What's the linear feet, wood species, and extras (corbels, inserts) have you chosen?

This is just the kitchen detail. The butler's pantry and desk would match the island.

Custom Built Kitchen Cabinetry with inset doors/drawers.
Drawers and Door Style: Basic Raised Panel.
Inset doors with 1 1/2" beaded frame surrounds.
Exterior of main kitchen in a solid color painted spray polyurethane satin or semigloss finish.
Exterior of island in Maple or Cherry with a dark stained satin or semigloss finish.
All interiors in Maple with a natural finish.

Kitchen to consist of the following elevations:
*Sink/Window Elevation (188"W): Lower cabinets below and
upper cabinets on left and right of window. Sink cabinet to have 2decorative bumped out columns.
*Range/Hood Elevation (216 1/4"W): Lower cabinets below and
upper cabinets on far right and far left. Custom square shapeddecorative wood hood included with 2 decorative corbels.
*Refrigerator Elevation (112"W): Right side to have cabinets below, counter space and upper cabinets above, center to house 48"stainless steel refrigerator with storage cabinets above, left to house single wall oven/microwave or double wall ovens, warming
drawer below and storage cabinets above.
*L-Shaped Island (64"W x 72"W x 25"D x 36"H): To have sink
cabinet, dishwasher, storage cabinets and possible beverage
refrigerator. Finished side panels and back panel. 2 decorative leg columns.
Interior accessories included: One single or double pull out waste bin, one wooden flatware organizer, one knife organizer, partitions for large utensils, one spice organizer, one stainless steel lazy susan for kitchen corner and one flip down sponge holder for sink

Adding up your numbers totals about 50 linear feet (without the island.) I added an additional 25 feet to account for the upper cabinets you mentioned but didn't give numbers for, the butler's pantry, and vanities. At 75 linear feet, that's $1333 per linear foot.

As you know, the inserts and corbels can get pricey. You might want to ask for a breakout.

At the $1000+ price your cabinets should be constructed more like fine furniture. So, the carcass should be thick (perhaps 3/4" as opposed to 3/8"). Ask about the joinery--are they dovetailed? Rabbated? What kind of glue are they using? (Low end cabinetry uses nails to pin carcasses together, and a plastic brace for support.) What kind of hardware does this include? Fully-extending soft-closing drawer slides? Ask to see the hinges, and research the specs to see how much weight the finished cabinets can support.

Hopefully, someone else with a better background in furniture making than I will chime in. But these should give you some ideas.

Also make sure that this price includes any structural enforcements that may be needed to the wall to support the cabinet weights.

Where are you located? I think location will make a big difference in cost of cabinets too.

Thanks. Here is some additional information. The price of the kitchen alone is $64,000 which includes installation. the butler's pantry, desk and vanities make up the additional cost.

The drawer hardware is an undermount soft close track by BLUM. The hinges are concealed heavy duty with soft close by BLUM. All of the cabinet boxes are made with 3/4" plywood not 5/8". All the doors are 7/8" thick not 3/4". All interior drawer boxes are made with 5/8" plywood and finished off with solid edges not 1/2" with exposed plywood. All bases are separate and not attached to the base cabinets. All crowns are a 2 step crown and adjustable so it touches the ceiling.

I am going to see some of their work at a few homes but I just wanted to know what to look for.

I know this isn't exactly comparing apples to apples, but all the custom cabinetry in our new home is coming in a little over $30,000. I will say that the cabinetmaker has done a lot of custom work for us in our current house, so I know we probably got a sweet deal. That includes a 21X18 kitchen, dining room build-ins, laundry room, 4 bathroom vanities, my small office, DH's library, living room divider wall with columns, fireplace wall with bookcases, and an 8' bookcase unit. Kitchen is hickory with plywood boxes, maples drawers and interiors, full overlay doors, soft close drawers and doors, 2 trash pullouts, glass door hutch unit. And this includes the hardware and laminate top in laundry. Just to give you an idea of the kitchen size, there are 41 drawers and 32 doors, and approx 125 sq ft counters. I feel confident that our cabinetry will be extremely well built, although not the very top end, and will be beautiful.

Let me tell you that I also got an estimate from Showplace Cabinets, and they came in at $62,000 just for the kitchen. And although a really nice cabinet, they don't compare to what we are getting.

It's very hard to compare, but if this is top notch work, including original plans, with the size and materials you've named, your kitchen only quote doesn't sound out of line. You can probably find good work for less, but you can probably find lots of top quality quotes for this project in the same range.

I am located about 20 miles from NYC so I think that definitely plays a part in the price.

Joyce 6333 - Sounds like you did get a sweet deal. very jealous.

Thanks for everyone's feedback. My GC (who is highly recommended from many people)is the one who recommended them to us. We are building a new house and he has used them in many of his previous jobs. He even used them in his own house. It just seems like such an outrageous amount of money and I am not that knowledgeable on what the going rate is for good quality cabinets.

And I thought $1800 for the custom cabinets I want is alot of dough. eek.

That seems reasonable for outside of NYC. For our house, we originally received a quote of $83,000 for a kitchen and 3 baths (w/ lots of glass and custom features in the kitchen). Of course, we are like an hour away from Lancaster PA and because of our location, to me that was unreasonable. So, we found a person who makes better quality cabinets (all completely handmade, all wood, etc. etc.) and the price came down.

If I were you though, I would not only get one quote, no matter how great these people seem. We got 6 quotes and there was such a huge discrepancy in the quotes we got (I'm talking a range of like $40,000-$50,000 differences from company to company, and the most expensive was NOT the best.) I would ask your GC if he can recommend a second company to do a comparison (our builder was the one who sent us to the first expensive person and also the one who sent us to the company we are ultimately going with). People on here may also be able to recommend someone to you. It doesn't hurt anything for you to at least get a second opinion....

Yes, I was going to say that the price, though certainly high, is probably more normal for a high-end installation in places like Westchester County or Connecticut.

One way to be flexible is to ask the cabinetmaker what are the trade-offs if your budget is 20% less than that.

Also, the construction that you have indicated is for a solid piece of furniture. Do you need such construction for a bathroom vanity or kitchen cabinets? (I would rather put the money into library bookshelves, for example.) Remember, the lifespan of a kitchen is rarely more than 25 years.

How many quotes did you get?
There are many architectural grade custom shops in Fairfield County. Dont bother asking builders or lumber yards ( cabinet makers dont buy their materials there anyway ) ask a well regarded architect, preferably an interior one.

Do your self a favor and demand conversion varnish for your kitchen cabinets, poly is not the correct finish. If he insists on it get a different maker.

wow! Our entire house is worth about that much! It always amazes me how different costs are in different regions!

I have used a company that builds totally custom cabinets out of Chicago, IL. They ship throughout the USA and also can install anywhere in the USA for about the same as your local guys. I would say there price would have come in at around $75,000(including install) for the kitchen project discussed in this forum.

Here is a link that might be useful: Custom Kitchen Cabinets

Depends on the type of materials first and processing...like adding glazing to the job, type of wood, etc...and do not forget the golden rule...you get what you pay for! BossCustomCabinets.com-kansas city

Here is a link that might be useful: Boss Custom Cabinets