We installed (ourselves) shaker inset white Conestoga RTA cabinets from & worked with Cabinet Joint to order. Would I do it again?... not sure. It was a lot of work & since RTA and factory painted, you have to plan everything super careful to account for seams, joins, etc. No t sure I would do insets again as those shows any misalignment unlike overlaps which can hide door alignment issues. The cabinets are very high quality wood and construction for the price BUT factory (white) is beginning to show yellowing around stove and garbage bin door where you touch it, etc - in other words, hard to keep factory finish looking great for long if you use your kitchen like we do. So we saved a ton of money over semi custom or custom but it was a lot of work to build, install, rewire, etc. Took me months of working by myself to do it and probably could have done a bit better job. There are some limits as to what you can do RTA but I found out after the fact, I probably could have done a bit more custom orders on a few cabs with Conestoga but I went with a more standard size which left a couple cabinets not exactly custom looking but fine (like a gap between frig and upper cab is not a exact fit but show a gap of 2-3 inches (I would have preferred it to be a built in, custom made look but nobody really notices its a nitpick. I am think they will need to be repainted after 10-12 years (white shows alot). Out painter does repaints of old cabinets and uses a specific euro product to do so . Never realized how many necessary steps there are to do a cabinet repaint correctly but here is a video (he has q couple which discuss the product and steps). https://www.facebook.com/toddthepaintr/videos/195740918684028

Go with Medallion! I don't believe there is any HUGE benefit from one brand to the other...and Medallion has a really good painted finish.

@carii thank you for sharing your lovely kitchen, I would never have found Space.Theory without this thread! We're now getting a quote from them, too. I am also in Marin County and we're going through this same process of pricing out all our options for a very similar look to your kitchen. Would you mind sharing the information of the custom cabinet maker you got your quote from with the Shinnoki veneers? Thank you! Jess

Hello, I am designing a kitchen similar to the one shown here w IKEA cabinets & 2nd party SLAB fronts. Would love advice on best choices for substrate & painting materials & techniques. What is preferred substrate material for slab fronts? If I go w MDF, is there a way to fill the “pores” on the cut edges? My sample door is primed 2x & painted, sanded between layers, spray application w a Water-Bourne Sherwin Williams product, but overall the paint application seems thin & the texture of the MDF on the cut edge is very visible Thank you for your advice