Yes, it is possible (for local cabinetmakers to come in under the big boxes). For example, we (okay, I) wanted to have cabinets for our den (home office). I started out at HD because I (erroneously) assumed KraftMaid would be my lowest-cost option (there is no Ikea in my state) and I could also get a plan I could use to "shop around." At HD, the KraftMaid plan came in >$15K: I used that plan to get a price quote from Buy Cabinets, which still came in >$11K. When attending with my eldest child a three year-old birthday party at a local kids' gym I noticed a custom cabinet shop: after the party we popped in there on a whim (this is not the company who is making my kitchen, different story, but I started the den project before the kitchen) and they were able to make my (frameless) cabinets, just for me and fit to my specifications (no wasted space!) for $10K (inc. tax & delivery). And this is a nice cabinetmaker (nice as in ooh-la-la, not nice as in friendly).

I don't know why it works out that way. I started planning our kitchen before finding GW and to me, custom cabinets (local or otherwise) was synonymous with outrageously expensive. But my experiences (first with the den, now with my kitchen) has proven the opposite (coming in less), and like you, the more I read of others experiences with local custom, the more I realize I was totally wrong!

I'm glad you found GW! When I first "found" it (last June) and spent h-o-u-r-s on it daily, my husband christened it Kitchen Porn. So now that's its name and how I introduce it to everyone. Our kitchen cabinetmaker is well familiar with my Kitchen Porn photos / ideas ... thank goodness he has a sense of humor!

There are lots of folks here from your neck of the woods -- I bet you'll get tons of local resources. It'll be fun to watch your progress. Good luck!

IF you can find a reputable custom cabinet maker, I would say the answer is a resounding YES from my personal experience. We always knew we wanted custom cabinets, but as a baseline, we priced Medallion cabinet at Menards (from my understanding not the same quality as Medallion cabinets elsewhere). We were then lucky enough to find an Amish custom cabinet maker. His quote for better quality and better configured cabinetry came in at about 40% of the Menards quote. You have to do you research and really search, but if God is smiling on you, I think it is possible to save and get exactly what you want.

mccarthy - where in NJ? This is not exactly the land of small on-premises custom cabinet shops. I don't know what your budget is -- but Brooks custom cabs in Union came up with $28,000 ballpark for slab front cherry cabinets; Adelphi totally custom cabinets with every bell and whistle were $18,000. I priced semi-customs, far from top of the line cabinets at another place and they were, without bells and whistles, somewhere around 24,000.

My KD (who does not sell cabinets) told me that I should price custom; that they would not be more - and would sometimes be less --- than semi-custom. She was right! As a matter of fact, I went in to price Kraftmaid and by the time I upgraded to what I wanted, they would have been way more expensive than the custom cabinets I ended up with. Do your homework and don't be intimidated (as I originally was) by the word "custom."

WHAT A loaded question! I, too, priced out at HD and did not like the numbers, nor could they create the kitchen that I wanted. I then decided to use the same company that my sister used for her lovely kitchen.

My cabinets were contracted and were to be completely installed by March of 2005. What was installed and what was contracted was many nightmares apart. A court case ensued, causing huge delays to finish my kitchen. We had to move into our house and finish it bit by bit.

I will say that the day that the first cabinetmaker stole a check from my hand before I saw all of the cabinets in my home was a day I will never forget. I have heard the expressions, "I saw red," or "screamed in horror at the site of...", but could not really relate. I also do not say, "I swear...", but I will now. I swear I saw red and I screamed in horror at the $hittie$t in$tall and paint fini$h that you have ever seen in your entire life. My MBR had a 9' tall x 4' wide custom TV unit built by the same person and it was painted with a high gloss, shiny 'orange peel' texture, and white lacquer. Yes, shiny, like the shiny black lacquer finish used on Asian furniture, except white. Moreover, I did not order white in my MBR.

My kitchen cabinets were unbelievable. One wall of cabinets is 25' long and was 3" higher on one end -Vs- the start of the cabinet run. These cabinets were not level. To make matters worse, the finish was hideous, the design entirely compromised because the cabinetmaker did not order the door profile I contracted him to use (and I had half a sample door of the paint process, finish, and style and he had the other half of the door), the appliances did not fit, and he completely redesigned my range hood without approval.

