Now it's been exactly 2 month and today I'm moving my plants indoors again. On the first picture here in the plants haven't been watered for a month (the bigger pots for more than a month) so they already rested a bit before ... I guess it should be enough now. I'm anxious to see which of them will bloom for me again and how many leaves they will produce this time. First I'll leave them on the heated windowsill, once the first leaf has emerged they'll be watered slightly from below. When the flowering bud has emerged fully from the bulb they'll again get a good gulp. All right, I'm off to the friends cellar, another friend of mine helps me with his car. They all think I'm crazy but that's nothing new ;)

Most lines these days are "semi-custom". Even many budget lines are semi custom. What that means is the ability to change some of the sizes to suit you. If you want a wall cabinet with an increased or decreased depth, a mid range semi custom line like Kemper can do that for you. If you want a wall cabinet 14 1/2" wide, that's not a modification available on the typical mid range semi custom line. It IS an option on an upper semi custom line, like my Dynasty. Now if you want that cabinet 14 3/8, you have to move to the fully customizable line like Omega. As for box stores, they offer some perfectly nice lines. It's the design end that you can have issues with. It's hit or miss on the experience and skill level of the designer there. The person could have been mixing paint last week, or the person could have been doing the job for 15 years. You simply don't have any way of knowing their competency until you interact with them for a good while. (AFTER you educate yourself.) At least with a dealer, you know that they (mostly) don't hire complete idiots. And if you have someone new, they're working under a mentor who can help out if you're uncomfortable with some of the responses that you get. As for what it's "worth" to you. That's a personal decision. Some people spend a lot of money on the latest electronic gagetia. Some spend it on nice cars. Some, on their houses, and the components that go into their homes. Just beware of under spending or over spending for your home's value and locale. Average kitchen remodels in the US are around 48K now, for a simple replacement remodel. (About one third to one half goes towards cabinets) More people are staying in place and putting their money into making their homes a nicer place to be rather than doing the "property ladder" bit. Ikea is a good value but it is in NO way comparable to Kemper or any other good quality semi custom line. If Ikea had a spec book, it wouldn't even be 1/4" of an inch deep. There just aren't many choices, either in styles, colors, or sizes. My Kemper spec book is around an inch and a half thick. There are literally thousands of choices. With Dynasty, you're talking 4" thick, an tens of thousands of choices. With Omega, hundreds of thousands of possible combinations. It opens up the possibilities instead of limiting you. (That is what a fully custom line can do for you.) The more choices in a line, and the more possible customizations, the better off you are in a small kitchen. Small kitchens can have lots of wasted precious space when you use stock cabinet sizes. There just isn't any way around it. You'll have to use fillers, and you'll have to use only the sizes that they make. If those certain door styles and certain sizes work, they usually work best in a larger kitchen where isn't so crucial to wring every inch of usefulness out of. Not trying to convince anyone one way or the other, but merely suggesting that you do a whole lot more research and throw out your prejudices.

Just wanted you all to know that I just ordered my vanity based on information from this thread. (So thanks, all!) I ordered natural walnut from the new frameless line. - the door style is Torin. The cabinet place had a sample so I was able to see exactly what it was going to look like. The vanity will be two attached cabinets - drawers on the left and doors on the right, no toekick, and I got a 4" x 4" tall leg which will be cut to make feet! Unfortunately I had to wait 6-8 weeks, but I am excited! I am thiinking it will look really sharp with Pure White Caesarstone!

Sigh, well, it is starting to become clear that custom cabinets just may not be for me given the amount of money that I want to spend. I have been offered by both to come out and see examples of their work, but was waiting on the actual quotes to see if they would even be in the running. And that doesn't seem to be the case (with option 2 for sure). I have been to the showroom. I guess I haven't been wary of birch because we had a lovely stairway bannister custom made and birch was used. It was stained a medium color, and is quite pretty, and has held up nicely. Granted the proportion is much smaller, and it doesn't take near the abuse and wear and tear that a kitchen would. The cabinet maker who would be using birch is a larger local shop, they have been around for 30 years and have a good reputation, so I would expect that their finishers are top notch. In the hands of skilled craftsmen is it still an absolute no go for darkly stained birch? Wht about maple? Somebody posted a pic recently of their darkly stained maple cabinets being installed and I am in love, but I guess day of installation is no test of how they will hold up. I'll be sure to bring these things up when I talk to them today. I may be being completely naive, but the guy we are working with seems like a pretty straight shooter. And if I rule out the custom option completely, and go with the semi-custom option from a national cabinet manufacturer, do the same staining and wood rules apply? Again, I was looking at getting a darkly stained maple. If I absolutely must have cherry to take a dark stain, then I am going to have to change gears completely. Either save money for a few more years or go with a painted cabinet. Once again, thank you for your help.