Sorry about the spacing! It's messed up and I don't know how to fix it.

You have a range of possibilities. The companies you listed sound like complete design and build shops - depending on their reputation, they could do a very good job for you but will probably be fairly expensive. Places that sell cabinets often have a kitchen designer who will do an initial basic free design which can give you some ideas - often the detailed design is included in the price of buying the cabinets. Even if you don't plan to do the work yourself, you can hire a GC who will oversee the job or you can GC the job yourself and then hire the subs. The more work you do yourself, the more time it will take but you'll have more control over the final product. Initially, you should do some looking around to see what kind of cabinets and appliances you want and then get some bids for your job. Good luck.

Whoa that was quick, I actually didn't think about hiring a GC who can oversee the job or even the basic initial design fee. Thanks for the advice!

Anybody else?

Hi Geoff,

I'm in California, not Arizona, so I can't give you any info about the specific businesses you're looking for information on. We're members of a service called "Angie's List" and we often look up members' reviews of contractors, subcontractors, etc.

The best thing to do is get some quotes. I got one quote from Lowe's, and spent about 2 hours with a kitchen person there, to get a ballpark on the cost of the cabinets alone.

I also talked to two semi-custom/custom design and build shops, and both were willing to provide estimates for cabinet cost (as a total, not broken out as it was at Lowe's) and for installation (separated out for demolition, cabinet install, electrical, plumbing, countertop, and backsplash). Part of their putting together estimates was a complementary home visit, which included a pretty detailed discussion of what we wanted in our kitchen, and then a return visit where the estimator had generated some drawings and specified exactly what cabinets would go into the order.

I was free to pick and choose... so I could use their contractor for everything, and let him manage all the subs, or I could do demolition myself, pay for installation, electrical and plumbing, go find my own countertop and DIY install, and the same for backsplash.

I think the cabinet quality through the custom/semicustom cabinet lines is much higher than through Lowe's, but there are obviously tradeoffs in terms of price and quality. Is this your "forever kitchen"? (Meaning you're going to live there for the rest of your days...) Or are you looking to do a remodel on a budget?
It sounds like you might be comfortable doing demolition and installation of the cabinets yourself, and some people do backsplashes themselves... if you're talking about anything other than a simple countertop, though, you probably want to find someone to do that for you.

The pros can probably do the work for us in 4-6 weeks, but having them do all the steps is pretty much doubling the cost of the kitchen (not including appliances) compared with if we just bought the cabinets and the backsplash tile ourselves. It would take my husband and I at least twice as long, working nights and weekends, and we're just not up for that stress!

Your mileage may vary, of course...

Here is a link that might be useful: if you want to check out Angie's List

What do you feel your budget will be? Design and build firms are the most expensive and are rarely retained for small/budget renovations. If you are mid range to higher budget, then that might be a route for you if you want someone to "just handle it"---which from your description of possible DIYing doesn't sound like a good fit for you.

Average kitchen remodels in the US are around 30K, and that's without any structural changes like moving walls or new windows. You need to figure out which features are important to you and decide if you're going to be allocating above or below average amounts to those features.

This forum is a GREAT free resource to help you with your design and budget allocations if you'll post a current layout of your space and desires. Read the "Read Me" thread and let's get started!

"Design and build firms are the most expensive...."

Ain't that the truth!

Naively, I walked into a local, well-regarded design/build showroom a few months ago. I talked with one of their designers, showed her our kitchen, explained what we hoped to accomplish and asked her for estimates. Keep in mind this is for a modest-sized kitchen (10'6" x 14' for the working part of the kitchen, 14' x 7'6" with a 5' cabinet in the nook) in a home that we had built almost 16 years ago. We know what's inside the walls (we have pictures, too).

Plan A: keep our existing layout, reface or paint the oak cabinets, add granite, backsplash, a new sink and faucet, replace a swing door with a pocket door (not a load-bearing wall) and replace our worn vinyl floors with wood.
Cost: $50K to $60K!!! *Not* including any appliances.

Plan B: new layout, new cabinets from their entry level cabinet line, and all of the above -
Cost: $75K to $90K!! Again, not including appliances.

OUCH!

I suspected that they were pricey but I had no idea just how far beyond our budget they would be. I thanked her for her time and left.

Instead, I plan to hire a kitchen designer on an hourly basis to review my plans (crafted after months of guidance from wonderful GWers) and give me advice. The person who recommended the KD I'll likely use said that they paid $1500 for a complete design that included 4 draft versions and a final plan derived by these. That means they had at least 3 meetings. The work she did for them was from scratch so our cost should be less.

If you decide to do some or all of the work yourselves, hiring an independent KD to help you formulate or review your plans would be a wise investment, IMO.