I found GW the night that I screamed in horror. I was mortified and almost frozen with incredulity, and unbelief at what happened to us. There is no doubt that this shyster purposefully set out to $crew us and has never righted his wrong. He threatened us and slapped a lien on our property when I canceled the last payment that he stole from my hand. Of course, we ended up in court over all of this. I will say this: had I searched our county records and adjacent county records, I would have found SIX court cases that he lost where he did similar bait and switch jobs. He continues to get away with it, too.
I will search of the threads that will give you a blow by blow of exactly what happened. Fix yourself margarita, cup of coffee, or a rum and diet soda and read.
I do not know what I would have done if it were not for all of the very kind people giving me support on this Kitchen forum. I did not have time to cultivate support, other than my family during this time, or have the energy to want to verbalize aloud my outrage at this travesty. Once I start to verbalize, I can get so emotionally worked up at the audacity that this pompous, arrogant thief had and how he handled himself. I am a decent person and try to meet other people's expectations when I deal with them in business. I tip appropriately and am respectful. I would not ever set out to screw someone financially. I believe we should all serve one another as best as we can if we are to be a 'decent' culture and people with heart. The heartless, selfish, users appall me and I have no compassion left for those hell bent on doing wrong.

My Day in Court with CabFiascoGuy
My Day in Court with CabFiascoGuy II
Judge's Ruling

Thanks for all the info. Rmkitchen you are too funny! We are in the Red Bank area. Thnks again! My search is on.

Welcome. I live in NJ as well,in Morristown. There is a woman on this forum, Kateskourous, who I believe also lives in Red Bank who may be working with a custom cab maker in Chatham(can't remember the name). I know she was very happy with the quotes she had received. I have also been given a referral to Jonathan Fallos Cabinetry. I have not contacted them yet, and have no idea about costs, but I have the utmost respect for the person who referred them and I don't think she would steer me in the wrong direction. You could do a search on custom cabinet makers in NJ and see what you find. I'm sure there are many reputable ones out there as well as a few that are not, so make sure you do your research. Good luck!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Jonathan Fallos

The most expensive cabinets in the world are custom made.
So are the least expensive cabinets.

The very best cabinets in the world are custom made.
So are the very worst.

With custom cabinets, you have the individual craftsman standing behind his work.
That's the very best guarantee in the world.
And the very worst.

With the major brands, you know what you are getting, and have a big company standing behind their product.

Ikea cabinets come in a nice white shaker style too. they are not custom, but you could save a TON on them. my kraftmaid quote was >$9k, ikea is less than 4k. the money saved could be spent on someone who's done a lot of work customizing them.

that being said, i also got a local cabinet builder (saw their sign from the expressway) to quote me, and his was about on par with kraftmaid, but was coming with better features.

raynag, since you mentioned Union you should be up in my area. I am in Livingston. How do you like you KD? I was also looking for someone not affiliated.

With the major brands, you know what you are getting, and have a big company standing behind their product.

And that major brand--the nation's largest producer of semi-custom frameless cabinets, in business for decades--can go out of business before finishing your order.

Thanks for all the advice.
Raynag- where in NJ did you find Adelphi? I googled it, but no luck! You put it right, I guess I was intimidated by "custom."
Mahlgold- thanks for the link!
Sweeby- Love all the different materials used in your kitchen!

I hope this is not hijacking. I am a little confused about ordering cabinetry yourself vs. going thru the GC, whose subs would do what I guess would be called "custom" work on site. Did you all buy your cabinets on your own or order through your GC?

My GC (work hasn't started yet) has a cabinet maker who does everything. I am not sure how to compare this "custom" work through the GC (who of course charges his 25% on top of materials and labor) vs. ordering cabinets myself. Also I don't know if my GC would even want to work that way (we are at the very beginning of the process here). I don't need a whole kitchen of cabs--I need a couple of uppers, a new island, and a built-in hutch. It seems easier to let the gc/sub handle it but am I throwing away a lot of $$? Do you all have advice in this scenario? sorry again if this is not useful to the OP.

Kitchen Porn? Funny! He's a keeper.

I'm in Morris County & have been very happy with my Elm cabinets made in Denville, NJ. My dealer was Kitchens of Distinction (Randolph)also very happy with them but there are other dealers of this brand.

High quality, inset doors, priced on par as HD, Lowes, & a Kraftmaid dealer.

BTW- sherrilynn, so sorry for all your trouble. I heard of a another story where a dealer will underbid the competion, take the $$$7K deposit but not place the order for 6 -MONTHS but say it's on the way! (and screw it up along the way) .

hollylh - it all depends - have you seen the work done by your GC's cabinet maker and are you happy with it? Have you been given a quote that meets your budget?

