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"You Asked" wrote in message
Custom cabinets are fine when made by a good cabinet maker, but they are
really necessary only if you have special sizing requirements. For
example,
cabinets made my Kraftmaid and other standard suppliers come only in 3"
width increments. If you need, say, a 22" wide cabinet, then custom
cabinets are your only choice. Otherwise, you'll probably find "assembly
line" cabinets to be a better use of your money.

Even when building custom cabinets, filler strips are used. Increments of
3" is standard even with custom cabinets. I've never seen the need for a
22" cabinet or other odd size not of standard increment.


As far as I can tell, the Kraftmaid cabinets that Home Depot sells are
exactly the same as the Kraftmaid cabinets from anywhere else. You just
have to specify exactly the same features to be able to compare the
prices.
For example, the Kraftmaid cabinets are available with either particle
board
or plywood sides and back. The plywood costs extra (20% extra, if I
remember right), and many of the Home Depot people don't mention this
upgrade. In my case, my carpenter recommended the upgrade, and I decided
to
go with his recommendation.

Kraftmaid may be close to specifications of other retail outlets compared to
HD, but are not of comparable quality bought through a wholesaler. In fact,
Kraftmaid will not sell HD the same quality they sell to wholesalers. For
instance, face frames through a wholesaler are a true 3/4" solid wood, check
yours and I would be willing to bet they are either 5/8" or 11/16". The
hanging rails on wall units are true 1/2" wood when purchased through
wholesaler, I do believe they are composite through HD. On base cabinets
they are a true 3/4" wood through a wholesaler. The doors are thicker bought
through a wholesaler. The floor of the wall cabinets are a true 1/2"
Natural Birch compared to 3/8". The drawers are true wood being 3/4"
w/dovetailed sides with a 3/16" plywood floor. These are a few differences
off the top of my head.

Of course the upgrades through a wholesaler are almost endless. Upgrade to
all plywood construction, furniture grade end panels and shelving. Roll out
shelving, full depth drawers, you can configure the drawers to single or
double. Inverted frames (drawer on btm vs. top drawer). Increase depth of
wall cabinets to 15". Glass door inserts w/safety or tempered with about 1/2
dozen different styles. Custom arched feet for the bases with about 1/2
dozen styles to choose from. Voiding the center stile on double door base
cabinets. Finger pull routing. Spice racks on interior of doors. Double door
peninsula's (doors on both sides for the island applications). Another nice
thing about ordering through wholesaler, you can purchase quarts of exact
matching stain that was used to stain your cabinets for use on additonal
woodwork like baseboards/crown and custom work you build. Anyways, you get
the picture, there is a huge difference.

If you have a real contractor doing the installation, though, he should be
able to get a better price from his supplier. A contractor that I used
recently to do some home improvements (not the same one who did my
kitchen)
told me that he gets 40% to 60% off of list price for Kraftmaid and other
major brands from his supplier, then marks them up from the supplier price
by 20% to 40%, and the customer still comes out better than if the
customer
purchased the cabinets from Home Depot. If you are using a very small
contractor, he might not be able to get these types of "wholesale" prices,
though.

The norm around here is a multiplier of .3 or 70% off retail. It's well
worth puchasing from a wholesaler over the retailer, definately more bang
for your buck. But never expect a contractor to give you his full discount,
he has to charge for taking on responsibility of ordering etc. This is
where they cover some of their overhead.