Merrilat Claasic andTimberlake are at the lower end of semi custom so not the best reference point. If your finding local cabinets at the price of those your doing well. Biggest concern is the finish-what are they using? A pre catalyzed varnish is ok, not as good as factory catalyzed but a sight better than urethane air dry. Wood stability is a second thing to consider, ask about it You will likely be finding pocket hole construction for frames. That would be the same as on the brands you mention. Moving up to the better semi custom brands you can start to find doweled frames, a big improvement. As to custom sizes- there are a lot of semi custom brands that will do sizes in 1/8 inch increments. My entry level cabinet does. One advantage with mfg cabs if your looking at line that do modifations and offer a good choice of accessories is engineering. I've seen a lot of odd approaches from local makers, course I've run into a few with mfgs but less often. And if there is a quirkie detail a brand uses the dealer should know enough to have you avoid it. Bottom line is check the finish, see if it's domestic sheet goods, actually Blum AND price compare apples to apples knowing what the frame and box construction is. How do they attach the box to the frame? A lot of folks on this board say they've gotten good deals. I don't know. What I do know is that when I built em, made everything, mortise and tenon frames, glued into dadoes and fastened- my prices were on a par with mfg brands, not much lower. Alas I had to use pre catalyzed varnish so to me they were better. I could not compete with the semi custom brand I carry now even with the same (pocket hole) construction. Certainly not if I did not outsource doord and drawer boxes. YMMV :)

We went custom, and I'm glad every day. It ended up costing us just a little more (about $1000, which was about 7% of our total cabinet cost). That extra money was well worth it to us to be able to get just exactly what we wanted. With custom, you don't have to have any "filler" pieces. You feel like you have more control with the big companies, but, in reality, with a good custom cabinet maker, you'd have way more control. We were able to get deeper uppers to accommodate our dishes, dividers for pans and cutlery, and unique sizes--all for no extra charge. If we had added those to one of the big manufacturer's quotes, the cost would have quickly exceeded our custom price. (Not every custom maker will include all of that at no extra charge.) If we'd gone with a big manufacturer, a lot of the features that make out kitchen work for us wouldn't even have been possibilities, or would have incurred massive extra charges. If you really feel like you don't have much control with your GC's custom cabinet maker, I'd urge you to look at other custom shops. If you're seeing inconsistencies in quality, get some other quotes from other shops.

Good quality cabinets are not available with a short timeline from anywhere, locally or nationally built. Yeah, the only thing you're getting FAST is big box /off-the-shelf. Think twice about that choice. You're going to live with these cabinets for DECADES. From a function perspective, a well-designed custom kitchen will virtually always be superior because it is tailored to your specific needs by definition. If you can afford it, both in terms of money and time, I’m not sure why you wouldn’t go custom. Semi-custom can be tailored to your needs as well, especially if you're building new ... the difference in "your specific needs" can be only a matter of inches over the entire project. But projects vary. My random thoughts, somewhat contradictory: - I have custom cabinets in my current house. They are original to the house and are very close to 50 years old. In spite of being custom, I don't think they were ever top quality; or maybe it's more truthful to say that standards were lower 50 years ago. Some of the doors are warped, and they are out of style. The moral: Even custom cabinets will wear out and/or go out of style. - My mother remodeled her kitchen roughly 25 years ago -- I remember she was painting the beadboard ceiling blue the night I went over to tell her she was going to be a grandmother, so I'm pretty sure of the timing. Because she was remodeling an old, old house with odd dimensions (and had a chimney running smack-dab through the middle of her kitchen), she spent A FORTUNE on lots of unique sizes ... and she splurged on solid-solid maple and all the bells and whistles. They're absolutely gorgeous, they feel so solid, and they're made for a short person. In spite of my small nephew and niece living in that house now, those cabinets still look brand new. Quality is worthwhile. - I have already decided to go with semi-custom. Why? I'm building new, so I don't have to deal with the oddball dimensions in my Mom's old-old kitchen. I want the solid-solid wood like my Mom's kitchen, but I don't have any unique issues/sizes like she did, and the quality of the building will be just as good. The price difference is significant, and it seems that -- for my simple choices -- the only sacrifice will be the couple inches necessary to combine two cabinets (instead of having an 11' run of cabinets that're brought in in one piece). - Are you the person who wants top-quality and will still be happy once today's styles have changed? Or would you rather spend less today and accept that you'll replace it all in X number of years anyway? - How important are bells and whistles to you? No matter what type of cabinets you choose, simple box cabinets will be cheapest ... drawers will be mid-priced ... and specialty cabinets like spice pull-outs will cost the most. How many "special things" do you plan in your kitchen? Personally, my number is one. One Super Susan in the corner. - Remember that cabinets that are hidden on three sides are the least expensive ... islands, which must be finished on four sides, are the most expensive. - Other people have talked about types of cabinets. Definitely read up on Full overlay, partial overlay, and inset. Definitely consider frameless vs. framed. These things will affect your price. - Consider the size of your cabinets /drawers. Say you have a 6' space to fill ... you could choose two 36" cabinets or three 24" cabinets ... all things being equal, the two wider cabinets will cost less than the three smaller cabinets. - Insist upon the heavy duty hardware.

If the fronts and glides are specifically made for Ikea cabs, there should be no difference in installing them as Ikea's own parts. So, go to the Ikea website and find your drawer, low, medium or high. scroll down to "assembly instructions" and click on the choices. Below two Pdfs for medium drawers. (Look through both booklets from front to back , as everything depends on where in the stack the drawer is going to be installed, if it's going to be an inside drawer or regular outside drawer etc. It helps to understand the system, before starting to assemble. Drawer front attachment https://www.ikea.com/us/en/assembly_instructions/maximera-drawer-medium__AA-1020213-3_pub.pdf Drawer glide schedule https://www.ikea.com/us/en/assembly_instructions/maximera-drawer-medium__AA-1010997-1_pub.pdf Hav fun! And good luck!