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

Thank you all for the great input I will check them out in few weeks. We will start demo at the beginning of March. I hope I can stay in budget. have done remodel before, knowing I have tendency to go over:). I have Omega cabinet(overlay door with ivory paint and glaze) in our hall bath, they are very good, but not great. I was wonder why it was not appealing to me after installed. I finally find out that all the cabinets I loved haveinset doors, which I was not aware and did not told by the designer I bought the cabinet from until I discovered this forum. For what I paid to get Omega, I would have got better cabinet. but I have to say I have no complain about finish and quality for passed 3 years. But it is hall bath, it get used when my Mom over to stay or our friends stop by occasionally, and no kids in the house. I am on the eastside too

I can't speak for inset as we did full overlay and they aren't in the Chicago area but did deliver our cabinets right into our house and were here for measuring and 100% available by phone and email. We're in the Northwest suburbs and I know they are currently working on a house in Lincolnshire. I would HIGHLY, HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend Ayr Cabinetry out of Nappannee Indiana. They are a small Amish cabinet shop doing outstanding work. I"m happy to give them the most glowing referral. Ken Miller worked with us with the UTMOST patience and believe me if you knew me you'd understand LOL. There was nothing he could not do, we brainstormed a ton and my kitchen is perfect in every way. Their # is (574) 773-7973.

The deal where you order a cabinet w/o glass is called "glass ready." It's more economical to buy the glass you want locally and it's easy to install. I have to ask: who does the cooking/clean-up at your house? You have some really strong opinions on stuff like pull-outs, so I hope you're the one who has to cope with crawling around on the floor to reach the thing at the back of the cabinet as well as the person who has to find the step ladder to remove heavy appliances from over the fridge. I get your frustration, but pull-outs and drawers are engineered to carry heavy loads and perform just as intended, which might be called "ergonomically smart." Personally, I love having my dishes in a drawer just opposite the dishwasher vs where they used to be over the dishwasher pretty much over my head. When I can open the drawer by the stove and locate the right pot at the back of the drawer vs having to crouch down and unload everything in front of that pot and then re-load afterwards, it makes me a much happier and more efficient cook. God knows I spend enough time in the kitchen without increasing that time with mindless make-work. As for construction, you need to check out the terms "particle board," "furniture board" and "plywood." You really aren't going to want all-wood cabinets for structural reasons. "Furniture board" (a variation on particle board) has a sort of standard quality, which is "good to excellent." Both plywood and particle board come in various grades ranging from crap to excellent and one should not be mistaken for the other. FYI: This many kitchen cabinets, in a roughly 11-odd feet x whatever kitchen plus these china cabinets (glass ready) cost us $14,000 3 years ago. They came from Home Depot. We did the install ourselves. Note that we have a pantry with pull-out shelves on the bottom half, a lower corner unit with a super-susan (the best!!), and an "easy reach" upper corner cab. Under the peninsula is all drawers. Because we have such a small space to work with, as do you, we chose frameless cabinets which gives you just that little extra space when every inch counts. Amish cabinet makers are awesome, but they don't do frameless as far as I know.