Stacy, Covered Bridge is an American company, however they do their manufacturing in Cambodia. This doesn't detract from the quality of the cabinets from what I can see. As a designer that works for a large dealer that sells 10 different kitchen cabinet lines, I can tell you that I originally was hesitant to sell them when they first came on board. After seeing the displays come in, along with numerous success stories from other designers, I decided to give it a try. Since I started pushing the product, I've gotten nothing but positive feedback. The designers love it because the company has many options, and is very reasonable with custom requests. The homeowners love it because it's a custom cabinet that prices as reasonably as semi-custom, and the facility has excellent quality control that bypasses much of the headaches normally associated with kitchen projects. Don't let the origin of the product scare you. I would go to a Covered Bridge dealer and see the product in person. The quality speaks for itself.

If you plan on living in your home for a long period of time, you'll want to invest in plywood. It's not for every budget, but it's something that'll last. A particle board box is really just compressed wood chips held together by glue. Water and humidity will ruin that in no time. As for the different brands, I would say your best value is easily Covered Bridge. Even in its most basic construction, it is a 3/4" plywood box. Fabuwood is standard at 1/2", and Kraftmaid and Diamond don't even come standard with plywood, although many independent dealers only sell them with All-Plywood-Construction. Pricing obviously depends on your dealer, but generally Kraftmaid and Diamond price higher, and offer you less. Covered Bridge is a custom cabinet manufacturer. Kraftmaid and Diamond are semi-custom. Fabuwood is in-between stock and semi-custom. They have many more options than your average stock line, but they are still a little too limited to be considered truly semi-custom. As far as being an import cabinet, I wouldn't be too hung up on that. It's just a way to save on labor costs. None of these cabinets are flat-packed RTA cabinets. The only slight exception is Fabuwood does import everything in pieces and assembles them in New Jersey. This may turn some people off, but I would go to a dealer and look at each cabinet's construction, look at what styles and colors they offer, and then get a price. Fabuwood offers pretty much the same construction as Kraftmaid and Diamond if you upgrade them to All-Plywood Construction, but they can get you a better price. Covered Bridge is most likely going to price higher than Fabuwood, but you're getting a lot more bang for your buck. If you're anywhere on Long Island from Brooklyn to Montauk, I would consider checking out Consumers Kitchens & Baths. They carry all of these brands with the exception of Diamond. My kitchen turned out wonderful!

I'm terrified just reading your post. Get three estimates from contractors and learn through them what the challenges and barriers would be to your building floor to ceiling walls here. It doesn't have to be perfection either. Practicality is the name of the game here. My father-in-law had a traumatic brain injury and a lot of impulse control issues. We toured an assisted living facility that was located on the second floor of the building and had a big open space with a railing that looked down on to the first floor of the building, much like yours. We didn't get beyond 5 minutes in the tour. Visions of him careening over the railing were enough for us to move on pronto!

What a beautiful pan. I can see why your daughter is thrilled to have it. Off the top of my head, I thought I saw some reviews at Amazon that Cafe induction didn't work well with the Lodge griddle with grill underside. You might want to double check that though. I bought an antique griddle, the kind with two gate marks on the bottom. (Gate marks correspond to the slits where iron was poured into the mould back in the 19th century.) The gate marks are less than 1/4 inch high, so the griddle doesn't sit flat in direct contact with my Wolf cooktop. And yet it cooks fine. The electromagnetic field rises above the glass a bit & interacts with the griddle. Maybe your Cafe will work too. Hope so! How well does the griddle on a bridge work? Fine enough by me. There is a "cool" spot in between the elements. But it still gets hot enough to cook. Whatever is cooking in the middle doesn't brown as quickly as food on the ends do, but it's still thoroughly cooked. I just have to leave the middle foods on a bit longer, or shuffle them around with the end foods. So far, no one has complained because their third pancake isn't as golden brown as the first two.