Ok - if we can, let's try to plan one day when everyone comes over. I think it would be fun. You guys can see everything DW did at our house- pretty much every room has a Dutch Wood cabinet in it :)
I cannot do labor day weekend and I'll be out of town September 15-29, but I'm game pretty much any other time.
Does the weekend of September 8 or 9 sound good to anyone?

I visit pa a lot!
Hope to join the party!
I make some wicked muffins but hard to fly with them!
I either fly into Harrisburg, allentown, Philly or bwi as my DM lives near reading.
Come out to visit the midwest!

Sept 8-9 works for me
This sounds Fun

Tom? Sara? Either the 8th or 9th work for you? A2gemini will you be in PA then? P.ball2?

I will check!

Beagles

8th or 9th in the afternoon works for us.

Thanks
Tom

i'm so excited!!!! the 9th works for us!
& tom i looked on google maps.. were about an hour & a half away from you. not too bad at all. thank you for offering! we would love to come & visit. let me know when is a good time for you.
you are all so sweet :)
sara

Ok. The 9th seems like it will be good for everyone, maybe around 1:00 in the afternoon? I don't want to put the address on here- you guys can email me through my member's page.

Anyone else?

Great, e-mail on it's way.

I'd like to join you on September 9 too, if that weekend remains free in our house. Anyone want to join up in the D.C., NOVA region for the drive up? I'll check back.

Is this the Gardenweb North American 2012 Conference?

Will there be speakers? Maybe Jason & Kevin from DW could come!

Would love to join you all, not sure what the schedule here is. I think Beagles kitchen has many more (all) of the coolest features. Bring your cameras and notebooks.

If anyone does want to see mine it is always an option. Especially if you want to see SW in real life in a kitchen.

: )

I just sent everyone who emailed me out an email. If I missed anyone or you didn't get it, let me know.
If anyone else wants to come, everyone is welcome :)

Hi Beagle -

I have admired your kitchen on houzz and absolutely love your kitchen. I live in NJ, but will be in PA on the 9th. On route home from Hershey? Can I come to for a quick peek? We are hoping to begin our kitchen this fall, and from what I see in your kitchen Jason at DW would be our #1 pick.

I will send you an email w/ my name and info!

sent you an email cheeke

Can I join the dw party? I live on edge of Philly

Nyyankeesfan, would love to see yours and michelle16 dw kitchen!! I am near end of design stage and was planning on going with dw, just from gw pics here, but would love to touch and feel

I also am looking for some countertop ideas, materials used.

Mags438 you are welcome to join in. Email me through my members page and I'll add you to the list and give you the address. We're not too far from Philly.

Hi - I am in the DC area, right across the river from NOVA in MD (Montgomery County) & interested!

Roberta

beagles,
I am not sure yet if the 9th will work but I figured I should first know where you are located. Once I know how far you are from me then I will have a better idea of whether or not I can swing it.
Still waiting to find out when our demolition will begin. It might be in one to three weeks so I am in the throes of getting ready and also the back to school grind. The good thing is that I won't have any school meetings, sports meetings on a Sunday.

Could you email me your address?

rjl443 send me an email through my member page and I'll add you to the list and send you my address.

p.ball2 I sent you an email.

I almost pulled off a trip for this momentous event - but alas, the flights skyrocketed and my DH wants me to come in at the end of September for her birthday - Initially thought the date would be perfect as we had to make a decision on her medication management but she chose to continue to have someone set up her meds for her -so not as critical.

Beagles - Can I get a private tour at the end of the September?

If I am in town, that would be fine a2gemini. Unfortunately, I'll be gone for two weeks and coming back some time around September 30. Then I will be here through mid-October and then going to Florida for the winter. Not sure when you're coming, but I hope the dates work out!

Beagles - Best wishes to you and your fiancee on your wedding this weekend! How wonderful celebrating in your gorgeous home. Looking forward to the "road trip" next weekend.

Thanks Kellysar. Two exciting weekends in a row, wedding and then Gardenweb Meetup/House tour :)

Wahhhhhh
I could come if it were a Thursday or Friday.
I'm also outside DC, but down in PG county.
Have a great time.
wish I were there!

Next time we'll plan on a Friday CEFreeman :)

Beagles I would love to come, but not sure if it would work out with the new baby.
Which town are you in? I don't think you're that close to me sadly - we're in New Hope, Bucks County.

Berks County, Wernersville area. Probably not too far from you. You are welcome to try to come if you can, email me through my member page for the address if you'd like.

I looked it up and it's almost 2 hours from us. Too far with the baby sadly - hope you guys have fun!

What time on Sunday does all the fun start????????

Shortly after 1 was the plan, right?

We can not make it until 2 PM, I hope that will be OK??

I've been getting quotes on my kitchen design from various kitchen centers as well as DutchWood. What surprises me is that the DutchWood quote is over 30% less than two independent Brookhaven quotes. Both quotes are for equivalent style stained cherry cabinets with some glass doors and extras such as fridge and DW fronts. The Brookhaven quotes were both 42-45K and the DutchWood quote was closer to 27K.

When something is that radically different, I start having doubts as to the quality and worry about what I am giving up going with custom cabinets from a small shop. From the very positive and glowing recommendations for DutchWood on this forum, I feel like my concerns are baseless. Most people have said they are very competitive to stock cabinets, but so much less expensive has me very surprised.

