Hi Ted - I am in the same spot as you right now. I have interviewed several contractors and think I am pretty close to having a final layout but have not committed to anything yet so take my comments with that in mind

Looks like it is going to be a wonderful beautiful open kitchen! Love the huge island.

Have you looked in Durasupreme? I have heard from a 3rd party who wasn't actually trying to sell me on them that they are very high end and then got it priced from someone and it was very reasonable. $11800 for a *similar* size kitchen. I know the last think you want is to have to price out another line but just thought I would put it out there.

2. The corner cabinet, i have been instructed that the 45 degree cabinet is out of date so maybe suggest a 90 degree one.

Good luck!

Thanks for the comments and cabinet recommendation. I've never heard of Durasupreme before but will see if anyone local carries them.

Someone local carries Kitchencraft cabinets which are frameless and I believe made in Canada. Anyone have experience with these cabinets? Are they costlier or more budget friendly then what I've looked at?

Any thoughts/comments on our cabinet quotes/options and/or our kitchen layout?

bump

tk,

We are also in Bergen County!

Your quotes sound reasonable to me.

We are going with Omega Dynasty for our kitchen for $19,000 (a little bit smaller than your kitchen).

What do you like about each brand?

I'm wary of custom built because you never know what the true end product will look like.

If you're in NJ, I would (as usual) recommend that you look into your local Amish cabinetmakers. There are Amish people up the wazoo, so to speak, within a 150-mile radius of you, and you might be amazed by their prices. They are cheaper than other custom cabinets because they have very little overhead (no rent, etc.).

We like what we saw in the Ultracraft cabinets- frameless, lots of custom options/accessories, finishes looked good and several local places carry them so we can compare. I went to see the Bertch Legacy cabs locally and liked them as well. Not much to say about Decora, the Bertch seller included that estimate since he carries them. The custom guy in Queens, NY came recommended by a family member and his cabs looked very hefty and well made.

There is a local guy who carries Omega and Kitchencraft and I'll probably get an estimate from him as well. Also have someone giving me an estimate now on Kabinart cabs.

I'd love to get my cabinet costs down a bit if at all possible so I'm looking at lots of options.

Saw50stb- where are you going for the Omega cabs? have you looked at any others?

ideagirl2- i'm in north east bergen county off the Hudson closer to Rockland County, NY. I've considered Amish but didn't know where to look that would be within reasonable driving distance. Any recommendations? Would I even be able to email/fax them my design and measurements for them to give me a price?

Any comments on our layout? I'm considering going with one less full pantry (is 3 too much?) and changing to a wall/base set up to use the counter space for phone/mail/whatever else area.

Are your base cabinets roll-outs or drawers? Drawers are alot easier as roll-outs are a 2-step process for opening and closing. And then for closing there is the risk of denting the doors if you haven't pushed the roll-outs in enough. (Drawers, drawers, drawers, worth the extra bit of money)
Re losing a pantry - it isn't too much depending on what you need/want to store. Is it dish storage or just food storage. Do you can or buy in bulk and so need extra storage? Draw up a big general floorplan and write right on the plan what you are going to store where and see if you have extra space.

Are my measurements correct - is that a 12' walk between stove and fridge? Wow! What about switching the fridge and oven/microwave set up. You will use your fridge a whole lot more than your oven/microwave. It shortens up your triangle a whole lot. Measurements will hhave to be adjusted slightly as fridge is probably 6" bigger than the oven/microwave bank. But that is a minor adjustment.
If you do that, I was thinking that you could use the island as a landing space but you have stools there for people to sit so what I would suggest is to take one of the pantries and make it a lower/upper drawer/cabinet configuration with a counter which could be the landing spot for the oven.

What about a prep sink in the island with a pull-out trash. That's a big island and unless there is a specific reason for that big of a piece of counter. I think it would be a great prep space and the other sink could be the clean up sink. My husband really questioned the need for 2 sinks in our kitchen (what extra plumbing costs -why????) He doesn't anymore. If you have the space - and you do - it may seem silly ,it may seem overkill - but boy is it worth it.
If any of this doesn't make sense let me know.

bl- thanks for the commetns. We currently have a mix of base cabinets with roll outs and some with drawers. We've tried to mark up are plan with what will go where and that was very helpful. I think we may actually have more drawers than cabinets in total.

It is a long walk to the fridge and we originally had it the other way but really love the way the fridge looks "boxed in" by the pantries. I guess ergonomics is more important than looks so we may have to make a change there. Also thought about turning the island 90 degrees so it runs horizontally. Thoughts on that?

Regarding the pantry i think we will take one of the 3 we have in the design and change to an upper/lower cabinet to give some counter space. We do store alot of food since my family is in the food business and we get lots of stuff in bulk. The configuration we have now gives us lots of storage space which was important.

I should have mentioned that my wife is completely against a sink in the island. I really think we should have one but she isn't budging. She wants the island as a casual eating area for 4 people and for prep space which includes baking hence the large spread.

