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.

Thanks for all the feedback on Ikea! I think the Ikea birch is definitely a bit softer than either the oak options or the AW prospects, which were maple and cherry. So I'm ruling out any of the birch doors including the Adel medium brown which seems to be the most popular one. I'm sure they do fine, but I'm still very nervous about using Ikea for a kitchen, and I don't want anything that I am likely to have second thoughts about. Our galley is effectively a corridor - it gets a lot of traffic and every single guest has to cross the kitchen to get to our living and dining rooms. I don't want to cringe everytime my 2yo rides a car through the room because I'm worried about door dings. I've actually just returned from my local store and picked up a sample of the Tidaholm (light oak) door, which I actually like a lot better than I'd expected to - in my small galley it has the feel of almost whitewash, less yellowish than in photos I'd seen. So now it's the dark Liljestad vs. the light Tidaholm.... I had just talked myself into the Liljestad based on a few of hte really nice kitchens on the finished kitchen blog. I know that lighter wood is probably preferable for a small room though. Hmmm, maybe I'll post a second appeal for advice once I get the layout from the designer who works for the installation company.

I saw the same thing in my store. Too bad, we're doing a kitchen in our 2nd home in Adel beech. I really like it.

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.