I never found the linear price to be very helpful unless you are looking for a very basic kitchen. Inevitably, at least one of those prices doesn't include pot drawers, mouldings, or a pantry with slide out shelves, or any of the hundreds of other upgrade options. And it's those upgrades that will represent more than a 25% increase in price.

If you can get them to quote on exactly the cabinets you want, then you'll have a better idea. At least get a quote on a few specific cabinets if they aren't willing to lay out the whole kitchen.

It is of moderate use comparing brands but... Brand x prices better on paint, brand y on cherry, brand x is a good deal on glass doors, brand y not so much...makes it hard to tell.

Close to useless (even deceptive) for determing total price- footage price is based on a 10 x 10 kitche- 20 feet of cabinet right?
Not exactly,
- first off they use 30" wall cabinets, there is a blind corner with no accessory, no drawer base, no molding, no toe kick...

BUT more importantly there is a 3ft fridge, 3 ft sink base (cheapest base cabinet available), 2 ft DW , a 30 " range and a window (don't remember the size) dinky cabinet over fridge and range hood.

So subtract the appliances and your actually working with 13.5 ft of base cabinet, then make an allowance for the sink base and the blind corner that you will replace with a susan (blind corner accounts for 6 ft as does a susan but the susan costs 3x's as much), then tak off for the window, the pathetic little cabinet over the range and fridge.
SO if you take the 10 x 10 and make it 12 x 14 with a 5 ft island. you have added 11 ft of cabinet- practically double. Now go to the ceiling and box in the fridge....

Get quotes.

There is a huge variation even within IKEA cabinets based on door style. Not sure how you could compare among companies without having specifics of layout.

I think price per linear foot is good as a baseline estimation tool only. For example I was told to budget about $450-$500/lf for custom cabinets and that proved to be somewhat accurate since in reality it'll be in the $440s. BUT it's up to us to figure out how we're going to organize and set up drawers (translation: drawers will be open spaces) and then buy or build something on our own accordingly. I'm sure having organizers and whatnot put in would increase the price.

Don't forget to add uppers + lowers separately.

Also, for what it's worth the three sliding pantry doors will be priced by the square foot and are not part of the linear foot number above.

It helps with a basic uderstanding of how the different doorstyles rank in expense within that line, but between lines it's not as useful. The big reason that it's usless is the deceptive markup practies by most box stores. Just the cabinet boxes themselves are at about a 30% margin, which makes them appear to be cheaper than a cabinet store for those who think they are shopping apples to apples. But all of the accessories and molding's are closer to 50%, and those are the most expensive portions to begin with. So, that 10K quote is now 15K by the time you add in all of the finishing touches that a kitchen actually needs. Like toekick, scribe molding, and a touch up kit. It's the burger joint equivalent of selling you a large soda for $3 when it costs less than a quarter wholesale.

Not denying anyone the ability to determine pricing however they want to, but it makes a real difference to the end consumer when they don't compare complete quotes. Box stores are NEVER the cheapest choice when comparing actual like to like quotes. Cbinet showrooms will beat them every time. The only place where they have a stranglehold is by offering credit. So the customer ends up paying more------TWICE! It's smart business, but those who deal with them should fully understand where they are being taken to the cleaners if they choose to go that route. All of those tiered discount programs are nothing but smoke and mirrors.

Ditto what Hollysprings said.

My store offers both KM and Medallion. And I'm not sure about right now, but in the past, Medallion had better pricing on their solid wood, raised panel AND shaker doors, than KM! And I think Medallion is better quality. I have not compared them much lately the past two years, so I'm not sure what's happened between them. I prefer my other semi-custom lines over KM.

Also promotions can make a big difference. So, it's better to just price out both lines apples to apples. And, give a shot to a local dealer. Most people just ASSUME we're going to be higher and in MOST cases we are lower. AND, you'll get someone who's more experienced and will give better service. A kitchen is way to detail oriented to give to someone at a box store.