When we started I went to about 4 custom cabinet shops with an idea of what I wanted xmp) maple wood, shaker style door (did look & compare raised panel). I kept a binder with my info divided by store and compared "apples to apples". I had notes for each shop that stated what was "standard" and what was an "upgrade". There were certain items that one cabinet maker had as standard like tip-outs, drawers, certain handles included (of course not the expensive ones), darker stain cost more etc.
The one thing I noticed was all but one had their own idea of what I needed in my kitchen so they all drew up different plans..............but I still gave them "my plan" and asked for a quote on it. I also compared to places like HD, just to get another idea of $$. Again, being able to compare "apples" plus gave me an idea of who would work with me not against me : ) My binder was with me just like it was my purse LOL
I ended up going with a local, small custom cabinet maker.

I had a very good suggestion from a cabinet maker when I shopped for cabinet lines. He told me to pick an upper cabinet, a pantry cabinet with pullouts, a base cabinet with drawers and a corner cabinet from a kraftmaid or other dealer book. Choose a wood and a stain. as well as a basic door style that you would like. Have a small drawing on a piece of graph paper with these cabinets and the specific wood and finish on it. Make copies( I had a dozen) and have each place you go to price these specific items out. It gives you a basic understanding of what is in your price range and what isn't.
He also told me that it isn't necessary to have all finished ends nor is it necessary to have all plywood construction. These things do not improve the life span or wear of the cabinets. Just price out the middle range of each cabinet line.
Realize that almost all lines have upcharges for glazing and many paints as well as hugh prices on moldings and inserts.
If you can get a whole plan priced out without having to give a deposit and sit for a couple of days with a sales rep or cabinet maker, great. If not, the basic cabinets really do give you a good guideline of whether you can afford the cabinets you are falling in love with or not.
Don't eliminate lumber yards and small shops either. Both are often willing to get help out and may be priced better than HD or a large kitchen place.
Good luck!

We are in the midst of this process now (we are in the wstern part of PA). What I have found is here, the only real way to do it based on the people we have met with is have them work up a layout and price it out (no deposit, no charge). So as long as you have the time to put into it, it is worthwhile.

We have met with three different KDs.

First was from a large upscale Kitchen and Bath place who sell 3 lines of cabinets. They say on a scale of 1 to 20, the lines they offer are a 4/5, 6/7 and 8/9 and they showed us the differences in each (besides going from stock to semi-custom to custom - this also included cabinet construction, finsihses, upcharges, etc). Very informative.

Second was a large cabinet / kitchen place - not as upscale as the first. Also sell 3 lines - stock, semi-custom and custom.

Third as a kitchen contracter that was recommended by an appliance store we were looking at. The appliance store had numerous cabinet displays with appliances and we could see some of this person's work. They only rep one cabinet line - more of a regional line than national - and from our research and what we have seen, we view it as at least as comparable if not better than the semi-custom lines at the other 2 stores.

We met with each KD for about 2 hours each - and we asked each to focus on their medium / semi-custom line. We had a rough layout we had sketched out along with a number of other items we decided upon in a written list for them. We are looking to not only purchase the cabinets from each but also for each of them to do the whole job. In the next week we meet again with each to see what they have come up with and I assume, their pricing. From there, we will narrow it down to one, work with them to refine thinsg further and move ahead.

While the process of meeting with each was a bit time consuming - 3 days in a row answering the same questions - it was worthwhile becuase each had one or two ideas of things we didn't think about that we have incorporated in our overall plan. We also got to know them better and how they work. I will be interested in seeing how things come out pricewise. Based on our meetings, I have handicapped who I think is going to come in low, medium and high. I am anxious to see if my prediction is correct. For us, all 3 cabinet lines would work, and we liked all 3 KDs - so this is a good situation I believe for us to be in.

Once we get pricing, I will be happy to post back since that does seem to be an area that is pretty lacking here on GW

I agree with everyone else, you just need to pick a few places and go there, ask questions, keep notes. I went to three different places and ended up with a smaller local cabinet maker. He didn't have the lowest price but the best price-to-quality index (ehm, that's how it felt, anyway) and was willing and able to work with me in getting custom heights, sizes, shapes, whatever, without really changing the cost.

One of the stores carried nationwide brands (Merrilat etc.), I had them price exactly the same layout, stock line, no fancy gadgets or anything, just a different door style and was shocked by how much the final cost depended on it ($5000 vs. $4000). Just the door style. Both were flat panels but different detail level around.

oops - my comment about scale should be 1 to 10 - not 1 to 20

We dropped $7 k, YES $7000!!!!, off the price by eliminating the molding (GC is purchasing it from a lumber yard for Talk to your KD and GC about money saving tips. We still got high quality all plywood and solid wood cabinets with dovetail drawers and lots of bells and whistles for a reasonable price.

That was another thing I did.........added everything I "wanted" to the quote and then decided what I didn't "have to" to fit my budget. Another thought is that if you decide to go with a certain wood you might decide to go with a more inexpensive wood to save your "have to"s. My friend did this with changing from unstained maple to unstained beech and still got what she wanted for the same look : )
HTH

Like teched said, watch out for the little things that you can do yourself. In her case it was crown molding. In mine it was saving $1200 just on the matching beadboard panels. We bought our own maple beadboard ($20 per panel) and stained them to match and they turned out perfect. An unfinished maple decorative post that I stained on my own probably saved me $400 or more. $60 unfinished corbels (again, stained by yours truly) for under my island bar area saved me about $700. If you're willing to do some of the work, and staining isn't exactly difficult, you can save big bucks and maybe go with a style or wood or a few little extras that wasn't in the original budget.

Ok - received our first quote. Overall package about $8K more than my target (this is for everything). They are the first one we rec'd pricing form and the one I expected to be in the middle of the 3 bids. I estimate they came in around $400 / lineal foot (including base and tops separately) for our cabinets - semi custom line. This was excluding installation which seemed to work out to between an additional 15% to 20% of the cabinet price and all other related remodeling / accessory costs which added on a lot more (and I really think the amount of extra work we have is minimal since we are going with the same basic layout).

I will post back when the other two prices come in. I have my fingers crossed that my expected lowest price KD with the regional cabinet line will come in lower - as they are the one we like the best and like their cabinet line the best as well

Thanks for all your responses. They were really helpful. I am probably just picking 4 places to go to to start and we'll see where that takes me including an Omega/Dynasty showroom, an appliance/cabinet place I have bought from before, an upscale manufacturer that is local and a custom cabinet guy that my contractor recommended. I will certainly make sure I get itemized prices so I can weed out things I can live without or do another way. I will post back when I start getting the estimates back.