pick the most detailed door style in the most expensive upgraded color and with loads of glass and moldings. If you are on a budget, restraint and trade-offs are your two key watch words.

BTW, I wouldn't pay 20% to "upgrade" to all plywood at all. Furniture board is more than fine in most good quality cabinet lines. Put your money somewhere it shows like an upgraded finish or all drawers or glass or molding.

Conestoga makes some nice ready to assemble cabinets. You can order them through online dealers or buy them through local cabinet shops that deal with Conestoga. What has made the line desirable as of recent is they will custom size many of their cabinets. I know of no RTA line that is offering this service. I don't think you will save a ton of money with them but that customization aspect is a nice feature. They also go together with traditional glue and joinery as opposed to the cam type fasteners.

I just went to HD and for 13 cabs- icluding corner w/ lazy susan,18in pantry, soft close, full extension drwrs. This was Thomasville Cottage- a shaker style, in a painted finish. Total was over $10 grand. But a sale was on and the cab total went down to $8600. Not a bad discount. But I am exploring other aves, not because of price but lead time is an issue for my schedule.

Thanks everyone so far for the valuable feedback. I do have Conestoga in my master bath and we are extremely happy with quality and finish. The thought of assembling a whole kitchen of cabinets versus a bathroom was the main reason I haven't gone down that road yet. Probably worth a look.

I just got my medallion quote and it's coming in around 17K.

sixtyohno - beautiful kitchen...and gorgeous countertops.

When doing our kichen one of the local cabinet shops came in at about 70% of the cost of HD and RTA cabs.

Don't dismiss the idea of custom cabinets being less expensive than RTAs or cabs from the BORG (Big Orange Retail Giant)! Get some bids.

I would also consider a good cab maker in your area. I did 2 kitchens in 5 years and looked at cabs all over both times. I had to have inset cabs both times and ended up with better prices and quality work having them made. First time they were stained with a marine varnish and this time BM oil base painted. Please with both.

I also ditto the custom route - I wish we had known then what I learned here too late. We went with just a local cabinet dealer but didn't get anything special. Had we known that the cost would have been comparable custom I surely would have done that.

We are in the same boat... looking at HD/Lowes, custom cabinet builder & a high end kitchen design company.

We are only looking at approx 7 feet of cabinetry.

The custom guy just rattled off a quote that left us floored. It wasn't even solid wood. Drawers were melamine.

HD and Lowes were less...

KD shop will respond by tomorrow - but had the best customer service rating so far. She was friendly, suggesting things we hadn't thought about and was very thorough.

I made the mistake of telling custom cabinet guy that the unit we had seen online & wanted built was priced at 4K and showed him the picture. Surprisingly, (cough, cough) he came right in with his bid at 4k... for a single unit 6.5' x 6.5'. Once again, not painted and not 100% wood.

Maybe I'm living in a bubble, but hubs and I are constantly amazed at how expensive cabinets are... this is definitely challenging.

We just went through the same thing, so I'll share our experience. Got bids from 2 separate custom cabinet makers, an independent dealer for a cabinet line, and then Lowes for a couple different lines (Schuler and Kraftmaid). We ended up really liking the woman that we worked with at Lowes and ordered Kraftmaid from them yesterday. They are currently running quite a few specials which brought down the cost to what we thought was reasonable.

I would say that our kitchen is medium sized (about 13x11)and we are getting full overlay, stacked cabinets to reach our 9 foot ceilings in cherry for right around 14K (includes installation so you would save some there). That includes some add-ons like base cabinets, pull outs, spice rack, wood cutlery divider, etc. Full extension soft close drawers with Blum hardware and soft close doors are standard with Kraftmaid. A couple things that we didn't get was all plywood (except the sink base) and our uppers are just fitted for glass that we will provide ourselves. The custom guys were closer to 18K. I really really tried to work with them but they just upcharge you to death and I couldn't justify the added cost.

Good luck!

We are just about to finalize plans for a full kitchen renovation. I started the process thinking we would deal with HD, but the person I spoke with was not very friendly or helpful... bad move. On top of that, they wouldn't even come look at the space unless we guaranteed to use their installer. Huh? How could they work up a presentation without measurements? Am I missing something? Anyway, enough of that rant. We ended up going with a local all-purpose hardware/lumber yard: Shaker-style alder cabs by Schrock, with dark cherry for the island... and all the bells and whistles for insides (to take the place of a semi-walk-in pantry).

Unless you feel totally comfortable with your planner... no matter where they work... keep looking around. As you drill down into details and making things fit by half-inches, you'll want someone who listens, makes suggestions based on your actual needs, and never sighs in exasperation:-)

Oh yeah... went back to HD to pick out a Delta Touch2 faucet. The woman in the kitchen department had never heard of such a thing. Aarrgghh!

My Medallion, Gold series, cherry cabs came in at 16k. Included rollouts, divider trays, upgraded toe kicks, huge wine hutch, glass fronts , dentil crown with all wood.

