OK?

rock , paper, scissors

eeny, meeny, miny, moe

pin the tail on the quote

man on the street

MIL

QS oak tends to be about 15-20% more than maple. Painted wood tends too be about 10-15% more than maple. So, I really wouldn't expect to see a huge price difference since you picked to upper end finishes. That being said, good luck deciding! Can't wait to see the finished product.

I could mix finishes but not sure how I feel about that. If we paint, any or all, it will be green. Does anyone have any good reference pictures?

Do you have an inspiration pic file? If so, review them and see which ones you react to most positively on a heart-stopping love it level. Do you have more pics of one style or colour over the other?
Throw the pics down the stairs and which ever one lands furthest down is the winner. If it's a computer file close your eyes print one and it can be the winner.
Will the style of your house decide inset or overlay for you?
If you're doing an island or hutch or something that can be separated out, how about quartersawn oak on the perimeter and green on the island/hutch/whatever. I think that would look unique, and sophisticated.
Have you decided on counter tops yet?

maybe go with overlay to save $4k. and then mix the oak and painted cabs, then paint your window trims to save a little more. $4k can buy you a couple of new appliances or pay for your countertop.

Since money doesn't seem to be the driving issue, get what you like best. Personally, I prefer natural wood over painted but that's me.

Have you walked around with a sample of the painted one? If not, you need to do that. I'm going with Omega, and ordered a white painted sample. I barely looked at the thing and it would get marks all over it (looked like pencil marks). Granted, I could wipe them right off even with my finger, but I decided I wanted something lower maintenance and went with sable stain. Not sure if all the painted finishes are like that, or just the white, but you should really get a sample before you decide.

It is amazing how different some people are. My wife is the exact opposite. She had a vision of EXACTLY what she wanted the cabinets to look like and we spent a lot of time trying to find ones that matched that vision. I can't imagine her sitting there with dramatically different styles/looks and not having a strong opinion one way or another.

Not a lot of difference? There's 5 thousand between the high and low numbers. 5 thousand can buy a lot of nice things!

Have you gotten a quote from Old River Cabinetry?

They may be in your area and if not will travel to install. Don't know what you're planning, but I once got a surprisingly reasonable quote for custom, good finishes, nice work. Others here had recommended them also.

there is like a 900 difference between oak vs white, and a 4000 diff in overlay.

5K is a decent amount of money, but on something this size, isn't quite the deciding factor. you're going to spend 25K, but won't spend 29K?

the difference between oak vs white is negligable pick what you want. I like full overlay, I don't really like inset as much, so it woudl be a no brainer for me,but plenty of people are attached to inset.

If you're really torn, why not go with the least expensive option? Throughout the course of the project, you're going to find lots of things that "only" cost another $1000. May as well start with $5k in the bank!

Earlier in the thread you asked for pics of painted cabs, in green no less. Our kitchen is 95% done with green painted beaded inset cabs. In this pic the floor (VG doug fir) and trim (also VG doug fir) and counters (cobra soapstone) are covered. I need to take some pics now that all that stuff is uncovered...

I still haven't figured out the whole image posting thing. Try the link.

[IMG]http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m517/laranbrian/kitchen1.jpg[/IMG]

Here is a link that might be useful: more pics

Just got another quote. This time for Starmark Cabinetry. It was $24-25,000 QSO full overlay. The local custom guys are a little slower at getting the quotes back. Won't it be great if they are significantly cheaper? I guess I'm just holding out hope that I can get everything I want for under $20.

We are leaning a little toward the cheapest option cause it would be nice to not blow the budget on everything. However I think I have been brainwashed into believing that I want inset. (I am building in a historical area and hope to achieve a vintage bungalow look.) I'm so scared that the full overlay will look too contemporary.

My DH and I have been playing, "Think of the kitchen" where we begin a statement about the new kitchen and interrupt with, "What color were you imagining as you said that?"

laranbrian, to post your photos directly:

1. find your photo and "copy image location." I do this on my Mac laptop by tapping two fingers on my motion pad thingie while the cursor is on the photo (what's it called? the one where you drag your finger around to make the page move up and down); this makes a list come up and I select "copy image location." If you have a pc type computer, this may may work differently-experiment.

2. In your post where you want your photo to appear,
a) type img src=" [this means image source is"___"]
b) paste in the copied image location
c) type in another set of quotation marks and a space
d) type in /img and finish with > [the means end of image tag]
This will produce:

Sorry about the word descriptions of how to write the code, but if you actually write the code out, you get the picture. If you write out pieces of it, you get a broken link symbol. I vaguely recall there's a way to avoid that, but I don't remember how.

If you really want vintage and want it authentic...then I would choose inset providing you can deal with the slightly reduced storage space. QS oak is my fave... since it;s what I have but mine is in a contemporary setting with frameless cabs. I know you probably posted your layout already but if so I don;t remember it. Could you post your layout? There are some real creative ways you can mix QS and painted.

What about doing the oak for the majority of the kitchen and using the painted for a "feature" area like a hutch or sink area or cooktop, etc.(I can see using a rich William Morris green or cranberry!) If you are in a historical area where inset would be appropriate, I'd try to use inset for the majority of the cabinetry, but again, use the full overlay for the feature area. It will give you an authentic, put together over time, unfitted look. And it will help to save you some $$.

The only time I think the $$$ for inset is worth it is if you like the period look and really want it. I have done 2 kitchens in 5 yrs and did inset in both because to me it was worth it. I admit I must be one "attached to inset", as you said above, every time I open a finished kit I swoon over the inset and the period look. Do you? If so then it is worth it.