There are a variety of ways to work. Some people buy their own cabinets and the get someone - possibly the GC - to install them. Some rely on the GC as a one stop shop - he gets all the materials and subs and you pay a markup but he's responsible for everything. There's no right answer but if you do go solely with the GC, make sure you're comfortable with him and the work he's done. Definitely check references.

I should have been suspicious when the WoodMode dealer asked for our zip code.

For a fairly large kitchen, simple shaker full-overlay doors and a creamy painted finish (full-extension drawers,lower cabinets had pull-out shelves but no corbels, turned feet, mantle hood business- pretty straightforward) our quote was over $88,000 installed.

Our GC's cabinetmaker made and installed our cabinets for $22,000. This did not include painting, which as I remember was under $10K and included the whole project.

Of course the GC added on his due, but that's to be expected.

weissman and pecanpie, thank you. I don't have any numbers yet but this cabinet maker is well thought of (though I have to go look at some of his work). It certainly would be easier in the end to just let this GC handle it--I'll keep you posted.

again, mccarthy3, hope this was somewhat helpful. I guess it also depends on contractors--mine is a pretty big shop so he has lots of regular subs and does a lot of built-ins--some contractors are smaller and I guess that is where a separate custom shop, or a big manufacturer, comes in. I am still feeling my way here.

Sweeby, well said!

To me, the main difference is the finish. I have yet to see a painted finish from a local cabinetmaker (in my area) that is as nice as a factory painted cabinet such as Plain & Fancy.

Mccarthy3, Fair Haven resident here in the exact same situation looking for cabinets. Have been directed to place nearby on Rte 35 with Dura Supreme, but wondering whether custom better. Cabinets look nice but just seem a tiny bit "not-woody" (not real word). Very curious how (if) you resolved, sounds like you were about a month before us on this. If still following this, please update progress. Thx much in advance.

willandry- small world! We are still accepting bids for the addition from GC's. So, I have only received 1 quote for cabinets. It is from a place on Shrewsbury ave. (decora cabinets). Now granted I'm new to this but their quote for the kitchen cabinets was a little over 14,000, and they gave me a seperate quote for the island and mini butler's pantry (which is about 6ft of uppers and lowers). The quote for these 2 pieces was 13,000. I was surprised that the island and butler's pantry was as much as the rest of the kitchen cabinets. Any local resources you can share? Next week my husband and I are driving out to Lancaster, PA to meet a custom cabinetmaker. With our planned addition we will also need cubby cabinets and bench for mudroom and some sort of piece to hide the tv. So I'll have more info when the PA guy gives me his quote for the kitchen.

Mccarthy3 - Sorry I have not gotten back to this thread; I've been so involved with my own (Adelphi) kitchen. Wholesale Kitchen Center on Route 46 in Lodi. Our custom cabinets were $18,000 with blum drawers and doors, a spice pullout, etc. We had a GC do the work. Mike at Wholesale is great to deal with; doesn't nickel and dime you, and we are very happy. Here is our 87" wall of 12" deep pantry and bookshelves. Natural cherry.

Keep us posted on your bids and I will be sure to check back to see how you are progressing. We're still in the midst - soapstone counters went in today, so it is starting to look like a kitchen. Good luck with your search!

raynag,

Thanks for the info. Your cabs. look beautiful. Can't wait to see the soapstone with the cherry (love that combo). Did you use M. Tex?

Mccarthy, re gcs, we're using a gc in Fair Haven, Shadow Lake. Kenny has been great for us in 2.5 yrs in the house, thinking he'll do well for us on the major renovation. I trust him, and trust I think is important.

Met last night with Rich Made Kabinetry rep., custom based out of Pa. Looked very nice, will likely be pricy (talking 35 range for a decent sized kitchen cabs). Will start a separate thread to find out re them. Just a little worried re the Dura Supreme not being "woody" enough. This looked very nice, but test will be Friday when we check out an actual kitchen in Point Pleasant.

My wife and I are on the same page so far with all. Very interested to hear re what's in Lancaster, this Rich Made is from same part of world, imagining you may get better prices meeting in Pa. with someone then dealing here. May be an option going forward.

Raynag, will check out Custom Kitchen Center too, thx.

We bought Elm cabinets from Kitchen Wholesalers in Little Ferry. Had a wonderful experience with them and their installers and I love the cabinets. Elm has a really good stock items so it is easy to stay in a reasonable budget while still getting a custom look. I live in Manhattan and have a 7' x 8' kitchen. I was quoted up to $40,000 for cabinets which was laughable, given the size of the kitchen. The Elms have all the bells and whistles and ran me about $10,000. I am buying a property in Florida and am trying to find an Elm dealer, which is how I found this website