If the carpenter cares about his reputation, then, voila, you've got leverage. There are a number of outlets to let people know about the quality of his work, Angies List being one of them. However, that is the card you must not play until you are sure that he will do nothing to correct the situation or cannot correct it. Your daughter wouldn't have to say a word - the photos will speak volumes! I do think that you need to give him an opportunity to correct the problems. Let him know what you think the problems are - I would start by photographing all the problems with the cabinets and send sending photos to him with a detailed explanation of all the issues and what corrections you expect. (that's why I think calling a "forensic" carpenter would be useful in helping you detail issues that might not be easily seen.) If he really cares about his reputation, he most certainly wouldn't want photos of this shoddy work to get out.

I too, am planning a painted white kitchen and my GC will be using some trim, crown, etc. from a local source and be finishing it himself. He said it was MUCH cheaper to go that route but it was my decision to make. This way the crown molding, base, trim will match what I currently have on some other built-ins in our open floor plan. We did order the light rail, 4" decorative posts for either side of range, and some finished end panels for the fridge and various cabinets. He has done this many times and knows where to spend the $ on the factory-finish pieces and where you can "get away with" stock pieces painted to match. He orders paint from the cabinet company. I did go to a few of his jobs and see this for myself(we are a seasonal community and these were closed up summer homes). I was very pleased and also got to see my EXACT cabinets! I decided to go with his suggestion. Appliances are here in garage, cabs come on the 18th. I will post pics and let you know how it goes! Good Luck!

You might ask what kind of automotive paint it is---it may turn out to just be standard oil-based paint. I know in California, you can't buy oil-based for cabinets anymore so you have to buy it for auto/metal use, but it's often the same paint that they sold before for homes (e.g., Benjamin Moore--lots of cabinetmakers seem to use theirs). So it could be similar in your state, in which case you can do a search for people who've used oil-based paints on their cabinets versus factory finishes--I think there are some older threads on that. Some people choose the painted over the factory finish because they like the looks, so it's not necessarily a lesser product---more a matter of personal choice and balancing pros and cons.

The question is...does it matter? I think it does, because words matter. We throw around words on this board constantly when we really mean other things, and I too am guilty of this. Custom really doesn't mean custom when used on this board, it means architect. So someone who maybe isn't experienced on this board may see the word "custom" and think they designed their house from the ground up, therefore it is very custom. When most posters really mean the house needs someone with professional design experience and some measure of talent to guide you through the design process or actually design the home. ----------- Also a better understanding of the differentiation can lead to better advice. In the area I was born in (an area that I still own land in), the major tract builder can build a 4,000 square foot house for under $280,000. If you can't differentiate between a tract and production builder, it is hard to understand how that is possible. ----------- Finally, I am not sure this board does a great job these days of helping people build a home. I might be alone in this, but I would prefer a well built, poorly designed home over a poorly built, well designed home. We focus so much on the design process and the freedom you have to make selections that we sometimes miss the real tragedy of production and tract builders, the shortcuts they take in construction in order to deliver those appealing prices. While I agree custom homes are better than semi-custom and semi-custom is better than production, etc., the real quality cutoff for me is control of the how the walls are built rather than where they are built. For me this is the biggest draw for an architect and the thing rarely touched on, but may actually pay dividends far into the future that make architects not only affordable, but profitable for those value conscious consumers. Again, this is just my opinion.