michelle, have a glass of wine.

It's a journey. You have to think of it as an educational process. You read, learn, make decisions. You could have someone else do it all for you for a $. But I think why you are here shows you care about the details.

It will undoubtedly take more than the logical side of your brain says it should take. But spending the time allow the right side of your brain to make the decisions that are aesthetically pleasing to you.

My 8 cents :)

Get prices from the big companies then look at custom. Believe it or not, sometimes the custom comes out cheaper.

I echo cp's advice. The two custom quotes I've gotten have almost exactly matched the Diamond price. But mine will be white shaker cabs, not inset.

Marcy is right also. This will take far longer than you think it will. I started seriously planning this new kitchen back in January when my baby was 3 months old. Today is her 13th month birthday. I also have a 5y.o. I thought we would have been done and enjoying the new space by now. It might be frustrating, but you will learn soooooooooooo much here over time. And, most importantly, your kitchen will be much better for it in the end.

It can be stressful trying to plan a kitchen with small children, especially here. You start looking at threads with a specific topic in mind when you see an interesting one off-topic. That one has a link to another thread. That has a link to a photo. That photo makes you wonder about the sink you saw yesterday online somewhere else so you open another browsing window and GW and do a search for that sink. That leads you to another topic........Next thing you know, the baby is awake from a long nap, the older kids are hungry because they didn't get their afternoon snack, and your butt aches because you sat in a hard chair at the computer for two hours without moving. Been there!

Good luck!

Expect the whole planning and construction process to take a year and pace yourself accordingly. Set some time aside for the research, and some time for yourself, so you don't feel overwhelmed all the time.

If you haven't done it already, think about the style of kitchen you want, and find some inspiration pictures to help you focus on that look. Also make a list of the functional needs of your family. Make a checklist of the things you need to research and decisions you need to make (cabinets, countertops, sink, etc) so you can do things in small bites and check them off as you go, so you feel like you've accomplished something.

And wine is ALWAYS good. ;-)

Michelle,
Where are you located?

bodhi8

Thanks to all of you for your advise- Marcy- wine sounds great, CP- I think I will start with the companies I listed and then custom, see who gives me the most bang for the buck, who I feel most comfortable with and which manufacturer makes the nicest finish in a painted finish. Warmfrige- i laughed my butt off at your post, it is so true about spending so much time on here, and the poor kids are hungry! LOL! It feels like there is never enogh time here, always more to see and learn, BODHI8- I am in Clinton, NJ, thanks again everyone! Michelle

Have you looked into Amish cabinet makers near you? You could try Google for that (search first in your area and then if you're within 150 miles or so from any Amish country, like eastern PA, search in that area). If Google doesn't help then call Mullet Cabinet in Ohio and see if they can point you to any Amish near you. It is a little known secret but Amish people literally have phone books (or I guess I should say address books) that list every Amish person and business in the United States. And probably Canada too. You could also contact an Amish furniture dealer in your area, if you know of one, and ask them (1) if they do cabinets and (2) if not, can they recommend anyone.

Amish have almost no overhead costs, so their cabinets are amazingly inexpensive, considering how good the quality is and the fact that it's totally custom. On my quote they were cheaper than Home Depot, and way better. They quoted ceiling-height maple cabinets (solid doors/drawers, plywood boxes) for a 10.5x17-foot kitchen, including a six-foot peninsula and cabinets around the fridge, at just under $11,500, plus around $2500 for installation (evidently the Amish can have non-Amish people drive them and the cabinets to your house to do the install, or else they use non-Amish installers). I think they said cherry or oak would've been about 20-25% more, which is still a totally reasonable cost.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mullet Cabinet - Amish in Ohio

someone recently posted about custom cabinets in the Philadelphia area - not Amish but I was impressed by what I saw. Now if I can find that post (which was within the last week) I'll come back here. Some of the Amish stuff just isn't what it use to be, recommendations will be necessary for sure.

That was me with the ancedote about spending too much time on GW. ;)

Sounds like you're in a good area with a few good custom makers from which to choose.

I did whole house remodel with a 1 and 4 (now 3 and 6) year old, a dog and a 60% job...I hear ya! I couldn't let go of any decision- and I don't recommend that you do- but please realize that some details don't need as much agony as others. And there is no "perfect" kitchen.

I have friends telling me I look well rested now. This is in comparison to last year when we were mid remodel, and I was up until 2 am on the computer, then up at 6 am for kids and job. Those were crazy times! Glad to be done!!! You will too.

Don't lose too much sleep, it makes you look bad ;)

Everything will cost more than you think, so your $10,000 budget is fixed, or only if nothing else goes over estimated price?

You might want to check something like Ikea, just to get an idea, what some other cabinets might cost. Sarah Richardson did a beautiful farmhouse kitchen with high end appliances and Ikea cabinets, she had custom sprayed off white, light gray and yellow. It turned out very nice :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Sarah Richardson's farmhouse

Most people have a built in resistance to IKEA for their kitchens, but that is often cured by a trip there and even more so when they get their estimate.

Our kitchen was estimated at between $17k-$18k for cabs alone (HD, Lowes, local budget place, etc..). The high end place wanted $35k. For the exact same style and features, the IKEA kitchen, installed, comes to less than $8k. Because of their current count top special (end Nov 28th), our counters will be 40% off, which comes in under $2k, installed! Our cabs and counter come in under $10k fully installed whereas that would probably have been less than half the price of cabs installed only.
The only "sacrifice" we made was having to use IKEA's limited size choices. Since I was doing it in an extension, it was no sacrifice at all as I can't think of what I'd do any differently now if I could customize the exact cab size.

You may want to fiddle around with their kitchen planner if you are good with a computer. You will then be able to see an aerial layout and a 3D one which was so helpful when planning. It is like walking through your finished kitchen as you can see it from all the angles.