One difference is the degree of customization available.

And yet a fully custom local cabinetmaker is often less expensive....

The quality of the wood is another factor (also veneers vs solid wood doors).

Solid wood doors
3/4" plywood boxes
Undermount, full extension, self close, soft close drawers
Solid wood drawer boxes
European hinges, slides
Toe kick drawers
Drawers for anything you need, cabinets for anything you need - brooms, oils.
Organizational options in all drawers.

Full degree of customization
eg. lower lip on uppers to hide UC lighting
Solid wood end panel
Choice of finish on the cabinets, eg. lacquer, oil, poly, waterlox etc.
Continuous grain on adjacent doors, drawers.

Ultra high end - ability to pick the actual wood pieces (figure) for the doors :)

The quality of the wood used for the face frame and doors and the quality of the finishing process used are the most distinguishing feature from medium grade to high end cabinetry. Many cabinet lines offer nice "insides", but some offer furniture quality woods and finishes on the exterior.

For "high end" Euro type cabinetry, the lines blur a bit, because very little actual wood is used in most lines. One of the big differences is how "green" the cabinetry is. The better brands use low to no formaldehyde or other VOCs furniture board, or use another type of composite board entirely like wheat board for the boxes. The glues are also low VOC. The finishes are high grade thermofoil or thick laminate with edgebanding on the boxes matching the doors. They offer many different options for customization including curved cabinetry and built in solutions for many appliances. THey're a lot more than just slab melamine doors over partical board boxes, which is what many people who are used to American traditional framed cabinetry can think.

Ditto what live_wire said. But I will add:

Once I had a client ask me the same thing. He was looking at Dutchmade Custom Cherry vs. Kraftmaid (semi-custom) cherry. He asked me, "Why should I pay $7,000 more for Dutchmade, the KraftMaid looks fine to me." I told him, "With Dutchmade, you can expect near perfection. With KraftMaid, you can't. Dutchmade is fine furniture....more hands touch it through the process, they use higher grade, hand selected woods and there's more attention to the details...this is why you pay more."

I just want to double ditto what Kompy just said. :) For those who want to be very nitpicky about their cabinet order, and who expect no knotholes, mineral streaks and other natural wood characteristics to show, expect to pay for that pickiness. A medium priced line will have all of those "natural wood characteristics" and won't be up to some people's perfectionistics expectations. Those people should up their budget and move to the premium lines.

I also agree with kompy.. the sample cabinet Crown Point sent us looks like beautiful furniture-- we have it sitting in our livingroom next to an handmade English grandfather clock-- I have to say that the cabinet is holding its own.. whereas lower-end cabinetry seems more like.. well.. cabinetry.

I have to add that it helped me a lot to figure out that I wanted really nice cabinetry and not fine furniture. It is hard not to want or go for "the best" but the best may not even be what you really want! I got nice mid-range cabinets in my laundry room and I am constantly reminded of how much money I saved and how appropriate they are for that room and how much I like them. I went with upper-mid-range cabinets in my kitchen and I love them. My house didn't need fine furniture in the kitchen (especially since I don't have any fine furniture in my house :) Now that I'm picking cabs for my bathroom it is so much easier now that I know I can get great quality if not "perfection". I do adore looking at the high end displays and seeing them in home. Those cabinets are gorgeous!

Blum hinges and soft-close mechanisms. If you have an Ikea nearby, go and check out how nice their doors and drawers feel. Considering how cheap their cabinets are, you then focus on the hinges.

We have what I guess are "high-end" custom cabinets from Plato Woodwork. I can remember asking myself the same question - what is the difference. Some of the first cabinets I'd seen - that were very nice - were Durasupreme. I later visited a friend's KD showroom where she had a nice display with three different cabinet lines in three different price ranges - including Woodmode and Brookhaven. Woodmode had thicker doors/drawers than Brookhaven and she said there were more steps in the finishing process for Woodmode. Neither of those things really seemed to make Woodmode worth more money to me - it was that Woodmode allowed more custom options. She now also carries Durasupreme line which is more moderately priced - and likes that line because it is good quality, more economical but does allow for more custom options.

We recently looked at some newer homes - potentially relocating. These were generally pretty nice homes - not cheap by any means. That is when I really realized the difference between "high end" and what I can only think must have been "low end" cabinets. The doors/drawer fronts were practically paper thin compared with mine. They just seemed cheap and flimsy to me - there's just a lot less material there. They looked nice at a distance until you opened a door or drawer. Of course the drawer boxes are completely different as well - as others have pointed out. I probably would never have noticed this before I redid my kitchen and became TKO - though my 30 year old cabinets were not thin and flimsy either.

Live_wire: And wouldn't you know that customer ended up going with KraftMaid and he nitpicked about the cherry pin knots!

old

most of the answers are above -

Here are links to some high end makers

http://www.kennebeccompany.com/

http://www.peacockcabinetry.com/

http://www.crown-point.com/

Thank you all very much.

I had visited high end websites before this posting, but found that I couldn't tell much more than their cabinets photographed very well.

However, reading your explanations has made it a lot clearer.
Thanks again for taking the time to explain.

I think this is the thread your looking for.

Here is a link that might be useful: Relative cabinet prices brand v.s. brand

A couple more thoughts. I work for an excellent cabinetmaker. He's said a 7/8" to 1" thick cabinet door is expected in high-end cabinetry. I'm not sure I'd pay more for that, 3/4" looks fine to me, but that's just my opinion.

He firmly believes that veneered MDF is the best material for door panels because it won't expand and contract. He hand veneers them, and this is expensive, so it's not a cost cutting move. He gets samples of veneers and buys the nicest ones. Then comes the veneering process, which is quite time consuming, especially compared to veneered plywood that he could purchase.

I don't exactly know where Brookhaven fits from high to low end in some overall hierarchy. But,here is my experience. Thirty plus years ago I had a tiny city house with an equally tiny kitchen and one very tiny bathroom. We put in Woodmode cabinets and they were just gorgeous. Now we are just finishing up our new build with a hugh kitchen and 4 baths plus powder room. We couldn't even begin to afford Woodmode for this house so we went with Brookhaven because we were told the finishes were equal to the Woodmode even though the cabinet options weren't. I just saw my Brookhaven laundry room cabinets (the only ones installed so far) and I'm embarrassed at how beautiful they are. I'm almost afraid to use this as a laundry room. If the functionality and longevity of all of our Brookhaven cabinets measure up to their appearance I can't imagine how anyone would want anything more.