| Cabinets? When you consider the price that one must pay for cabinets ... ... have you thought of building your own? They don't take a lot of wood. The basic cabinet is not hard to build. It's mostly the doors that cost the money, for upper cabinets (and some for end pieces). For lower cabinets, the countertop adds a substantial amount - but not an inordinate amount (and less additional than on off the rack, or especially the custom-built jobs). You could plan your counter system in any way that you choose. Study some of the ones in your friends' houses. If you haven't really looked at how they go together before, have a good look. Maybe you'll be surprised at how simply they are built. You could buy a router and use it on some scrap wood to get into practice. I'm sure that you could make some beautiful doors, yourself. Actually - you could buy about a dozen routers for the price of a set of cabinets. Hey - what about asking on Gardenweb/THS who has had experience at building cabinets? They could give advice at a distance. If in a nearby state, they might even come over for a weekend to show you how and get you started. Even someone in a distant state might be interested to come visit the sites/sights in your area, even some nearby relatives, on their vacation. And spend half a day with you to help you get going. How about that, all you carpenters? ole joyful | 
