Standard doors are 6" - are you suggesting not to upgrade to 8" ? We felt higher the door height, the easier it is to move furniture and stuff, of-course the width of the door isn't changing. I wouldn't bother with this. How often do you move "furniture and stuff" that's taller than 7'? Extended Lanai: Oh, I thought it'd be a deeper lanai ... I'd be less inclined to pay for a wider lanai. Wider isn't all that useful, and it means more rooms are shaded /have less natural light. Vent Hood/Microwave to Outside - If we don't choose, the smoke will stay indoors - the builder should have included this in the base price but it is what it is. I am really surprised that this isn't standard. I would do the oak riser steps instead of carpet. Yes overpriced but probably better now. Yes, if you don't do the oak risers now, you probably won't be able to do them later ... at all. If they do carpet stairs, they're going to use plywood /paint quality stuff under that carpet; thus, it won't be a matter of pulling up carpet later and staining /painting. It is easy to say walk away and build a custom home, but not everyone can afford to do that, nor does everyone want to go that route (even if they can afford to). True. Tara we all have to make compromises. For ourselves it's been a 2 year journey building our custom home, plus the hours and hours spent researching and finding even the smallest details. So I understand where you're coming from. Yup, no matter your circumstances, you're going to "give" somewhere. For us, we're taking the same route as CP describes above: The place where we're "giving" is time and personal effort.

It is likely going to cost you far more than $5,000 to change cabinets out later. It will also be a hassle after moving into a new place to rip out old ones, find new ones that fit the old boxes (if you do/can keep boxes...if you can’t, add a lot more than $5,000), what happens if there is damage to boxes or backsplash or counter during - lol, add another few thousand dollars! Add labour costs if you are hiring labour too. Soft close on drawers I would do during the build. Soft close on cabinets you can easily add yourself after closing if you want, depends how much builder is charging for that line item if worth it to you. Another factor to consider might be whether you can roll that $5,000 into mortgage or it will be cash out of pocket. If $5,000 will get you what you really want now, then go for it. But if you are going to be compromising even going with the $5,000 upgrade, stick with the “included cabinets” and save your pennies for new cabinets later on. Down the road later on. I can’t tell you if that $5,000 is really that high or not. They don’t warehouse cabinets - they order them at a certain timeline in build, but the builder would have priced out package based on their “standards” where they also usually get bulk discounts as they use them in most homes they build. Yours are a special request upgrade not factored into their pricing. If $5,000 is reasonable or unreasonable really all depends on what the quality differences are, how much cabinetry you have, etc. Cabinets are expensive. Shaker (painted MDF) were standard with my builder which was fine as it is what I wanted and am happy with their manufacturer and construction. But I added a tall pantry cabinet and that was about $2200 CAD. Soft close for drawers (I think ~20 drawers in house) was $270 CAD. Soft close on cabinets (~28 in house) was $400 CAD. It was worth it to us to have it done for close rather than do it after.

I love them all 😍 What do you think about polished nickel? Most times its more affordable. Thanks a lot 😍

When we "converted" our cabinet doors to soft-close, we chose to go with dampers instead. They were very easy to install and are still working just fine 14 years later. I don't know if it has to do with your cabinet type or not (framed vs frameless), but my suggestion is to put the original hinges back and go the damper route. We used "Blumotion for Compact Hinges" and got them online at Woodworker's Hardware. https://www.wwhardware.com/blumotion-cabinet-mount-for-compact-hinges-b971a970 We ordered part # B971A9700 It says "Designed for use with Blum Compact hinges", but it doesn't matter as our hinges are not Blum (they're Salice) and they worked with our cabinet hinges.