Why can't you buy the granite directly and not use a middle man... will probably save you some money to allow you to spend more on the nicer cabinets.

I can see why you're having a problem. I can only tell you my own personal view. I wouldn't make it a deal breaker to decide between all-plywood and MDF. There have many discussions here and the MDF seems to hold up fine and has some plusses over plywood. My picky DH is doing all plywood, where I would have gone with MDF and the savings...and the easy clean interiors.

3/4" drawer boxes seem like overkill. As I said, dh is picky, especially about sturdiness, and we're having 1/2". 3/4" will be heavier and take up more space...Not a lot, but why give up any if not necessary. I'd worry much more about how the corners were joined over the thickness of the material.

I'm not a fan of soft-close...Lots of money for drawers that close slower. Is slamming that much of a big deal? Not to me, even with 8 kids. We'll have full-extension slides at around 1/3 the cost and dh thinks they're heavier. (He was pushing for the soft close until he compared the sturdiness between those and what we got.) I think it would be a pain to have some drawers that have it and some that don't. You'll have to think about what 'touch' to use, depending on which hardware they have.

I would like the flush finished ends for cleaner look on the crown. But it's possibly one of those things you'll never notice after it's in. Have you looked at examples of each so you can see what you think?

As I said, all of those things are my opinion, and don't necessarily say anything for one of your choices over another.

Have you spoken to anyone who has used any of these companies? Do they come in on budget and on time? Is their work wonderful and do they fix any mistakes without a hassle?

How far are the less expensive 2 from meeting your vision? Can they come closer to it? $13K is a lot of money for other things if you won't notice any difference in the kitchen after you're using it. It depends a lot on your financial circumstances and priorities. Getting it 'right' may be worth $13,000 to you, while saving the money and having it 'close' may be preferable...Only you know that. Is this the house you'll stay in or a house you might sell in a few years?

If it were me, I would go back to all 3 with a list.......1)the cabinets that YOU WANT, style, depth, crown etc 2) all plywood cost estimate & 1 for MDF 3) drawer style you want 4) pick what bells & whistles you want, elimated the ones you don't 5) find out what it costs to get the granite yourself 6) while they are giving you a more 'refined' estimate ask for reference and see the work, ask previous customers their opinion.
You have a great start....just need to refine a bit and get what you want. That might make your decision a bit easier : ) And on the budget too.
HTH

If it's the same granite, company C is probably marking it up quite a bit - negotiate it down or as a previous poster said, take the granite out of the bid and get the granite yourself.

Im not sure the type of granite that is considered medium grade. Have you already selected the type of granite you like with these firms?

Is it possible that company C is giving you the flexibility to choose a higher end granite? If you are like me, you will not be happy with the cheapest granites and you'll end up spending more anyway.

If it were me, Id try to negotiate with company C to see if they could come in under my budget.

Thanks - some follow-ups:

pcjs - Never thought about buying the granite directly from the fabricator. I will contact them to see if thats an option and what my pricing would be. I figured going thru the KD would make life easier. I was happy to hear Company A say they were passing the granite on at their cost (they shared the faxed quote from the fabicator with me). I am not adverse to paying Company C a small markup - but anything more than $500 seems excessive and they say that the $5500 from Company A is way below their cost. I wonder if the volume of each's business with this fabricator affects their price.

Rhome - yes, all 3 were recommended. I would do more detail reference checking before finalizing but I am confident all 3 could do the job on time. And the contract will be a fixed price - so once we settle on the cost, it should be fixed. Company B could easily meet our vision but it will come about with some increase in costs. Company A - I am not sure they can. They can get close but seem to have limited flexibility on one important cabinet in terms of meeting our need. Company C - I know I can reduce the price somewhat by eliminating what we view as some of the unnecessary bells and whistles. Won't get to Company B level but hopefully within a few thousand

saskatchen girl - I did give each a pretty specific layout to begin with (albeit without being specific on all the bells and whistles). I did give them a little flexibility though. I think at this point if I did go back to more than one, I would probably narrow it to two of them.

Weissman - thanks - yes, I will look into buying direct if I can't get them to lower the cost

Sonicstef - no, haven't selected granite yet. I know that price will change based on what we select. Company A and C each had the same set of 25 samples showing examples of low, medium and high grade and I know they both quoted the same medium grade level. I also know I won't select from their samples - but will pick from a fuller selection at the local granite yard or fabricator

Thanks

Just my comments on the granite - like Pcjs, I think you should take the granite out of this quote, and shop for it yourself. For one thing, you'd then be eliminating the middle man mark-up. For another, different granite yards have different selections of granite. You may find that the granite yard any of these companies has locked you into doesn't have the granite YOU'D like. As to "medium grade" --actually, granite pricing is based on availability (or scarcity) of that granite, not on the quality of the granite. The words "medium grade" are meaningless when applied to granite, and it concerns me that they are applying terms with no meaning to your quote. I am concerned that not only are you locking yourself into the granite yard that the company uses, but also locking yourself into a particular level, "medium grade". If you still decide to include granite with these companies' quotes, then at least have them specify EXACTLY what "medium grade" means, or better still, go to their specified granite yard and see the choices they have to offer under that category before you commit to any of these contracts.

Thanks - I will definitely look into doing granite separately.

Wondered if anyone else could chime in on this part (especially the 2 deep vs 3 drawers):

In thinking about eliminating some bells and whistles for Company C - can you give me your input of what you think of the following:

- currently spec'd blumotion softclose on all drawers. Thinking of eliminating it on some - just keeping it on major use drawers

- Thinking of changing one large 3 drawer base to a 2 drawer base (have 2 other 3 drawer bases). For people with 2 deep drawers - do you find this helpful? Do you have a deep drawer organizer in it or just wide open

- We have several varied height / depth cabinets. On many of these that but up against one another - they have spec'd flush finished ends. they say it will look better with crown molding (no notching) and provide a cleaner look. I understand what they are saying - but how noticeable is this

- and is it worth around $800 to do this (note - this is separate from the cabinets with fully exposed ends which they have spec'd to be finished like another door)

Thanks