We recently (October of 2010) reno-ed our kitchen.
Our cabinetry consisted of the following.
9 base cabinets including 1 with a Super Susan and 2-4 drawer stacks.
9 upper cabinets and a tall pantry cabinet.
The cabinets are constructed of 3/4" maple plywood boxes with maple face frames and are custom made.
Cost, including delivery, was something like $15,000.
So yes, to me your estimate seems high.
I'm attaching a link to our finished kitchen slideshow to give you a better idea of our cabinets.

Here is a link that might be useful: Finished Kitchen

We're in Michigan with a similar size kitchen (12 X 15) and our quotes are for 7 base cabinets, the sink cabinet, plus two upper cabinets. (The rest of the uppers are are open shelves, not included in the quote.) No hood, no corner cabinet. We have quotes now for (frameless) Brookhaven, Woodharbor, and Ultracraft; they are all right around $7,000, plus or minus $3-400. We picked cherry wood, natural stain, shaker style doors. So we should be happy?

That does seem high. Our cabinets are brookhaven. We got the kitchen (attached link), and three bathrooms (one larger master, a medium size, and a tiny one cabinet bath) for about $20,000. I think I have a bunch of kitchen cabinets- the island has 5 cabinets, 6 basecabinets, a refrigerator surround, a custom hood, a custom microwave/storage cabinet, and 5 uppers and a lazy susan corner cabinet. I also did a bunch of end panels.

I also live in NoVa, and am starting to shop cabinets to fill a 12x 12x6 G-shaped space. My impression is that decent cabinets will start around $400 per linear foot. Your Merillat quote does seem high; it it from Reico? You may also want to shop Mid-south building supply, as they carry Kraftmaid, Cardell and Medallion. All of those are middle of the road brands where you can do some customization and get some higher-end features. The good thing is you can use, say, a Kraftmaid quote and compare it across HD and Lowes, so you have some apples to applies comparisons.
We have also made a trip to PA to price out Dutch Wood's cabinets, which are custom made. I am using that pricing as a benchmark to see what other, more commercial retailers will offer.
@WillTV - You didn't say where you got your cabinets from?

MrAtoZ, did Dutchwood say they would go to N.VA? I know they have gone to DC area.

It is certainly something that MmmMmm should check out too.

You can probably even send them the plan you have and ask him for a quote. You can probably just have a conference call with him to go over the details of what is in your current quote.

He is well aware of GW and how we are all a little obsessed. :)

Bee

(I think my cabinets are being painted right now!)

Thanks for all the replies!

@MrAtoZ - yes, you are correct. How did you know??

MrAtoZ, Although we're on Long Islaned, our cabinets are from Knight Kitchens in Vermont.
They do a great job.

@ MmeMmn -
You mean, how did I know your quote is from Reico? Because they're the only Merillat dealer that I am aware of (and as I said, we're trying to cover the waterfront in our effort, and compare big box store offerings vs. dealers like Reico, Kleppinger, Mid-south, vs. a smaller, custom vendor like DW).
@ Bee -
We took our drawing to Myerstown and visited the facility in order to get our basic quote. But we need to further refine exactly what we want in order to make the best apples to apples comparison.

@brianadarnell - I am in love with your kitchen! That is basically exactly what I had in mind for our kitchen. So those are Brookhaven cabinets - model and color? And the granite is lovely. Do you have any more pictures I can drool over?

All those Brookhaven cabinets for 20k is an amazing price. And yes, that kitchen is gorgeous.

if you aren't working with a contractor and want to install yourself how do you order these cabinets? for the brookhaven does the 20k pricetag inculde installation or just cabinets?

I think that quote is over the top!

FYI ... this thread is from 2012.

Yes, the thread is older, but here is a lot of poor guessing in it rather than good info. The size of the kitchen is only one indicator of the potential kitchen costs. The level of detail and all of the add one can make a huge difference. I can do a 10x12 kitchen in a mid grade line for 6k, or 30k. All in the same mid grade line. In the same space. Details matter. And there aren't nearly enough details being shared to have any idea if a quote is the correct ballpark or not.

how much extra are install costs usually? can you order from a place like Reico and install yourself? Would like nicer ones than whats in stock at homedepot/lowes

Installing yourself is a false economy. The average finish carpenter can't really do a cabinet install correctly, much less an average DIY homeowner without the tools and patience to take 10 days to do it.

Sure, average skill levels can screw boxes to walls. Cabinets installs are a heck of a lot more than that! Getting it all level in all dimensions is much harder than you think. ALL dimensions. Not just a level across the boxes side to side. Front to back. Faces coplanar. And properly supported, with shims properly placed. Scribing an extended back to a wall or an extended stile to a wall is a skill that darn few carpenter even have anymore.

A DIYer with a good set of tools, skills, and patience can do it. Just not nearly as quickly. And they will be frustrated at moore than one juncture if they try to rush the process.

Oh, I agree on the tools, skills and patience aspect. And wouldn't deny frustration can happen even if you're not rushing. :) I suspect that laminate and wood counters are probably also a bit more forgiving if something is slightly non-level as well.