It's not unusual in my experience. Perhaps part of it is because it's a pain to type everything into the system for every option--just changing from uppers and lowers to a tall cabinet also involves redoing side panels and other trim bits.

(This is one thing I love about the IKEA kitchen model. WYSIWYG pricing. Of course you have to do it yourself!)

Go some place else. Another Medallion dealer if you are sure it's Medallion you want. Every dealer of any brand (as long as they have a computer - and who doesn't nowdays?) is hooked into a data base for the cabinetry line. That data base does all the calculations as well as identifying changes that may need to be done such as the side panels that Fori mentions. Typing in a few numbers is too time consuming? When the profit is thousands of dollars, which by the way is shared to some extent with you contractor for the referral? What kind of service are you going to get from that dealer if there is a problem with your order?

If you want to see how little time is required for obtaining pricing, including making design changes, go to HD or Lowes with your design. I did early on but decided on different cabinetry not carried by either. Putting in room dimensions took the longest, about a half hour. Once that information is in the cabinet information goes quickly if you have a good idea of what you want. A little slower if you have some changes during the initial mock up. Changing from talls to uppers and lowers and getting the new price takes as long as hitting "delete" on the right line and adding the codes for the uppers/lowers. The program even sizes the cabinets so the "designer" can't make a mistake. And no, that is not just HD or Lowes system. It's the 20/20 program (hooked into the various manufacturers' data bases) that every cabinetry line I investigated uses.

"Kitchen Designers" for cabinetry dealers are sales people. Most want to make as much money as possible in as little time as possible. Finding one who really enjoys the creative process, understands function as well as what you want/need to love your kitchen, is a challenge. No different from any other trade.

Even if the dealer is using 2020, pricing isn't easy. You first of all have to know how to program it properly for the correct pricing, and often the end user has zero input for that as the license owner does it and it's password protected. The informaton that spits out is only as good as the data programming it's received.

Second, using the ''Replace'' function sometimes royally messes up a design as it doesn't always tranfer the selected attributes to the new cabinet for pricing, even though it may still show visually. Some dealers write better code than others, and some cabinet catalogs are just so complicated that it takes 20-30 inutes to do what you are asking with any accuracy.

For instance, taking a tall pantry at the end of a run and replacing it with two seperate cabinets involves not only using the ''replace'' function with a base, but also the addition of the wall cabinet, and redoing the crown molding. If that pantry has a finished side, using ''replace'' can price it incorrectly, as the finish side was originally for a tall cabinet, not a base. You have to go in manually and deselect the incorrect attribute and reselect the proper attribute, and even then, sometimes it will be goofy and not work. And you have to delete all of the replacements and then add them in separately, individually.

Then, if the cabinet is in an upgraded finish, when 2020 finally gives you a price for the individual elements, it won't have the upgrade % calculated on it. You have to do that manully, if you want accuracy, because that's a global attribute, calculated at the end of the pricing, based on the totals of all of the elements. So, for a painted finish, in an all plywood upgrade, you have to calculate that 20% + 20% upcharge manualy on top of each of those individual cabinets, each with their own attachment lines for the finished ends, recessed toe on a side, and extra shelf kit.

It ain't opening a price book to a single line entry.

And that is why I won't design in a customer meeting. There are far too many chances of getting something wrong because 2020 didn't transfer attributes, or was just plain glitchy because I hadn't preventatively rebooted the system every hour on the hour. It's a wonky program, and doing changes on the fly always get you in trouble.

If someone wants to make changes, I make notes during the meeting and reserve the design work for when I'm not being interrupted by someone wanting a counter quote and the customers kids screaming. :). A follow up email or phone call in a couple of hours or the next day will give you much more concrete numbers.

Sure, I can ballpark guess, which is what your KD did. But, most people want more than ballpark by the time you've gotten them through the estimate, deposit, revisions process. If you are still in the guesstimate phase, you may not get timely work with revisions, or any revisions, until you move to the deposit phase.

I priced Medallion at Menards and was amazed at how quick and easy they were able to make changes and give me a detailed price list. I also was comparing pricing for tall pantry cabs to upper & lowers. There is a lot of big box bashing on GW, but I found big box pricing to be much more transparent.

Medallion @ Lowes is called Schuler.

Thanks for the replies. They have helped in understanding the process. The guy we're working with is super-knowledgeable about Medallion, and we value that expertise. The reluctance to provide numbers though, especially when asked ahead of time via email, is frustrating, particularly with my accounting/finance background :).

The reluctance to provide numbers is why I stopped using a particular Shiloh KD who was good and did a lot of work with me. Even when he gave me a number he would not write it down, so when we made a change and I'd ask about cost he would reply, "what was the number I gave you last time." (I did write them down.)

Then when we were at the final design, suddenly the amount dramatically increased even though I had made changes to decrease costs (got rid of pantry cabinets, etc.). Took the design to another Shiloh dealer who was significantly less expensive (could tell his shop had much lower overhead, small, old, industrial park location). He was very upfront about pricing as we tried a few different things, so I purchased from him.