It's hard to give a range, it depends on so many factors. We chose Brookhaven (made by woodmode), and ours are almost 30K, not including installation, for a 24 x 20' kitchen. For our remodel, we spent the bulk of our budget on cabinetry, because that is a big ticket item and I'm hoping that they will withstand the test of time. I figure that things like light fixtures, faucets, etc. will need to be switched out at somepoint, so I tried to scale back on those.

I keep hearing good things about Ikea, too. You might want to check those out. My friend put those in her kitchen, and I think she spent about 3K, although I'm not sure the size of her kitchen.

If your cabinets are in good shape and you are happy with the layout, painting might be a great option. There was nothing worth salvaging in our 40+ year old kitchen.

Laxsupermom, I like that analogy! I've never heard it before but it's a good one.

I have found a large variation in cabinet prices: I was planning on doing an Ikea kitchen: for 20 linear feet of uppers and lowers, with one 30" pantry, I believe that my ballpark was about 9000 for cabs alone: I am not a DIY, so I was having to add about another 2000 for installation. I was surprised to find out that a custom cabinet maker's price was 12,000 for the same layout, but with better fit into my space: less fillers; including installation, tax, hardware (including pulls), with a majority of drawer bases, pantry pull-outs, trash pull-outs, cookie sheet pull-outs -- and solid wood, no particle board. This price was 5,000 less than the semi-custom from local shops and the big-box stores -- and the cabinet maker comes highly recommended. That savings will allow me to have FloridaJoshua put in a lovely SS counter on those cabs: can't wait until next summer!

Rir220, what Ikea door style did you choose that cost that much? I just did an Ikea kitchen with custom doors that ended up costing just a bit more than the Tidaholm doors. We bought a 24" pantry with a bunch of pull-out drawers, a 30" oven cabinet with drawers on the bottom, and 15' of uppers and lowers (mostly drawers) for $5,400.

Not that I question your decision to go with the cabinet maker at all - just wanted to make sure that if others read this post, they know that Ikea is not generally that expensive for that amount of cabinets.

My kitchen is galley -- 14 ft sink run, 8 ft stove run, and 30" pantry, with fridge surround.
1. $8500, custom cabinet maker. Included tear out, install and stain finish. Partial overlay - he will not do full, all drawer bases with OUT soft close, and a pantry with door shelving and stationary shallow interior shelves but no pull outs.
2. Second custom quote -- $7300 for the same, installed, but I'd get soft close on every door and drawer, all drawer bases, pull outs in the pantry, and full overlay. Does NOT include finishing. When I add that in from a highly recommended local company -- the price is $10,500. They have to cover every inch of the kitchen to spray the cabinets on site - no doing it in their shop, I already asked.
3. Lowes quote for Kraftmaid: when they had all their specials that ended last month, (10% off, free sink base, $500 gift card), it was $9600 for raised panel with 5 pc drawer fronts, in rustic birch. It included tear out and install. Drawer bases only on the stove side, pull out pantry, all soft close, plywood ends only. Kraftmaid's drawers are all dovetail, soft close standard.
4. MidContinent cabinets $7000 installed. Same design/features as Kraftmaid - dovetail drawers and soft close upgrade for free. We were offered plywood upgrade for only 5% more. But, they use paper laminate everywhere, and here in the South, it's just too humid for that.

In every situation, I'm compromising something.

We ordered shenandoah cabs from lowes and are paying about 5, 500 with all ply construction. We had been looking to get stock cabs because of all the crazy prices but these worked for us. We ordered about 12 cabs including some near features like pull out's ect.

The national average for kitchen remodels is around 30K with about half of that going towards cabinetry. Expect to spend from 5-20% of your home's value on a kitchen remodel. The car analogy is a good one that I've used many times. It takes into account individual tastes and income, both of which will have a big impact on any kitchen remodel. Location is the other big determiner of costs. What costs 10K in Nashville may cost 16K in Boston or 20K in San Francisco. I'm in the South, which has lower costs and my kitchens usually average around 10-12K worth of cabinetry for a redo. I've done ones as inexpensive as 4K as as expensive as 60K, but my clients tend to be more budget oriented.

