I am also located in the Silver Spring- Burtonsville area. We are using Oxford Cabinet Shop for our custon cabinets. I am not sure whether they would be willing to use the wood you have, but you can always give them a call to ask. Their number is 610-806-3460 (note this is a different number than they have used in the past, if you call the old number it refers you to this number), but keep in mind Jacob who runs the shop is Amish so he doesn't always use the phone. Run a google search for oxford cabinet shop and gardenweb and you will find a good amount of information about them. Many people here love Dutchwood Cabinets (another amish/mennonite custom cabinet maker), but I found that they are no longer willing to travel more than 2 hours which puts us outside of their area.

I had the exact same thing done (working with existing cabinets and building new doors, custom island, a few new cabinets, pull outs, painting). The way I blundered into the carpenter and team who did my cabinets was through my friend's extensive renovation. "Johnny" was a subcontractor in her much larger project (but not tied to one GC or company). He built bathroom cabinets, a new kitchen island and custom mudroom built-in storage units for her. I hired him directly after seeing his work and getting his estimate. So - you might want to ask anyone you know who's having renovation done about any carpentry subcontractors they had. And just keep constantly asking around. My guy doesn't advertise - he gets business thru contacts and word of mouth. I grew up in NoVA - where are you? My parents still live there and might know someone - they're always having something done to their house. I'll ask them.

Please forgive my confusion, but did you or a professional woodworker estimate that the desk could be built for $500? Here's my take, as a working carpenter and sometimes furniture maker. In any wood, $500 is extremely low. Off the top of my head, here are a few of the tasks involved in such a job (and I'm sure I've forgotten some). You can guess at how long they take, but note that vehicle time isn't free. - meet client to find out what they want - produce working drawings and budget - show drawings, budget to client and get signoff *now, some would argue that the steps above are part of a 'free' estimate. I've done it for free; I just know that the cost of those activities ends up on someone's bill eventually. - buy lumber -- about 30 bf @$4/(take time at the yard to find nice boards) - mill lumber to close thickness/width/length - glue up tabletop (jointing/biscuiting/gluing/clamping) - cut remaining stock to finish width/thickness - mortise legs; shape legs if not rectangular - tenon aprons - build drawer wasn't included in this exercise, but if it got built, it would also need to be fitted and hardware-d - tabletop out of clamps, cut to final size and smoothed - assemble legs and aprons - attach tabletop - final sand; no finishing - deliver to client For the non-free tasks, I guessed 22 hours, and I always guess low. Which brings us to our final task: - pick up cheque for $500 ($120 for cheap hardwood; $380 for labor @$17/hr) - then, after hands are shaken, go to the accounts shoebox and deduct taxes on that $380; pay various overheads; pay for the cost of the machinery used in the production; pay for the vehicle; pay for consumables in the shop like sawblades... Then, realize that the net wage for that job was about $10/hr.

I have a cabinet maker I'm working with, but it's still too early to tell if I'd recommend him. I like him, the quality of the work I've seen is good and he is very affordable. But, my cabinets won't show up for another few weeks and I wouldn't be comfortable yet recommending him. If you want to contact me and remind me, post again or watch for my screams of agony or yelps of delight and you can wait that long...his prices are definitely worth delaying IF the quality is up to par.