It's pretty standard to build cabinetry out of plywood with veneer -- big enough sheets of nice straight flat actual hardwood would be ridiculously expensive if not totally unavailable -- today's trees/lumber do not compare to the trees of years past, which is why antique furniture is built out of solid wood and today's furniture isn't. That said, a good plywood with a nice veneer will be beautiful and pretty much indistuinguishable from solid wood. I am not familiar with Cali Closets, but we have a closet system from closetmaid and while perfectly functional in the closet, it is definitely fake looking and not an aesthetic I'd want to feature in my living area. In my experience, MDF with veneer never looks quite as good as plywood -- I don't know if it's the veneer they use or what, but the MDF I have seen has always had a thermofoil or paper-type veneer which looks bad and doesn't hold up. Maybe Cali closets uses a wood veneer though, in which case it would be about the same as plywood. A local contractor will also be able to customize the shelves to fit your space, while cali closets may have basic sizes that you would be limited to -- I remember trying to figure out how to best span our closet with the 2 standard sizes of shelving units that closetmaid offered at the time. I also think you will probably end up with better construction from the local guy, as it will probably be custom built on-site and be less of a "modular" type construction. As far as using the local contractor vs. a national franchise, I would get references from the local guy (with pictures or even an in-person visit if feasible) and don't overpay up front -- the risk of a local one-man-type guy is that he takes your deposit and runs. But that is rare, and getting references/checking licenses/vetting with the BBB should prevent most of that. In the end, I think you'll get a better end result from a good local carpenter than you will from Cali Closets but that's just MO, and like I said, I have never dealt with Cali Closets.

we have done Elfa from the container store, first in our master closet, then as an office in a wide reach in closet, and then the coat closet, and the butlers pantry, and the food pantry. We used the metal basket type drawers and have the plastic liners in a few. Benefit is that the wire mesh doesn't leave marks in your clothing. Our previous house had the home depot version and the elfa is about twice as sturdy, feels solid and looks nicer.

It sounds like you made really good choices. I was in your position a year ago and we moved into our house 8 months ago. We also used California Closets and I was very happy with the experiences. Having your shoe shelves be non-angled is very practical in case you want to use that space for storing other things in the future (which you couldn't do easily with slanted shelves). I also upgraded to the soft-close dovetail drawers, which I love. The only thing I sort of regret is letting my designer talk me into a few frosted glass door fronts. She wanted it to feel more open and for me to be able to "display" beautiful handbags, etc. but the reality is that it's a closet and not a display space and I would rather have had totally concealed storage. I am happy with the accessories I chose: a jewelry drawer, safe, tilt-out hampers, ironing board that tucks into a drawer, full length mirror, pull-out rod and belt rod. For my kids' small walk-in closets, we got full-length mirrors (that fold away) and pull-out hampers. For my youngest daughter's (10 years old) closet, I did not pay close enough attention to the height of the hanging sections. One section is too high for her to reach so I ordered extra shelves to put in that area until she gets taller. Same thing for the drawer sections. She can reach the top 2 drawers to open them but she isn't tall enough to see what is in them. I also wish we would have been able to have pocket doors for the smaller walk-in closets but our room design did not allow for this. For the benefit of other readers looking at closet options, yes, CC is pricey but they really do handle EVERYTHING from the design to the installation and the clean-up. I wanted/needed help to design our spaces to maximize storage space and could not do that without the help of the designer. I did look at The Container Store's custom system (not elfa) but when I went to the store to open drawers, see the finishes, etc. to get a sense for the quality, they felt flimsy compared to CC. I did notice, however, that they have recently revised their custom closet offerings so maybe they have improved.

connerhm the maple finished plywood is probably not as hard as an actual solid piece of maple. It's only got a thin layer of maple. I have worked with solid maple(ambrosia maple) and that stuff is hard but I didn't find working with it to be any more difficult then working with pine or the white wood stuff from Lowes. We sued the ambrosia maple for tabletops and desk tops. I actually preferred working with the harder wood. It didn't chip or splinter like softer woods. I have never worked with the maple finished plywood.