If you were to turn the island 90 degrees I don;t think you would gain anything and you would lose two things - aisle width and island size.
You can't put the island any closer to the sink wall because you don;t want anything getting in the way of the 12' trek (sorry) between the fridge and stove. If you move it closer to the sink wall the island becomes a barrier to the pathway between the two.
Your aisles widths would also be narrower. Currently they are 4' wide , now you could go to 42" (3 1/2' wide) but that only leaves you with an island length of 5' long x 4' wide (maybe you can go to 4 1/2' wide). You don;t want to go any wider because it becomes difficult to clean the middle of it - it's a long way to reach.
However speaking of island size - You have it going beyond the reach of the kitchen - does the right side line up with something (not the overhang part but the cabinet bulky part of it) or is it just hanging out. If not I would shorten it so that the bulky part of the island (not the overhang part necessarily) lines up with the end of the oven/microwave. Is that maybe 6-8"? Now, if you moved the fridge over, which is wider, you probably wouldn't have to do that.
If your wife is baking there - everytime she has to go to the fridge she has to walk arooouund the island and 8' to the fridge rather than just turning around to get eggs, butter, milk, whatever.
What is the alcove on the sink wall with the window? Is that a lower counter or a window seat? And what is the drawer configuration at the end. Is this a coffee/drinks bar?
(Prep sinks don't have to be very big, but, I know how you can get image of what you're kitchen is going to feel like and be like and if no prep sink - so be it.)
With respect to the fridge - you can, which you probably know, put panels around it so that it is encased with your selected cabinetry if you move it to the end of the stove run.
I'm just throwing out ideas because sometimes we can get stuck in a box and need someone to push us out of it.

bl- to clarify the layout of the house a bit more. The wall where the oven is now opens up to the great/family room. If facing towards the island "overhang" there is more than 6-7 feet of open space behnd it leading to french doors to the backyard. The other end (towards fridge) is fully open to the dining room.

So, the theory is that we have alot of space there and want to seat 4 comfortably at the island. The island "overhang" is even with the wall opening to the family room area so if your at the end of the island you can see into the family room. We've changed the island a few times now and still not sure we're set. We have the space to move it in either direction if need be. Does what I described make any sense?

Under the window is a bench seat with two deep pot drawers under it. The alcove configuration is up in the air. Its either a wall cabinet with an appliance garage under it or a wall cabinet and open counter space. If we eliminated the one pantry and went with no appliance garage then the counter space would be about 48" there (i've been leaning in this direction of late).

Thanks for explaining the general overview of the space.
If you switch the island 90 degrees I'm not sure you can get the same amount of seating. To make it wider you will lose aisle space so say you made it 5'x5' - you can only put 2 seats at the end but none on the sides because your aisles are narrower.
I think the way you have it configured is best.
With your alcove - I like the idea of the bench seat with cabinet and open shelving or all open shelving. I can picture myself sitting there with my cookbooks in those shelves planning menus, grocery lists, etc with a cup of coffee on the counter. Ok that's just me.
I measured a couple of things in my kitchen - from my prep area to my DW is 7" and from my prep area to my cleanup sink is 10'. Sometimes when I'm chopping stuff and need to put a knife or chopping board or measuring cup into the cleanup sink sometimes I feel like throwing them instead of having to walk over to the sink and place them. This is just to illustrate your 12' walk to the fridge from the prep area. Don't do it.
Can you mock up in your current kitchen a spot 12' away from your current prep area and pretend it's where the fridge is. Then have your wife walk back and forth and back and forth.
This is just my 2cents worth. I'm not a layout expert but otherwise it looks good to me.

I agree with blfenton on the trek to the fridge. That would drive ME nuts, but maybe someone else would be ok with it. Just make absolutely sure you want it that way. To me, function faaar outweighs form on this one. Boxing the fridge in with panels looks great.

I spoke with my wife about the fridge situation and she clearly had not thought that far ahead. She now agrees that it should be moved but first we'll put some tape on the floor to simulate the distance and see how it feels.

Everyone we've shown the layout to loves the bench seat area especially by 3 1/2 yr old daughter who can't wait to just hang out there while mom cooks or whatever.

Looks like we're on the right track. Now to figure out our cabinet situation...

Thanks for all the help

**I've considered Amish but didn't know where to look that would be within reasonable driving distance. Any recommendations? Would I even be able to email/fax them my design and measurements for them to give me a price?**

The Amish who make cabinets coordinate things so that they have phone numbers and fax machines (and often websites). I know sometimes they involve non-Amish in their businesses for that purpose (and also for the purpose of driving the cabinets and the Amish to the customer's house for installation). The two Amish cabinetmakers I've heard the most about are in the midwest, but sell far and wide (there are Amish EVERYWHERE and they literally have nationwide Amish phonebooks, or I guess I should say address books, to keep track of each other--they do coordinate with each other for businesses like this). Those two are:

www.mulletcabinet.com
www.branchhill.com

The link below is to Amish Loft, which is much closer to you (eastern PA, Lancaster County). They do freestanding kitchen cabinetry. Others on these boards have dealt with them directly so I'm sure you could get comments if you posted a thread about them.

Also, if you can find good Amish furniture for sale in your area, the folks selling it may be able to give you the names of some local Amish cabinetmakers (sometimes the furniture makers are also cabinetmakers, sometimes not, but they know their field and can at least point you in the right direction).

Here is a link that might be useful: Amish Loft Cabinets

Hi, I am not sure if you already made the purchase. I looked at your layout and I will be able to save minimum of 3000$ - 4000$ for the same exact UltraCraft cabinets.I am a UltraCraft dealer based in NJ and you can verify my credentials with UltraCraft if you have any concerns.If interested please contact kraft_kitchens@yahoo.com for a free quote.