Kitchen Cabinet Sticker Shock - Need Help!

[kbkids]

Boy, do I hear you!! We're building a new house, and I about died when I got our first quote on cabinets. For the kitchen, master bath, laundry room, and two bathrooms, we were quoted $48,000. We've pulled the laundry room out of the bid, and I'm going to use the Mills Pride cabinets from Home Depot. After MONTHS of shopping around, we found someone for $30,000 for the kitchen, master bath, two kids' baths, fireplace mantel, master closet shelving, and a built in book case in the great room. I was pretty pleased considering the price we started off at.

We have friends who are just starting, and their initial quote was $53,000.

 

[mickeysgal]

Consumer Reports liked Omega, Diamond and Fieldstone

We just ordered cabinets from Diamond. We haven't gotten them in yet. They're for an entertainment area in our basement. I liked their product and we were advised by a few different places that their customer service is outstanding. I believe Diamond is made by the same manufacturer as Thomasville.

 

[mickeysgal]

BUT, we were able to get $30,000 worth of high end cabinets for about $5,000.

Thats incredible. I would imagine they have a lot of scratched and dent type stuff.

Here's a question on the cost of cabinets. For those that have paid these high prices, are you getting full plywood boxes or funiture grade sides. How important is it to get full plywood if they're not going to be seen? Now if you have an end piece or piece that will stick out, I think you need to get a plywood side, but if they're going to be lined up next to each other, how important is it, really?

OP: When you were quoted your price, what level of contstruction was it? Furniture grade sides or full plywood sides?

 

[chris1gill]

I'm 9.5 hours from Ohio, but I think I'm going to go to this warehouse! I'm totally flexible about door style, and almost completely flexible on wood.... so hopefully I'll be in luck!

34K is not out of line for good cabinets. We got around the problem a creative way, but you are probably not close enough to the source to do this. Kraftmade has a warehouse near Warren, OH where the receive over-runs and returns from the big stores. They open the warehouse every (or most) Saturdays. Cash and carry, first come first serve. It can be a mad-house. We live 5+ hours from there. BUT, we were able to get $30,000 worth of high end cabinets for about $5,000.

I will also second the suggestion not to cut corners if you can help it. Kitchens will make-or-break the value of your house.

 

[Galahad]

Thats incredible. I would imagine they have a lot of scratched and dent type stuff.

Not really. Mostly first run stuff that was never sold. They usually have 20 to 30 complete kitchens that you must buy as a lot and these are usually nearlly spotless. Then they have 3 full warehouses full of individual cabinets sorted by finish. The problem is that it's hit and miss. You have to go with a plan that has alternatives or you could easily leave empty handed (which happened to us our first trip).

Here is a message board discussing the warehouse, strategies, etc.

http://www.homeressources.com/forum/read.php?f=9&i=1881&t=1881&v=f

and another:

http://www.ownerbuilderbook.com/forum/messages.aspx?ID=135#Message599

 

[chris1gill]

Galahad, how far from the warehouse are you? Just curious... How many times did you ultimately go? I found that Schrock has an outlet or two or three, but one is in Oregon, one in Illinois and one is somewhere else.... Ohio doesn't sound too bad LOL

Not really. Mostly first run stuff that was never sold. They usually have 20 to 30 complete kitchens that you must buy as a lot and these are usually nearlly spotless. Then they have 3 full warehouses full of individual cabinets sorted by finish. The problem is that it's hit and miss. You have to go with a plan that has alternatives or you could easily leave empty handed (which happened to us our first trip).

Here is a message board discussing the warehouse, strategies, etc.

http://www.homeressources.com/forum/read.php?f=9&i=1881&t=1881&v=f

and another:

http://www.ownerbuilderbook.com/forum/messages.aspx?ID=135#Message599

 

[Galahad]

Galahad, how far from the warehouse are you? Just curious... How many times did you ultimately go? I found that Schrock has an outlet or two or three, but one is in Oregon, one in Illinois and one is somewhere else.... Ohio doesn't sound too bad LOL

We are in Indy and the Warehouse is in Lordstown, OH near Warren in Eastern OH. It is a 5 1/2 hour drive each way. We've been there three times. We went over the night before. They are only open on Saturdays (and not every Saturday). You have to arrive there by about 6:30. You are given a number - usually about 400 people show up. At 7:00 (I think - it could be 7:30) they randomly pic a range of about half of the numbers they've given out and let those people in. The other half are let in 30 minutes later. Everybody else is let in 30 or 45 minutes after that.