Mine were going to be IKEA, around $4500 worth. And then I would have to assemble and install them myself and find some crown that matched. I got a quote from a custom cabinet guy for $6000 and it included crown and installation!! They are solid plywood construction boxes and solid oak doors. It really pays to shop around.

Solid wood cabinets? Plywood perhaps?

If you live in any kind of major market you will likely find it very difficult to locate one of these cabinet makers who turns out custom cabs for less than Ikea - I looked in our area and my odds of success would have been better if I had been looking for Bigfoot. Getting custom for the price of semi-custom lines is more likely. However there are enough stories about problems with local cabinet makers here to suggest that isn't a panacea - depending on your needs and desires you may be better served by a larger manufacturer (custom or not). Custom denotes how they are made not how good they are.

We did IKEA, with Tidaholm doors (one of the most expensive IKEA styles). We have about 16 linear feet of lowers (almost all drawers) and 12 feet of uppers. The cabs cost about $4,000. We were looking at about $10,000 for KraftMade for basically the same setup, although the KM was a maple Shaker-style door and the Tidaholm is white oak (I think we would have paid extra for soft close in the KM; that's standard on IKEA as are full extension drawers).

I'll bet that, of the $4000, about 2/3 was the Tidaholm drawer fronts and doors, and 1/3 was the hardware and cabinets.

We went with Thomasville and for 21 cabinets and other extra's it came to $15,000. (Cherry). We got our own installer for less. HD charges $79 per cabinet but they tack on more for the extra's such a crown molding etc. I got 4-5 estimates from different cabinet companies and they ranged from $13,500 to $20,000. With Schuler being the most expensive of the estimates I got. If I wasn't changing the lay out of my kitchen I might have considered painting the cabinets.

12 ft stove run, 10 ft sink run, 3 ft beside fridge & a 5 ft peninsula w/no uppers above it.
Mostly drawers. 2 glass front uppers.

Mid-range style, painted finish quotes:

Custom cabinet maker: $18,200
Home Depot: $15,600
Kitchen Kraft: 14,000
Ikea: 4,500

I went with Ikea Lidi and installed myself. Had to heavily modify a couple of cabs to fit my design, but could not be happier with the finished result.

Dawn

I drive a 1988 acura....my kitchen is a dussenberg...sometimes it's priorities too :) I put money into stuff that lasts (kitchens verses cars).

Supermom has the right idea...the question is very similar to the string question :) if you search GW (if that feature works this week LOL) you'll see such a variety it will boggle your mind, but as mindworks pointed out, it's a regional issue, a pocket book issue, and as I noted, a priority issue. I'd cut the budget on a backsplash or counters before I'd skimp on cabinets. (you can easily upgrade the former but the latter is a big deal).

There's this little saying in decorating school...when you have a budget client, spend the most money on the biggest item in the room. In a bedroom, it's the bed...in a kitchen, it's the cabinets. But the best construction you can afford!

My experience is that is low. I started at Lowes, read the board like you did and figured about 3,300. The employee told me exactly what they told you -- double it. When I sat down with Lowes and went through the process we were at $19,000, no labor, and had not yet included the inserts. Ended up going with Brookhaven.

The "shop around" advice is good advice. It will vary widely and the more information you collect, the better your deal will become.

Thanks for the Ford Vs BMW visual Laxsupermom.
That made me smile!

igloochic - many thanks for your insight and advice in your posting. I am trying to do just what you advise: make sure the cabinets are done right even though I will have to cut on counters etc (lamainte + simple backsplash). Am anxiously awaiting quote from Dynasty/Omega to see what that will be. I think they are very good construction and I believe you said you have Omega and are pleased with yours. I am likely going to end up with most of my budget in the cabinets because I think I might regret it otherwise.

