Here is a friend of a friend of a friend story....so take the advice as you wish! I live in the KC area, we were originally looking at custom, but ended up just with Kraftmaid. Our GC knew that we were looking at all options, so mentioned that a friend of his who is about as picky as can be had his cabinets custom made by Shamrock Cabinetry and had nothing but nice things to say about them, he was very pleased with the quality. We had worked to Joe at Profile and really liked him, took a look at their showroom out in Lenexa and liked their products. They have been in business for quite a while, so said that they could provide references for kitchen they did 5 week, 5 months, 5 years ago. When it came right down to it though, they were out of our budget so we didn't pursue it. I wouldn't hesitate to call them if I had a smaller project though, just really liked them. Good luck, that is really unfortunate.

We went with Diamond cabinets- Semi-custom from the Kitchen Store in Culver City, CA. The cabinets are beautifully made and I love the finish. The doors do feel a bit cheap to me but that is due to them being veneer rather than solid wood- a choice that made sense since we live about a mile to the beach and have lots of humidity. Solid wood would probably have huge issues with warping down the road. Kitchen Store has a great KD, and solid support with broken cabinets(one came broken and needed to be replaced) but they are slow. Still waiting for our broken one 4 weeks later. They have a lifetime warranty which is nice. Plus if you don't like the look of the wood on a drawer or cabinet door they replace it no questions asked. Already changed out two doors and one drawer based on looks only. I heard not so good things about Diamond going in but think it more relates to the lower line cabs that they sell at Home Depot and Lowes rather than the semi-custom line. Custom cabs were not even looked at since in California very few chemicals are used in making them. All my friends with custom cabs have the wood starting to rot off the front of their sink cabs due to the lack of chemicals in the finish. Did NOT want that a year into my new kitchen so I admit to wanting a product made out of California. Verdict- love my new cabinets and the experience working with the Kitchen Store. Price was very reasonable too.

cocokey Take a look at the Cabinet Makers Association website. Link http://www.cabinetmakers.org/shopfinder.html Reputable, skilled cabinetmakers. You can search by zip to find someone local

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.