I just had Kraftmaid cabinets installed and love them. I did upgrade the construction of them and got the quiet close feature and extra panels and moldings added to all. My only comment to you is to make sure whichever brand you go with can do the sizes of the cabinets you require. I was trying to save money and initially tried to use American Woodmark but the sizes of their cabinets wouldn't work for my configuration.
It never hurts to shop around but I didn't think I could get all the extras I wanted from a local cabinet maker for my price range

LOL rosieo! I feel your pain - I'm in the midst of it myself. It's good to see that you can keep your sense of humor about it all.

BTW...gas oven! No, make that dual fuel!

use Ikea as a reference point.

simultaneously, another thread just came onto this board, asking similar questions with a different slant.

Here is a link that might be useful: five times more, for some articles.

Holy carp! Your post was almost word per word my wife and my conversation at dinner. How to decide? Just when i think i have it locked....bam ....another reason why what was so obviously right is so wrong! The saga continues.... I feel your pain.

It IS a very difficult decision. I do like Kraftmaid's warranty, though, and I like that they're made in Ohio, not too far away from me (in Michigan). Good luck.

I don't EVER want to shop for cabs again!:) Ours got damaged from a hurricane a few years back, so thought I'd just head to HD and quickly replace them late last year...no big deal. They're just boxes to hold dishes, after all, right? Yeah...until I started researching. OMG. US vs Chinese. Wood vs furniture board. Ikea vs KD shops. Frameless vs frame..and on and on and on. It was a 6-month project.

Figuring out what you want construction and material-wise is not easy, (I was on a very small budget, so finally decided to pass up the soft-closes, lazy susan's, other bells, whistles I loved to spend a bit more for very basic cabs in all-ply, but only after a lot of back-and-forth.)

But I do hope you stick to your guns style-wise and buy what you like best - whether it's prominently-grained oak, arches, partial inset, etc. Whatever YOU think is nice for your home. I've read some posts from people here who seem so dogmatic about what is "in style" vs "outdated".

Realize that most people living, working and playing in the everyday world don't know and couldn't care less about what the kitchen forums or KDs deem as "in" vs "out"...they just admire what looks good and complements your home. Just like most people may admire your outfit if it fits you well, but couldn't tell you in a million years what was on the runway this past spring and whether your clothes reflect the trend.

I've learned that once your kitchen is done and you take a breather from GW, you can get a different perspective. The friends who saw my new kitchen so far in person are all brutally honest - they NEVER say they like something unless they do, so I knew they weren't just being kind when they said they loved it. And it made me feel great after I started doubting what I chose based upon some of the GW posts. (Of course, many people on this forum are awesome and incredibly helpful. I'm just referring to the often-narrow preferences of what's in style vs out.)

If you like something that's "out" of style now, you'll be annoyed if you settle just to chase the trends, only to see your style come back years from now, (and as history shows, it almost always does.) Just my two cents from having agonized over all this myself...

I just did my kitchen and I went through the exact same thing. Hours of online research, going from store to store, asking questions. Getting ready to start the renovation was more time consuming than the actual renovation! However, I came out of it semi-unscathed, and learned a LOT.

First of all, I would NOT recommend particleboard. IKEA cabinets are mostly particleboard and while I do love IKEA (swedish meatballs aside) the reason their products are relatively inexpensive is because most of their wood products are thin and particleboard, which is fine for a bookshelf or something but personally I didn't feel like it was necessarily fine for cabinets that are supposed to be durable and last a long time, especially with the minimal price difference between their cabinets and wood cabinets I ended up finding.

Secondly, Kraftmaid is a domestic company and every quote I got from a domestic company was $10k+! Some quotes were a mind boggling $30k+! I'd rather buy a car with that money, so I knew that I couldn't go domestic on a reasonable budget.

That left import cabinets and I know everyone is very skeptical about Chinese cabinets and products so I knew the bulk of my research would be on Chinese cabinets. What I basically found out was there are a TON of companies that import Chinese cabinets so the hard part was trying to pick out the differences between each one. I ended up finding the KCMA (Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association) that certifies cabinets in durability, and they have a list of manufacturers that pass their certification. This narrowed down the list of imported cabinets down a lot.

So then one of my friends mentioned formaldehyde which really freaked me out. So I narrowed down to each of the manufacturers that were on the KCMA list and researched different companies that sold those cabinets. I ended up buying them online and spending about $6k on the cabinets. They were solid wood, dovetail drawers, soft closing drawers, and CARB certified. DO NOT buy a Chinese cabinet unless it's CARB certified! CARB certified means that its been tested for formaldehyde by the California EPA. There was only two import cabinet companies that were CARB certified that I found (cabinetstogo.com and kitchencabinetkings.com, I ended up going to kitchencabinetkings.com because I liked their offerings better and they had a ton of video testimonials on their Facebook page, plus their customer service people were nicer)

Basically everyone's going to tell you different things but don't let it scare you into something you don't necessarily want. Sorry for the ramble but now I'm just so full of all this knowledge I don't want it to end up being useless!

Ikea boxes are 3\4 inch particle board - perfectly acceptable thickness for frameless cabinetry. Plywood is not wood and I doubt your cabinets are built from solid wood. You mention soft close but not full extension hardware on the drawers. Are these cabinets from China full or partial overlay? Are the hinges even adjustable? With Ikea you get a slightly modified version of Blum hardware which is among the best systems currently on the market.

Newer is not always better but if you want yesterday's cabinets today then these Chinese cabinets might be the ticket. If you think you can benefit from some more recent developments in the cabinetry industry you might be better to look at Ikea. Ikea cabinets, despite their inferiority do offer a 25 year warranty from a fairly established company. The Chinese ones?

The hardest part for me was months spent in research trying to learn about cabinets and what I wanted in my cabinets. It was terrribly confusing because at some point in time you discover it's difficult to impossible to compare apples to apples in quality and price. It's important to determine a budget, preferably before you start shopping. After 4 months of researching, looking, asking questions, and getting several quotes I chose Brookhaven I (frameless cabinetry made by Woodmode). They were running a special promotion and I was able to get everything I wanted for just above my budget. They just arrived in perfect condition today! They look just as I'd hoped they would. Make sure you take home door and color samples to help with your selection in your kitchen's varied lighting. I'm very excited to finally be in the action phase of our kitchen remodel. Good luck with your choices.

Prelude is cheap for a reason. Thinner sides, doors having laminated panels instead of solid wood (depending on the door style), cheesy drawers by default, etc.
Diamond Reflections is the better cabinet, and I think that's the other Diamond line that Lowes carries. Prelude and Reflections are similar to Core/Vibe (Core will probably be discontinued next year) and Distinction that you'd find at a non-box store showroom.
I've heard from reps that Kraftmaid wasn't all that great, but of course they were repping other manufacturers, so the opinion comes with a free grain of salt.

As far as arch and cathedral being outdated... Who knows? Ask an 8 ball and you'll get as good an answer about what's going to be "in" in the future. The only thing I don't like about arch and cathedral is how busy they look, and I don't like how they look when the door is narrow (like 15" or less); it looks crowded to me.

I think dovetail is better, but not crappy dovetail. Look close at the drawer boxes and see if the joints are all tight. I always thought buying drawers with loose dovetail joints is like buying a Corvette with a Chevette engine in it.