I thought I was looking at the price sheet w/cabs alone -- Joanne, you're right: the hood, stools, and sink were there as well: would bring price down to about 7000. If one were take advantage of the Ikea kitchen sale held every spring and fall, you could save an additional 20% by purchasing appliances. That was my plan initially -- the Ikea also includes the self close and the unique organizational options that you don't get necessarily w/custom or some of the semi-customs. In addition, Ikea is rated very well by Consumer's Report, and who else gives a 25 year warranty? My DH doesn't care for the colors available in the Adel, which is the door we like -- plus once we saw Holligator's kitchen IRL, we decided on the custom path.

But, if someone is interested in Kraftmaid, and you have a local Bradco Supply, check them out. The prices are much more competitive than HD or Lowes.

This question has been haunting me lately. I saw krissd's custom glazed cherry cabinets recently. They are beautiful and very nicely made. She told me what they cost. Then I got an estimate for custom cabs for my kitchen, which has 10-20% more cabinets than krissd's kitchen. The estimate came in at more than 3 times the cost of her cabs! Talk about your sticker shock! Both are custom cabinet makers, both make quality cabs based on what I've seen (krissd's) and what I'm told (the other cab maker). To be fair, the other cab maker comes highly recommended by people I trust but I am arranging to see cabs made by the other cab maker to see if I can figure out why there would be such a huge difference in cost.

You know I should have shared a cost experience that's valuable up in that last post...

You may love a particular cabinet (Ie I wanted Hertco or Omega) but shop their dealers in your area. My bid from one kitchen shop for Omega was about half that of the other kitchen shop, both have equally fantastic reputations and both were bidding exactly the same thing. Apples to apples and one 100% more than the other...so shop around!

Buff baby I hope you love your cabinets. I honestly do think that you should put as much money into them as possible (high quality boxes, etc) and worry about the rest later. It's easy to change out a countertop...and if it's only going to be a couple of years...be sure to do the laminate splash (you can make it taller to look different than the standard) because with laminate splash and counters it's a snap to take them off and not damage the cabs at all (I've done it a few times).

I wish I knew what the name of a countertop we used was...it was a few years ago (maybe 4 or 5) and we were the first in the state to use it so it is a relatively new product. It was laminate but it looked like tile (like a small tile countertop) and even had different textures for tile verses backsplash). I had them cut the BS carefully so it looked like it carried up the wall. It was gorgeous (and installed on very high quality boxes...from the 1970's!)

Be sure when you install a counter on those gorgeous boxes buff...that they only use a silicone bead to install the counters and bs. This makes it easy to remove the counters later without any problems. (Some epoxy or glue with liquid nails, which can damage the box when they come out).

igloochic: Now you have me worried: I was planning on a tile backsplash with the laminate countertop because I really don't like the look of laminate going up the wall... BUT, are you saying that tile will make it difficult to remove/replace the countertop later without damaging the boxes? I actually was planning on the laminate going on for quite a long time - 15 years (am I crazy??). I will bear in mind the silicone installation tip.

The advice from all you experienced kitchen people is invaluable.

Many thanks.

Tina

Thank you everyone! I will definitely need to check out Ikea as an option.

ccombs1- your kitchen turned out beautiful and it sounds like you got a good deal!

Thank you....I am really happy with my new kitchen. It is everything I ever wanted in a kitchen and I did get a great deal. But if you have an ikea near you, go check out their cabinets. They are really very nice!! Also, go check out the IKEA fans web site. There are some amazing kitchens over there that look totally custom. People have gotten really creative with IKEA and added crown and light rails to them along with other finishing touches that make them look like very expensive cabinets. As much as I love my kitchen, I am sure I would have loved IKEA as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: IKEA fans

I put brentwood from dynastII/Omega line in out master bath. They are cream colored and I LOVE THEM. I am using the same cabs in the kitchen. I was concerned about stains on cream colored, painted surface. I left a mushed strawberry, coffee grounds and egg yolk over night on the sample piece. Next morning I wiped them off--- NO STAINS!!!!!!!!1

I'm going with full custom cabinets... which will cost around $6000, including install. I could do Ikea for about $4000, but they wouldn't fit exactly in my weird space - I'd end up with a lot of empty spaces. The basic Kraftmaid from Home Depot price was around $20,000.

