Obviously you should go with whatever your most comfortable with but in these times if all things are pretty equal I would buy local. Practically if you have any problems your solution is close by. I also think #2's as a rule try harder - I don't know what your spending but if your order appears to be more important to Candlelight than it is to Crown Point I would go to Candlelight in a heart beat. You can't put a price on the intangibles. I think eager sounds a lot more appealing than less accessible.

If I was leaning Candlelight I would certainly want to see a larger sample of the\a finish and if you haven't seen any installed kitchens by them then I would ask to do that as well - you want to see the Contractor's work.

Go with your gut.

If you are going with inset cabinets, and pricing is similar between the two cabinet makers, for me, there is no question that I would go with Crown Point. Crown Point makes some of the highest quality cabinets in the business. They are custom cabinets with impeccable finishes. We got a bid from Crown Point but for us, they were much higher than our other bids, and we could not afford the difference. We ended up going with a custom cabinetmaker (they are being installed right now!) and did all the GC ourselves.

It has not been that hard to do and has saved us a lot of $$$. Even with the custom cabinetmaker, we saved $ by purchasing our pulls and knobs over the internet, rather than going through them. Pricing out countertops by calling fabricators directly showed us there is a significant difference between what each charges. If you are totally uncomfortable without a KD, and you feel like you would prefer to have someone with you each step of the way, then go with the Candlelight, they are certainly good solid cabinets. But the KD's fees will be built in to each charge every step of the way. Where if you can do it yourself (with the help from GW), you will be surprised at how much you will save. Either way, I'm sure you're kitchen will be lovely in the end!

sayde, have you had contact with one of the designers at Crown Point? It is one company I wouldn't be afraid to deal with long distance. Between doing 2 kitchens in 5 years I examined a lot of cabs from various companies. CP was superior quality with an unmatched painted finish. The people were wonderful and I know from others their service is fantastic. Have you gotten prices from both companies? In one second I would take CP if it was within my price range.

Hi Sayde, it sounds as if you're making some headway!

I'm a bit concerned, maybe confused, that the Candlelight are pricing comparably with the CP. Seems you may be paying a huge upcharge for the insets and/or are upgrading to plywood construct? I do think CP has a 10 year full warranty, whereas CL a 5 year limited (although I'm not sure that's really important). If you'd care to post your layout, I'll run the specs by a friend of mine at Candlelight to give you some sort of baseline.

Caryscott is spot on about seeing a full sized sample in your chosen stain & sheen, Candlelight is good about providing that.

Thank you so much for all the input. I appreciate it.

Paulines, I need to figure out how to post a picture -- I knew this day would come -- but in the meantime, I can tell you some things that might help.

I counted up my cabs and there are between 52 and 54 linear feet of cabinetry including perimeter and island. Everything but the island (30 by 46 inches) and one pantry (4 over 4=8 linear feet) would be beaded inset, painted. The island and the pantry would be stained cherry. There are 4 large drawers on either side of the range and 3 drawers below the 3 china cupboards, so that they run from counter to ceiling. The kitchen overall is 12 by 13.5 feet. I have asked Candlelight for maple pricing for the painted cabs -- their original estimate assumed birch. Also, plywood construction. I was told by the CL KD that CL makes the boxes and buys all the doors from Conestoga and finishes everything together in their own factory. I had not known that.

I had mentioned the designer at Candlelight was very nice -- the designer at CP is also very nice and he did MamaDadaPaige's kitchen, to her total satisfaction, so I know he would be great. And, he called the other day to express interest and hinted that they were really interested in "making it work" if I signed by the end of the year. I did not want to add that when I first posted because I am seeking input on the cabinets themselves.

Am so grateful for all the input -- have had such excellent guidance here --

I saw mamadadapaige's kitchen in person and the quality of her cabinets was evident in the craftsmanship, the finish and the design. She got a good price from them as well. It was really exceptional cabinetry. Good luck w/your decision. The kitchen you describe sounds just beautiful.

http://s410.photobucket.com/album

trying to post a picture of layout -- loaded to photobucket and can get to album but can't get the image of the layout to come forward. It is inside my album.

Here is a link that might be useful: DSC_0004.jpg

sayde, your photo album isn't showing up. Here's what you do: under the photo you want to post you'll see a box that says "HTML Code". Click inside that box and the code will be automatically be copied into your clipboard. Then paste (Control-V) that code into your post here.

I feel ridiculous -- I cannot get it to work. The line of code in the HTML box is http://s410.photobucket.com/album. I'm afraid I don't even know if I have a clipboard or how to use it. (This is a MAC). I tried just typing the line of code into the message box and that allows you to go to the photobucket page but then you have to go to the album to see the picture -- you can get there through my post, but it takes an extra click through one more layer.

