My former cabinet guy kept saying, "don't worry about it" and "I've been doing this for 30 years, trust me". OMG, needsometips08, I know exactly what you mean! I had a similar experience with the cabinet maker our designer recommended. I don't think she meant to come off that way but when I asked about thickness of drawer bottoms, she replied, "Don't worry, we know what we're doing." !!! I never implied she didn't. I only wanted to know what we'd be getting for our money. We're not going with that cabinet maker, btw. megpie77, which kind of soapstone do you have? I don't think we have as many options in the PNW (I'm in Portland) as there are in other parts of the country, which is a pity because I've always loved soapstone kitchens. Did you have any problems finding a fabricator? Your kitchen is lovely, btw.

If you want this guy to build you frameless cabinets, do be sure that he has the equipment and the expertise to do so. They're not any harder to build, but they do require different tools and training. The tools are expensive and most cabinet shops don't have both sets of machinery hanging around. Check first. He can build you full overlay doors regardless. That doesn't require anything out of the ordinary for him and they can be used on both framed and frameless cabinets. I'm a little concerned that he thinks full overlay automatically means euro-style cabinets AKA frameless. I'm a big fan of frameless, but not built by someone who doesn't crank them out on a regular basis and with the appropriate machinery. Maybe this will help. This first photo is of our old framed cabinets with partial overlay doors. Notice how the door is attached, the hinge, and the lip around the opening. That's the frame. (Ignore the roll-out. It was retrofitted and I originally took this photo for a different purpose.) Now look at our newer frameless cabinets. Again, I took this photo for a different purpose, so ignore the other stuff. Notice that there is no lip around the opening and that the hinges are very different from the ones on the framed cabinets. Some people really don't like this kind of hinge, but if you have frameless, this is what there is. Personally, I like them. Among other things, they allow you to adjust the way the door sits in the opening in three directions, up, down, and in-out. This is the point in your project where it is critical that you make sure you understand exactly what is being offered/said. The more you are really clear in your planning, the better the outcome will be. Framed, frameless, full or partial overlay or inset, these are all valid choices. Just be sure that you and he are clear on what it is that you want. There are things you can decide about later like knobs/pulls and the backsplash, but there are things that need to be decided long before demolition. Floor plan and cabinetry are the biggies.

Relatives of mine had custom cabinets made by Piros, in Astoria. They had laminate slab doors. But they're beautifully and sturdily made. The folks at Piros order their doors from somewhere else, and his portfolio (I considered him for my kitchen, and often wish I'd gone w/ hime) included a lot of laminate doors, but a few others as well. They don't do the kind of incredible finish that folks think of w/ custom cabinets. But they do a really nice job, in custom sizes. Their prices are pretty good as well; they were about $6,000 for my 8x11 kitchen (w/ lots of doors) about 3 years ago, which was about the same price as my cabinets from the place that bragged about "wholesale pricing."

You might want to try Kenis Lovin--I considered having him build cabinets (painted inset shaker style) for my kitchen remodel, and visited a local home where he had built and installed similar cabinets, which were very nice. In the end I went with Crown Point instead, but not because I had any issues with the quality of his cabinets. I don't know if he does QSO or not. (http://www.kenisloven.com/) Or, if you aren't completely sold on a local cabinet maker, you might want to get a quote from Crown Point. They have a gorgeous line of Craftsman style cabinets, and I found that the price they gave me was in line with quotes from local custom cabinet makers, both for my kitchen cabinets and some bathroom cabinetry I am having them work on right now. Not inexpensive, but not as bad as you might think. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Crown Point cabinets