I also got custom quotes that were about 10k more.
In our previous kitchen we had a custom cabinets and honestly, the finish and quality of the cabinets, are so much better on my Medallion cabs!

Kraftmaid from Lowe's... we are SOOO happy with ours!

Medallion at Menards, We got 42 inch wall cabinets and custom hood, crown moldings,soft close, paint and stain for a pretty good size kitchen in their premium line very reasonable when compared to other places. They where on sale at the time. We just had them installed, our trim carpenter said they are very good quality and easy to install.

We are just starting the long process of kitchen redo. We started looking at cabinets, so a few of you gave great input of what brands to look at. But some of the prices you paid is scaring me! Way over my budget!!! Which brings me to my question. How do you know a special is going on? I see ads for HD and Lowes, but have never seen some of the deals advertised that people have said they received.

I was told by my KD at HD that their buy more save more event goes on a couple of times a year....I don't think it's going on right now which is funny because I ordered my cabs just about a year ago when it was. But that makes me think that it might be coming...so feel free to ask in the kitchen design when it last ran and when it might be coming up. Among other things we got a free sink base and soft close on all doors/drawers as freebies. We had investigated Medallion Silverline, but it was more cost wise - and our budget was low...4K for all cabs. I don't know about Lowe's...

We used Lowes & Schuler, and have been very disappointed. While the quality of the materials is excellent, we had nothing but problems. Multiple pieces had to be reordered, not once, but two or three times. We started our renovation the first week in September and we are still not done. Half the cabinets came in the wrong color (Polar white instead of Divinity). Double wall oven cabinet came in AT ceiling height so there was no way to stand it up. The 4 columns on the island had to be reordered three times, and the last time they came in we just gave up trying to get them to do it right and used what they sent and made it work the best we could. At that point we had already been without a cooktop for 4 months and it was getting too cold to use the turkey fryer outside to boil water. The PO of our house stole the appliances so we literally had nothing to cook with. Needless to say when we start the master bath remodel I will *not* be using Lowes again. 40% of the problem was the KD, 60% Schuler.

We are pricing out inset, white painted, shaker cabinets, and have the following prices:

1. CrownPoint [direct]: $33K
2. Earthfriendly by Christiana: $25K
3. Crystal Cabinetry: $18K

See the link below for the layout/floor plans:

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Layout - 12.5 x 22.5

And note, we are ONLY pricing out plywood, with natural wood veneer....not melamine, not MDF.

As for sales- Hd had 20% off the allready asembled cabs on the shelf. And just today, at Lowes- 20% off their pre fabbbed cabs. Also the HD KD told me that a sale on the granite is coming up soon.( I love Bianco Antico)

I just wanted to say that we recently installed Kabinart cabinets in our kitchen and we are very happy with them. When I originally looked for Kabinart reviews on here there weren't many and it made me a little nervous. We did a maple perimeter in starlight and a glazed cherry island. Interestingly enough cherry and maple were the same price, and they come standard all plywood, full extension and soft close drawers (I think a lot of the cabinet manufacturers are moving towards this). In contrast we ordered our master vanities from Kraftmaid and when they came in the drawer glides were all messed up, and they just didn't seem to have quite the same quality, although I'm sure if we had done our kitchen in Kraftmaid we would still be happy with it. We priced both lines and they were coming in pretty comparable. The only thing I didn't like with Kabinart were the cheap plastic shelf clips so I ordered metal ones, but other than that we have been very happy with the shipping/packing of them and with the quality of them during use (especially with 3 small children).

sixtyohno - OHNO!

I thought I was in a position to do a relatively inexpensive kitchen redo as while I like marble - marble countertops don't interest me, or any of their fake lookalikes either - so I was going to go with the cheapo ikea black countertop, with the caveat that I could get a nicer one anytime I want....

Yours is the first marble countertop that I just love - that green is so beautiful - what kind is it?

In the end I decided against RTA as the savings wasn't significant enough to forgo the personal customer experience I felt was important here.

If you do decide to take another look at RTA, check out Scherr's. Their customer service is excellent, and the cabs are fully custom. Leon Scherr is great to work with.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scherr's RTA cabinets.

We are DIY as that is the only way my vision is even in the realm of possibility on our cash budget. I have a huge kitchen and am pricing out 32 cabinets (26 in white painted maple; 6 in cherry). I have received quotes between 20-30k from the small kitchen designer; 17k from Lowes;11k from RTAs.

Finally, from talking to one of my child's friends dad (who owns a contracting firm), he said he could get the cabinets (fully assembled) that I want at his cost...price $9.5k.

I don't think I can do better than that! I have been researching and pricing for three months and plan to order this week.

t-bird I'm glad you love our marble. It's rain forest green. It's a serpentine marble which is harder and less likely to stain, etc. Some of the yards call it a granite, but it's not. We have 62 square feet and it was a bit over $4000 installed. I think though, if you go with RFG, you need to keep the rest of the kitchen simple.
I must say that everyone who sees our kitchen is blown away by the counters. Or maybe they are just being nice. Who knows?
Here are some more photos.
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg1210270527481.html