I didn't answer originally because we're still waiting for our doors to arrive from Scherr's....so I have nothing concrete to tell you about, plus I wasn't totally sure what your question was. :) Anyway, we're doing Shaker style door covers that they are painting. I can tell you that the painting is what is costing us quite a bit more - if you are using one of these companies, I'd be more likely to look at the wood doors if saving money is of prime concern. That said, I was set on a white color, but not their Extra White default color. I paid extra for custom, and I paid extra for them to paint it. I could have ordered them not painted, or painted with two coats of primer. However, I read too many stories about DIY paint eventually coming off and my family is not easy on cabinets. The extra investment is worth it to save me from yelling at them every time they touch the cabinets. What I loved about the company was that I could send them my design straight from Ikea and they set up the order - they are used to working with Ikea base cabs and were easy to deal with. One thing we didn't do is get end panels, fridge panels or the back of the peninsula panels so there are definitely some things we're doing ourselves - those bigger pieces like the fridge and peninsula panels made the shipping and cost per SF REALLY go up. I hope we're doing the right thing but as the guy at Scherr's said to me, if it doesn't work we can always order them after the fact. Again, they aren't coming for a few more weeks so I can't comment outside of the decision/ordering process. In the end, I'm not sure the cost will be *that* much cheaper than ordering from Lowe's, especially when you add in our time, but we'll save a couple of thousand.

You do not need to hire a custom cabinet maker to do the doors and drawer fronts unless you're having them tack on a few custom cabinets while you're at it (not a bad compromise, actually). You just order your doors from door companies. They're all over, and many custom cabinet makers order THEIR doors as well. Apparently just doors was how Scherr's started. Ikeafans is wonderful. And Ikea has almost as many size options as the other stock cabinet lines, so they really aren't deficient compared to those. I really like Ikea cabinets (and have some that aren't in a kitchen) but the most appealing thing about them is WYSIWYG. If you get a quote from a cabinet store, be it the local Wood-Mode dealer or the Home Depot, you just won't get a line by line price. With Ikea, cabinet x costs exactly X dollars and if it's defective bring it back and we'll get you a new one even if we secretly think YOU broke it. The straightforward pricing is very appealing to some of us who aren't necessarily on a budget but like to know where exactly the money is going. Most DIY cabinets are like this of course, but they don't all have useless diagrams to ignore as you do it. I didn't do Ikea on my last kitchen because I wanted extra deep cabinets (and drawers especially) because it was the only way to expand my kitchen without EXPANDING my kitchen. But I'd do Ikea on my current kitchen so I could do it at my own pace if they hadn't discontinued the Best Ikea Door Ever. (I am not too lazy to assemble my own cabinets but I'm too lazy to custom order doors.)

I have used KraftMaid cabinet doors on the Ikea boxes when I had to make some alterations in the laundry room after purchasing a new washer and dryer. Worked like a charm. The Ikea buyers guide includes specs and descriptions of the kitchen cabinets and accessories. I found it helpful as I consider Ikea cabs for my kitchen remodel.

Thanks for the reply. I'd tried to simply look online but couldn't tell from the photos, and my closest Ikea is a couple of hours away. It was just an idea.