I bought a faucet at Studio 41. I went to their Highland Park store because I think it's their biggest. It has the BEST display of faucets that I have found in the entire Chicago area (IMO). I found that the salespeople were very helpful, though I only bought a faucet there. I also went to Community Home Supply on Lincoln Ave. and bought some things there, and found them helpful, but don't go on a Saturday, it's too busy.

Builders Cabinet Supply on Southport Ave. sells cabinetry that is made locally in Chicago. Their in-store designers are VERY good, but only sell the Builders Cabinet Supply cabinets. Which is not a bad thing, as they have a nice selection, and you get a lot of bang for your buck given the quality (because you are buying locally, from a small manufacturer, and there is no middle man). I bought my cabinets there, though my kitchen is larger than yours, but I don't think that matters to them. A friend of mine had them design her small townhome kitchen. It was amazing how their designer eked out every inch of space for her in clever ways, and the kitchen went from cramped and storage-less to wow, and my friend now has empty shelves cause she gained so much storage.

Here is a link that might be useful: Builders Cabinet Supply

Thanks, that recommendation sounds exactly like what I need - every inch used wisely. I'll have to stop in there.

Studio 41 (at least in Lincolnwood) sells Ultracraft and some other cabinets that I wasn't really interested in. They were also the highest quote I got (about 30% higher than my Brookhaven quote) even though they supposedly gave a 45% discount. They had informative salespeople.

Community Supply also sells Ultracraft as well as Schrock, Medallion and Omega. The designer I worked with at Community was very friendly, although we ultimately went with Brookhaven.

Thanks. I'm planning on checking out several places over Spring Break.

We finished our basement before we did the kitchen and all the plumbing fixtures from the bathtub to the kitchen sink and everything in between including lights and counters all came from Studio 41. I did a lot of research and still hadn't found GW when we did that remodel. I did, however, find better prices on some items BUT all I did was bring in the print out and they matched or beat every price. IIRC that was a $200 savings on each of the toilets at least over their store pice so don't be put off by the pricing.

When we did the kitchen, I bought our manhandle there. They matched an online price I had as well and this time it was just one item not $1000's.

As for the kitchen, I HIGHLY,HIGHLY,Highly recommend Ayr Cabinetry out of Nappanee, Indiana. They are custom builders but again, when I shopped by price, they were very comparable to local big box stores. The big advantage is they custom make every unit to fit. I do not have a single inch of wasted space and there is not one piece of filler in the entire kitchen. In addition, they do not know the meaning of the phrase "it's not possible". They were a pleasure to work with and the resulting kitchen is top notch in every way.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ayr Cabinetry, and yes, that's our kitchen - you can see the Manhandle on the far right

Thanks, loves2cook. I had to google manhandle. Very cool. Thanks for the link.

Just throwing out another option - Banner Plumbing Supply. They have a nice big showroom in Buffalo Grove (north of city) and lots of ideas. We bought Toto toilets, Duravit vanities, Toto faucets, Hansgrohe shower valves from them.

When we were remodeling, I did call Studio 41 to inquire about something and they were pretty helpful over the phone.

HTH

One more option for kitchen cabinets .. they are wholesale and we got a pretty good deal.

http://www.lakelandbuildingsupply.com/wholesale-cabinets.aspx

Good Luck !

If you're on the north side this might not be as helpful, but we used a cabinetmaker that we really liked. He's down in Posen, which wasn't very close to us but his work was excellent and so was his price. (When I teased our builders about sending me down to Posen, they said "hey we'll send you to a place in Oak Brook but it will cost you triple!" I said no worries, I'll drive to Posen.) Walter at Northstar did cabinets for our kitchen, mudroom and 4 bathrooms and we're really happy with them. He custom mixed a finish with glaze for my kitchen based on a picture I had, and he had some good suggestions for the layout too.

When I lived in the city I used Community Plumbing Supply for a condo renovation and liked them too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Northstar Cabinets

I 2nd Banner Plumbing, big big showroom.

I can rec Kitchen Village in Arlington Hts as designers and builders.