My custom cabs will be solid maple, white painted, inset shaker style, with lots of drawers and weird shapes. Ikea would have been a white melamine-type surface. Kraftmaid was a white painted shaker door, I think full overlay? But even with them, I wouldn't be getting a design that fit perfectly in my space.

I know that a previous poster said that in a "major market" you can't get custom for less than what you can get from Ikea. Okay, so I'm paying more for these cabs than I would from Ikea. But! The closest Ikea is more than 2 hrs away, and I feel like I'll be much happier with cabinets that actually fit my space, are the style I want, and are solid wood.

Check out the small custom cabinet makers. Guys who have been doing this their whole lives, whose fathers and maybe grandfathers did this... I can't recommend them enough.

Thomasville - figure about $400 - $500 each depending on size, drawers and fancy features etc.. the more basic the cheaper they are. When you start adding pull-outs and drawers they get pricey.

As of the summer of 2015, there are people in my area paying anywhere from $6000 - $28,000 for new cabinets depending on the number of cabinets per kitchen size, the quality of the woods and finishes, the design features, the brand name, and the prices that their particular contractors charge for installation.

Some people are simply painting or refacing their cabinets depending on their budget and priorities. I plan on sanding and staining my old cabinets and installing some newer more contemporary style door pulls on them.

We can sell the same kitchen layout for $6,000 up to $50,000. It all depends on the selections made by the home owner. You know that saying... "You get what you pay for" It's not just an ancient proverb it's almost law in this industry. A white painted inset kitchen could cost $55,000 with one company and only $25,000 with another, but don't expect the same finish quality, fit quality or quality control check while it's leaving the factory. For example the one company may only use 6 coats of paint and the other may us 11-15 coats while sanding in between each coat. I'd also suggest consulting a kitchen and bathroom designer at a company that strictly specializes in Kitchen design. I've heard some horror stories come from clients that went to Lowe's and Home depot first. Don't get me wrong they are great resources for some things, but a kitchen requires much more attention to detail and planning. Not to mention the customer service you'll need once the kitchen actually comes in. There's my two cents. Hope it helped.

I needed 1 single 12" wide, 42" high upper cabinet for a slight kitchen remodel. wait for it... $430. Home Depot Thomasville collection. wowzers.

All cabinets are not created equal. There are many variations of materials used in the construction. Is the question is how long do you want the cabinets to last? What is the style, if you are looking for an inset cabinet door your options reduce greatly for stock cabinetry. If you are thinking of semi custom, do the finishes for the semi custom order match perfectly with stock cabinets in the order? Is there edge banding on Plywood that may come off the shelving or the face of the cabinet if it has a euro box. With stock cabinets will there be gaps that need to be filled with filler strips, detracting from the overall symmetry of your kitchen. All wood construction usually has plywood for the cabinet box and a face frame of hardwood, no particle board. Custom cabinets, with a factory finish completed at the same time for a uniform look, with no edge banding, or unnecessary filler strips, may be worth an additional expense. Those who have had a kitchen remodel done know that it is not something that you want to do often. For a little more money to have a functional, beautiful, well designed kitchen to wake to in the morning is money well spent.

I made my cabinets from scratch...cabinet grade plywood for the boxes and solid hardwood for the faces and doors. Now I know why commercial cabinets can cost so much if you are trying to compare with custom or do-it-yourself. I love the look I have but I wouldn't recommend it unless you have lots of time and a very patient spouse. :>) Ten years later and I'm still brainstorming remaining details.