Every single kitchen that exists has tradeoffs between the "ideal" and the reality of the space. Frameless and full overlay cabinets require tradeoffs in that they need space against walls to allow for molding clearances and for their doors to open fully. One tradeoff would be that you won't be able to fully open a door that's next to a deeper cabinet like an oven cabinet because you will either need a spacer there or you will need to limit the degree of opening the door has so it (and it's hardware) won't bang against the deeper cabinet. So, you either have smaller cabinets with spacers to increase the door swing clearance, or you live with your door swing limited. Every kitchen has these situations that can be difficult to understand for a homeowner. "Custom" cabinetry won't magically solve those clearance issues. THey still exist. What custom cabinetry can do is to make those clearance issues less wasteful of space, and look better while doing that. It comes at cost. A cost in addition to the upcharge of using a custom cabinet line itself. I don't deal in custom cabinets. I only rep semi custom lines. But, extended stiles are possible in some of my lines. It's a lot more expensive a choice than using a filler would be. In a custom line, I can see where it would be even more expensive a choice. 30% more doesn't sound at all out of line for the cost difference in using fillers vs. custom extended stiles. As Kompy said, the key issue here is communication. There seems to be a lack of understanding, or documentation, as to exactly what choices were selected for this kitchen. There also seems to be a misunderstanding as to what custom cabinetry can and can't do, and at what cost. Would the OP have selected that KD and cabinet line knowing that what she truly wanted would cost 30% more? Or would she have selected a lower cost cabinet line that could have accomplished the kitchen that she currently has in the same manner but at a lesser cost? We weren't there for those decisions, and the discussions by both parties don't seem to be well documented. It's a shame that the OP is so disappointed in the kitchen, which appears to be lovely, but this can be a lesson to all to save copies of all of your communication with your KD and cabinet company and be very very clear as to what you are purchasing.

I found Country Craftsmen by googling, "cabinetmaker in Boston." Somebody wrote a glowing review here. We soon found out they are as good as the reviewer said. New to the Boston area and not knowing anybody, I thought I would take a chance. This is Patty and Billy Ramsey, a married couple in their 50's who have been doing this work for many years and about 10 workmen who have been with them forever. Patty spoke with me on the phone about what we needed for our Back Bay condo. She asked several questons to understand what we were looking for in the bookcases, cabinets, and hutch we wanted built. She sent several computer generated sketches until we had the design we were looking for and then gave us a preliminary estimate. My husband and I then made the trek on a Saturday to Uxbridge to meet and see their place. This was a clean beautiful showroom. They spent a couple hours talking to us going over every detail. We immediately felt comfortable with these 2 professional, yet very down to earth people. They came the following week to take measurements. All went well and the pieces were to be delivered 8 weeks later. Then I threw us all for a loop when I started making changes a few weeks into the project. Never was there any tone of frustration; in fact, at one point Billy said when I apologized for changing my mind so many times,"You should have what you want." Unbelievable! The pieces arrived and were installed with care and I must say, if you are looking for perfection in workmanship, these are your people. Everything is perfect, not a scatch I have to overlook, not a dent, absolute perfection to all specifications! Working with such nice people is always a pleasure. Phone calls, emails, requests are all handled quickly and I never felt rushed. They aim to please. I would highly recommend these people over the much higher priced, not as personable, city folk I first interviewed.

Hi bar, We used Faneuil Kitchen Cabinets; their phone # is (781) 740-8844. I highly recommend them. They do beautiful work and are a pleasure to work with at every step of the project. They are located in Hingham, however they travel beyond the south shore. My sister and DH's brother also used them with excellent results. Best of luck with your new kitchen. MJ

I live in the southwest burbs I used tri star cabinetry and they make the cabintes in new lennox, thought the prices were really good. 1-815-485-2564