Erika, are you still looking at both Cabico and Crown Point?

hi Sayde,
couldn't end my day without checking into GW and came across your post.

it is true that I am completely satisfied with the CP cabinets. At the same time, I can understand your dilemna. When I ordered I had to walk away from a local Quality Custom Cabinetry dealer who couldn't have been any nicer or more eager for my business. It was a decision partly based on $$'s as well which made it a littler easier (the CP cabinets were less), but I understand the draw to working with a local company.

I can say that the paint finish on the CP cabinets is beautiful and so far so good.. they are holding up very nicely and we haven't had a single issue. I don't think you can go wrong if you choose the CP cabs. I don't know much about Candlelight... there isn't a dealer close to me so they weren't on my list.

Let me know if I can help or if you have any ?s.

Hi Sayde, I'm sorry I tried to google how to do it with a Mac and no luck so far.

It was a really tough decision for me, but I'm going with the Cabico cabinets. The Cabico showroom came in over $25k less than Crown Point. Since we won't be in this house forever and with the downturn in real estate and the economy as a whole, I couldn't justify spending so much more for the Crown Point cabinets, even though I really love them.

After explaining the reasons for my decision to the Crown Point designer, she sent me a lovely email saying she totally understood and that she knew that I would still be able to make my kitchen look like "a million bucks." Then I got another email from the president of the company thanking me for considering them. They're a first-rate company.

Can't wait to hear which way you end up going. It's a tough decision, I know, but I think in the end you'll be happy either way.

Erika

I can help you (I hope -- famous last words) post your picture from a Mac.

There are a few different ways you can share your photo.

1) When you're on photobucket and have the picture you want to share, you can copy (open apple C) the "SHARE URL" link and copy it in your message or use that "Optional Link URL:" box underneath where you type your message here on GW.

2) You can do the same thing with the "DIRECT LINK" link on photobucket. (copying it and pasting it here in your message)

3) There's also a way to embed a photo in your message but I don't know how to get the code to appear without it being read as the image itself (meaning, you can't see the code I'm trying to tell you to use). Let me see ....

Okay, copy the "IMG CODE" from the photo you want to share on your photobucket account. You'll see the url is bracketed by [IMG]. Okay, so the [IMG] in the front should be replaced by

Good luck, sayde!

Hi Erika, Brooke, everyone --need to take a few days off from here -- will try the photo again when I get back

Erika, it is great that you can now move ahead. I think we get so caught up with the decisions and so determined we must make the absolute best decision, when in fact there are many choices that will lead to a wonderful outcome. I know your kitchen will be beautiful -- the careful planning and design are so important to the final outcome and we get to control that.

We're right in the middle of the kitchen overhaul process. Our cabinets have started to be installed. We chose Candlelight Cabinetry for several reasons (we did not look into Crown Point). The finish is beautiful. We chose the English Linen for the perimeter cabinets and birch for our island. They have the look of a custom cabinet. We were able to afford the inset doors, which had been on my wish list but I thought would be out of our budget. Our contractor has told me that these are some of the most solidly made cabinets he has ever worked with.

We're very happy with the cooperation we've received from Candlelight. They forwarded us a larger sample of the finish and have been very responsive to any questions we asked.

We chose to buy our crown from a lumber yard and paint it ourselves to match (at the suggestion of our KD). I was skeptical at first, but I have to say it was well worth the almost $1,500 in savings.

We were fortunate to be able to visit someone who had just installed the very same cabinet style and painted finish that we had chosen. We were sold the minute we saw them.

I will attempt to post pictures later.

Okay, I'm attempting my first link to photobucket. Hopefully, it will work!

Here is a link that might be useful: My kitchen

The thing about Crown Point is that they've been a company that has done its best to make sure the customer was completely satisfied all the way along, even when the economy was good. It was incredibly refreshing, back in 2004, to have a company that I felt really confident about. Every post I've read from people who used CP wanted to rave about their kd and about the willingness of CP to make sure that any problems were quickly resolved. It's likely a lot of companies will try harder now that economic times are more difficult, but I would consider sticking with a company that had a "customer first" attitude all the way along. My guess is that all companies involved in the construction industry are feeling quite a squeeze now, the #1 companies along with the #2. I know nothing about Candlelight and it may be that they've had a similar reputation and I just haven't noticed since I'm more likely to look at posts pertaining to CP

I'm fairly "local" to CP, an easy 1 1/2 hours away---close enough so that I felt as though I could be on their doorstep quickly if need be. My cabinets were built in 2004. My sister lives far away in NM and she used CP in 2007. We had equally great experiences.