The first trip we came up empty handed because, in spite of some research, we were not prepared with enough fall back positions. It is not likely that you can pick exactly what you want from a catalog and then go find it there on the Saturday you show up. You need a list of alternatives.

The second trip we arranged a U-Haul ahead of time, went with a pretty good plan and came home loaded down with great cabinets. The third time was only partially successful getting so "stragglers" to fill in gaps in our design. We ended up having to buy a couple of cabinets RETAIL , but we still saved a ton.

It is not an easy thing to do and if you live far away it can be quite a chore, but we saved a lot of money and I got a lot of time in the car to talk with DW which is always a plus for me since we don't get that kind of opportunity much anymore.

 

[KelNottAt]

Back when I was dreaming of remodeling our kitchen I read somewhere that 15% of your home's value is rule of thumb budgeting purposes. But, I think that's for the whole shebang: cabinets, appliances, floors, lighting, etc. YMMV.

 

[chris1gill]

The second trip we arranged a U-Haul ahead of time, went with a pretty good plan and came home loaded down with great cabinets. The third time was only partially successful getting so "stragglers" to fill in gaps in our design. We ended up having to buy a couple of cabinets RETAIL , but we still saved a ton.

It is not an easy thing to do and if you live far away it can be quite a chore, but we saved a lot of money and I got a lot of time in the car to talk with DW which is always a plus for me since we don't get that kind of opportunity much anymore.

The best we can hope to save is about 4K since we have a small kitchen... it's 9.5 hours from here, I've read through all the threads, I think I've got it
Is it worth 19 hours to save 4K? If I knew I was going to get the stuff I need, it sure would be..... Course I'm very flexible birch, cherry or maple, color is pretty flexible too, I just need about ten matching pieces! Two of which are pantry's (ultra expensive but only 110 at the warehouse)...

 

[Galahad]

The best we can hope to save is about 4K since we have a small kitchen... it's 9.5 hours from here, I've read through all the threads, I think I've got it
Is it worth 19 hours to save 4K? If I knew I was going to get the stuff I need, it sure would be..... Course I'm very flexible birch, cherry or maple, color is pretty flexible too, I just need about ten matching pieces! Two of which are pantry's (ultra expensive but only 110 at the warehouse)...

Boy, that's a long drive! I will say that they usually have a good selection of "complete" kitchens that might work well for you if you are that flexible. If you do it, be sure to call U-Haul ahead of time as they won't have a truck for you locally if you wait until that day to ask for one.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Check this website out for great ideas for kitchen (and just about anything else) remodeling: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchbath/

I lurked and posted there for a year before our remodel. I learned more than you could ever imagine!

We're only planning to stay in our house another 18 months or so, so when we did our remodel, we took our existing semi-custom cabinets and had them refinished. Not re-faced - refinished.

We then had a cabinet maker custom-make a new wall of cabinets, that matched our existing cabinets. He did an awesome job and you'd never know that they weren't all put in at the same time.

ETA: Make sure you switch to "gallery view" so that you can see pics of how other poster's kitchens turned out. I got my color choice for my cabinets, by finding a picture that I loved on there!

 

[TallyLassie]

Thanks for all of the ideas. We got a price from Mayco for all wood cabinets (plywood drawers, etc.). That price was $10,000 less. Still more than I wanted to pay, but a much better price. The cabinets that I picked I believe are custom within 1/2".

 

[Mike.Wazowski]

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchbath/

I definately recommend that site!!

defiantely shop around. we just built and our kitchen was custom and I LOVE it... but it was the most expensive room in the house... as expected...
but got everything I wanted... hidden hindges, spice drawers, pantry pull outs, granite etc... one place gave us a price significantly HIGHER than the other and they are the EXACT same cabinets imported from Canada (DH use to work for one of the comapnies