We're doing IKEA with custom fronts. We have done a lot of modifications to the cabinets (DIY). I really love the Blum tandembox drawers that come with IKEA - full extension, soft close. I think it would be worth hiring an EXPERIENCED IKEA installer to customize your IKEA kitchen. Semihandmade has such lovely fronts too.

I would recommend looking at semi-handmade, and using their bookmatch grains (teak and walnut are both options) on Ikea cabinets. I did not end up using them for my kitchen, because we decided not to use a wood grain, but their stuff looks amazing.

Here is a link that might be useful: semi handmade doors

Yes, agreed that Ikea is an option, thanks. As I mentioned above, we've had a great experience with Semihandmade.

I'm now looking for other cabinet options, ideally semi-custom lines so that we'll be able to maximize our kitchen space.

For example, we want 14" deep floor to ceiling tall cabinets. That's not easy to do with Ikea. And the more we spend customizing Ikea or having custom cabinets built to fill in the holes, the more going the Ikea route costs. DIY, unfortunately, isn't an option for us at the moment.

I know you can order lovely cabinets from Brian and The Cabinet Joint .com. They're Conestoga. I've ordered (when I have some $$) from him a couple of times. He's incredibly helpful and my cabinets are beautiful.

Bookmatched walnut or teak and value pricing don't really belong in the same sentence! :) Sherrs is about as cheap as it comes for custom door fronts for Ikea with those parameters. I honestly don't think 30K is at all out of line for what you're asking for, unless you're willing to put some DIY effort into it.

Thanks, LWO. Really appreciated. Yeah, I was afraid that my hopes for a Henrybuilt-lookalike kitchen couldn't be accomplished without significant cost.

Wish we had the time for DIY, but with full time jobs, an infant, and plenty of smaller projects we can DIY (like installing closet systems), we have no option but to hire this out if we want it done in the near term.

Bookmatching seems to add a lot to the cost. We priced a kitchen with woodlook laminate and then the same kitchen with the same company with walnut veneer and the cost of the kitchen went up by 50%! Yikes!

You might check out Dynasty. They offer a horizontal walnut slab door, Tarin, that while not bookmatched, is pretty great looking. It is in a 3 price column (1-9 scale). It can give you 92% of the look you want, with a friendlier price point. It's also available in their new frameless construction instead of framed, if you prefer that. As a test, I did a 10' run of the framed cabinets composed of 24" butt bases with 36" butt uppers, added toekick, some simple straight trim for the top, and did 2 door end kits for the sides of one base and one upper. $5850. Triple that for your basic kitchen's size, then start adding on for accessories. Well under your 30K quote, in a well respected semi custom line. Go see Eka at ProSource West Loop if you can give up the matching grain.

Here's a bad shaky cell phone pic of Tarin.

Have you considered using Ikea cabinets with Semihandmade doors?

;-)

The thing is your experience of Ikea cabs sounds limited, and if all you've done with them is make a vanity cabinet, you've barely scratched the surface.

Take a look at what dutty was able to accomplish using Ikea as her cabinet Legos.

See, you had the answer all along. Told us so.

Here is a link that might be useful: IKEA super hack

Thanks again, LWO. ProSource is just two miles from my office, so I'll be calling first thing tomorrow. My heart wants grain-matched, but it's tough to tack on $10k just so the cabinets line up. Plus, if one of the fronts should get damaged down the road, I'd be looking at replacing more than one front.

It means a lot to know you like Dynasty as a mid-priced cabinet. It's so tough to make an apples to apples comparison, especially when it comes to the boxes.

EAM, I love the idea of a super-hack. I just don't have the time to plan and my kitchen designer isn't interested. Wish I had the time -- I could definintely get all geeky about Ikea.

Thanks!

You should get quotes from your local cabinet makers once you have an idea of what you want. From what I've gathered, local cabinet makers often have quite competitive prices. I got a quote from someone local for solid wood fronts, and I thought the prices were fantastic - custom wood, panelling, colour, stain, etc.