That's a pretty good list. You may want to specify how any pullouts or other interior cabinet gadgets you decide to use will be handled (in our case we did not include them in the contract, but agreed that the cabinetmaker will buy them and charge us at cost for them at time of final payment; this worked well for us since we were undecided on a lot of things). I would also ask who makes them, since there are lots of options out there, some better (and more expensive) than others. You may also want to ask, specifically, which hinges and slides will be used, just so you know (and can change if you want). Blum makes many different types of drawer slides, for instance---some are undermount v. side mount, some have soft-close, etc. For your doors, do you want the hinges hidden or visible? Soft-close? Payment schedule?

Not sure if your questions were intended for GW or the cabinetmaker, but on plywood thickness, we just went with what our cabinetmaker prefers. I can't even remember what it is but it seems great and very sturdy, so I'm glad we trusted his judgment on that. For cabinet interiors you can typically choose from a melamine finish, a maple finish, a painted finish, or maybe a few others depending on the look and ease of cleaning that you want. They were all the same price in our case---just came down to aesthetics. Undercabinet lighting affects cabinetmakers because, to get an 18" space between the counter and upper cabinet, you need the upper to be 1-2" higher with a rail that hides the lighting. (We don't have undercabinet lights, but I seem to remember the cabinetmaker saying he usually uses 1.5" as the standard "extra" for the lights, so maybe that's a standardized size for lights?) HTH!

Thank you! This is very helpful. The questions were for the cabinet maker but your input will help me when I ask the questions!

Any other feedback from those of you with past experience?

Again, many thanks to all.

Paint or polyurethane? How many coats? No VOC? Washable?
What kind of trash pullout? If you go to the Rev-a-shelf website, you can see different types.
How many pullouts, rollouts, drawer inserts, and other doodads?
How are you handling corner cabinets? Super Susans? Blind corners?
Will he install the hardware if you provide it?
How do they protect your floor during installation?
Corbels or posts or anything for island overhang?

Cabinet ends... flush ends, furniture ends or decorative ends.

If you have undercabinet lighting there will be a molding under the upper cabinets to conceal the lights - a light rail.

~ You might also want to specify quality and finish of end-panels if you have them. I know I've read several threads on GWers being disappointed in that they were not finished as well as expected.
~ Depending on the finish you want, ask if he is able to do spray v brushed stain/paint and then specify.
~ Who will be doing the install?
~ What guarantee does he provide?

What my CabGuy is doing for me:
~ Using 3/4 inch plywood for the boxes.
~ Building a fully functioning sample cabinet with specified slides and hinges (both soft-close) and the finish I have specified. I didn't go with Blum but I did approve the hardware to be used and it was fine for me.

One thing I did for our CabGuy...I had all my appliances on-site for them to reference to make sure everything will fit properly.

That's all I can think of for the moment.

Good luck with your meeting.

Pepper
~ 2nd week of reno. : )

Also see what the cabinet guy has to offer. Our cabinet builder provides the ability to adjust "dividers" in the drawers. See the example below for the pot lids. Wood selection may need to be specified (select). I'm assuming you will stain given quartersawn oak - if not - you might reconsider that selection so finishes need to be discussed. I would recommend a conversion varnish finish - it holds up beautifully but not all shops can shoot it given EPA rules. We had another kitchen built without conversion varnish and it did not hold up well in areas where we had moisture. Do not think (be constrained) by standard cabinet sizes (depths/heights etc.) You may want deeper cabinets for the ovens and refrigerator ( the whole wall that has the refrigerator). Think about carvings etc. I put a link to the company the built ours (ours is number 129 undekitchens) to give you some ideas. He has built some interesting stuff. Also consider where your heater vents are and if you want the cabinets built with them in mind. If your building an island, consider designing in room for the loop vent pipe. Also where do you want the electrical outlets to be in an island (thinking about the electrical runs) We went down to the shop to layout the island and those were things he told us about. He also wanted us there to specify exactly where we wanted some of the carvings.

Here is a link that might be useful: custom craft cabinets

3/4" is pretty much standard for the boxes. If you have large drawers into which you want to put heavy things you can specify extra heavy drawer bottoms and rails.

Re the lighting, there should be a "light rail" (i.e., trim) that covers that in the front. For framed cabinets it just means a deeper front frame. For frameless, it's an apron piece. You should check the height of that against the fixtures you intend to use. Some are very flat. Others are thick. Also, you need to determine whether you want the light rail to show when the doors are closed, and if so, how much.

For plywood edges you can specify sanded and polished, or veneered. Also, cabinet sides where they show but aren't an end, like on either side of the hood, should be veneered.

Very important is what height your uppers will be. The light rail plus bottom shelf can add 2". Another thing that affects the height is how level the lowers and the ceiling are. The cabinetmmaker will choose a horizontal line. If you specify 18", that will be you minimum. You might prefer it be the average, unless you have tall small appliances. You might prefer 15", or somewhere in between. This is affected by things like how high your ceiling is, what the new flooring is going to do to the height of the lowers, what your counter material is, etc. I could have had my cabinets lower, but I was tired and didn't pay enough attention.

My cabinetmaker measured and remeasured and reremeasured as different parts of the construction phase was done. Do check that yours will be doing the same. The whole point of custom work is to have things to the fraction of an inch.

If you can, ask for a itemized list of materials that will be used. It will help you determine how much every option will cost.

You may also want to make your uppers slightly deeper than standard. It usually doesn't cost you more but it will allow you to store larger platters easily. Mine are 16" deep.

Similar to the earlier posts, I also asked my cabinet maker to build the uppers 20" from the counter. With a 2" light valance, that will leave you the standard 18" clearance for appliances.

Finally, ask for sample doors and mouldings so you can see their quality. References are also helpful.

I hope this helps you

I would request references & include some that are older 5yrs or so, this way you can determine how they held up.

Also, the name of the lumbar yard & contact them to see how he is with bill paying.

Good luck

pull-out breadboards?

treatment of any display space such as wine rack, bookshelves, decorative panels?

treatment of plain panel sections on cabinet ends?--I wish I'd had it in writing that our guy would use good-looking grain, not too busy. I won't even share a photo of a place where it looks like he thought a nasty grain board would be on inside, not outside of the end panel, sigh.

handling of grain in symmetrical sections? I know that cabinet guys can't always match up the oak well, but in big expanses of oak, there can be obnoxious wild grain that needs to be used as a positive feature, not a negative eyesore. Can your guys match-up as best they can for slab or center "Shaker" panels from same general grain kind of board--look at these large drawers, where one set has good match and one has less good. (At least there isn't a real stinker piece here.)

(Note: My dad was an old-school carpenter and he would have insisted that cabinet guys treat grain as a feature in symmetrical cab faces.)

maximum use of space vs. sizes of cabs? We have a few places where we could have gained functionality if measurements were different. Be sure that you keep track of the sizes and expectations as the evolution of plans takes place. I think that I can explain why the inconsistencies crept in, but I'm not the only one who should have caught the error that cost me dearly in one instance. I think it was the result of a measuring error that was caught and compensated for but only in one instead of in two places where it mattered; a different error was in consequence of a misguided effort to add symmetricality. Both were total surprises to me at time when we couldn't go backward to fix the errors and now I'm married to the errors, stuck with 3 banks of lower cabs that cannot accept a pull-out unit of a sufficient size. Ah, me.

Look at the recent posting about how you expect the interior to be finished. Someone isn't happy & something was assumed, not written down.