Was this the experience that others have had with the pricing compared to national brands? How does the quality and workmanship compare to semi-custom such as Brookhaven?

Thanks

bob4321 my Dutch Wood cabinets are so, so much nicer than any stock cabinets I have ever seen in a showroom or model home.

There are a lot of differences between custom and stock that account for the reduced costs. First and foremost, anything you want to do with a stock cabinet that is even slightly out-of-the-ordinary is going to cost you a lot (if it is doable at all). When cabinets are made in assembly-line style, of course any deviation from this will be hugely expensive. When custom makers make each cabinet individually, it doesn't cost them anything to make slight changes to particular cabinets to accommodate the needs of the customer. This accounts for the biggest difference in cost- you don't pay for the little "extras" or changes w/ a local shop and you pay through the nose for these changes with stock cabinets.

Other factors also come into play as well. Local shops typically don't have multiple big showrooms to maintain and multiple sales employees. They don't have to ship their cabinets. They may not advertise. They may not aim for as large of a profit margin as stock cabinet companies.

From my experience, I would not ever get stock cabinets for any project. I like having the flexibility to design what I want; getting to support local craftsman rather than big companies; and getting to go and see the process of having my cabinets created.

I didn't use Dutchwood but I did have an Amish cabinet maker in my area do custom cherry cabinets for my kitchen and oak cabinets for my laundry room. The quality is fantastic and the price was 1/3 to 1/2 less than a couple different brands of stock and semi- custom cabinetry from a kitchen store and 2 big box stores. So I concur with beagles.

Dutchwood is FAR BETTER quality than stock. These are custom. They will make whatever you want and the upcharges to do so are much smaller than you would pay for the same changes from a big manufacturer such as Woodmode or Brookhaven. I priced out Brookhaven cabinets and Plato cabinets. They are very nice. Just a few of the little upgrades or tweaks that I wanted were a HUGE upcharge. The wood hood was a big expense as was adding glass to any cabinet. At Dutchwood it is no big deal and they are so fair with the pricing. There is also no middleman to pay ( the kitchen designer that needs to get a chunk of the price and the showroom owner who has to pay overhead costs). Dutchwood is where the buck stops. They also include installation in their price. I was looking at another $6,000-$8,000 for installation with Brookhaven or plato cabinets.

You've all given me even more confidence in taking the trip out to Pa to see Dutchwood and a couple of other Amish custom shops. The difference will pay for a good portion of my appliances plus get me some fantastic cabinets.
thanks

bob, how far are you from them?

Guessing about 3 1/2 hours. I'm in long island

bob4321-I'm on Long Island too. Whereabouts are you? I was considering the drive, but I thought it was too far.

In western Nassau. I have estimates from two custom makers in Pa. Was going to make it a mini vacation in Penn Dutch and visit the two shops. Dutch Wood and Master Design Cabintery both show about 4 hours on google maps from my house.

Bob4321, can u share your kit hen size?

I have a Dutchwood kitchen and my MIL has a Brookhaven in her vacation home. the Brookhaven are quality cabinets, but they are not custom. Check the upcharges on your Brookhaven quote and then the upcharges on the Dutchwood quote. Things like inset, beaded inset, paint, glaze are all significant (up to a 30%) upcharge on many semi custom lines. Dutchwoods upcharges are much more reasonable.

I am extremely happy with the quality of my Dutchwood. Their prices are fair, they are honest people who are a pleasure to deal with. They honor their word. And they will do basically anything that you envision (with the exception of framless). You will end up with exactly what you want.

Please call them and make sure they are willing to travel to Long Island.

FYI for those who are considering Dutchwood.I do not know if you saw this post from DCJersey, see link below. Give Dutchwood a call to see if they will travel to your location.

****************************************************

So I have been looking into using Dutchwood cabinets in my kitchen renovation, but have hit a recent snag in that Dutchwood isnt taking on new projects for a couple of months and is trying to avoid traveling the distance to my home (I live about 2.5 hours away and they have a 2 hour limit).

Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Post

That would definitely be a problem for me. I live in eastern suffolk county so it must be 5 hours from me. I can't seem to find any Amish cabinet makers on Long Island. Unfortunately Dutchwood doesn't seem to be an option for me.

Thanks Tom. I was away from my computer when for Bob answered. I was going to point him to that thread.

I guess fantastic product, outstanding service at reasonable prices results in problems like this, too many customers, not enough production capacity. I am so happy we did our kitchen when Dutchwood was just starting to get famous on GardenWeb....:-).

Mags438 - my kitchen area is approx 16X20 L shaped with a third wall and large rectangular island. Both quotes were for approx 50 feet of base cabinets, 30 feet of 36" tall uppers. Lots of draws in bases.

nyyankeesfan - the long lead time will probably not be an issue for me as I haven't even broken ground on the new construction, but the travel distance limitation could be an issue. Master Design Cabinetry did include installation to LI in the quote, so that may be a determining factor. I can also have my builder install the kitchen. It may required anyway as the building department will require local licensing and insurance on all workers on the premises.

Thanks bob for info. I've decided to delay my new kitchen till next yr (just a few months away though) as my current time doesn't allow for me to dedicate the time necessary.

I am working with Dutch Wood right now and I live outside of Boston. They will not install, but they will deliver. My GC will be doing the install.