I typically take the "cheap" way out, but for $2K in the scope of this project, to get EXACTLY what you love, I would go with the Shiloh. It's not like you're comparing an Ann Sacks subway tile with a Home Depot subway tile. Inset and full overlay are not interchangeable in terms of looks. I wouldn't hesitate to go with the "splurge" here. Good luck!

I almost didn't respond because I made a similar tough choice... and I think I flubbed it.

I bought my cabinets used, a tear out from this brand new house. They were SO cheap in comparison that I thought it wouldn't matter that they weren't inset. I proabably saved 15,000 or more going with these cabinets. They are beautiful full overlay cabinets with every bell and whistle... and look great in the new kitchen... and I'm considering having inset doors made to fit them. I just don't like the way it looks. It bugs me ALL the time. All the time.

Splurge, dear god, splurge.

Go for your vision. You'll kick yourself when your tax returns come out $2k in the black next year, or your novel gets published early, or great uncle Mort dies and deeds you his stamp collection. ;-)

Easy for me to say, I know, but I'd even wait a few months to install what I dreamed of rather than getting cheapies I don't really want and will never feel right.

I agree - get the inset! Your kitchen is the heart of the home. You want to love it every time you walk in the door. When you consider the total price of the entire renovation, 2K is quite small. The extra money you spend once on cabinets will fade with time, however the cabinets you "wish you had gotten" will stare at you every time you walk into your kitchen.

I agree with the others. Go for the inset. I know this is how price creep happens, but it sounds like inset is central to what you envisioned. Think about it this way. 2K is only .0057 of 350K!

1. Go with the inset cabinets. If you only cared about function, you wouldn't have bought this fabulous building in the first place. It's okay to prioritize aesthetics, and while some people would be just as happy without the inset, I don't think you will be.

2. Could you design your kitchen so that if, at some point down the road, more funds became available, you could stack another set of upper cabinets on top (maybe glass-front, maybe not)?

does kraftmaid charge more for Blum undermounted full extension drawers? check on that. you'll want them.

Just want to say thanks to you all. Morgne especially for sharing her story.

That copper hood is winking at me.

Go for your dream or you will always have pangs of "coulda, shoulda, woulda" every time you see another home, photo, or display with YOUR princess chef dream kitchen (love that description). You don't want to have regrets on your new kitchen--certainly not right out of the gate.

Seriously, over the long haul--what is $2000? It is worth it, in my opinion.

Don't "settle" unless you had absolutely no choice. You will never be happy with your second choice...and I mean never. Your kitchen is one of the most important rooms in your house, and needs to be a space you feel inspired to cook in.

Follow your heart and get what you truly want. There are always ways to make up the $2,000 difference, such as eating out a little less, or purchasing less magazines, or one less lunch out here and there.... not that these are things you yourself spend money on, but we all have little habits that add up to quite a bit of money over the long haul.

I thought I posted a reply earlier but jenva said pretty much the same thing I did. You're talking peanuts and if there is an absolute wall at some point, you can probably find another place to make an adjustment to balance out the difference. But I would look into leaving the tops open or designing the crown to be easily removed and replaced on top of stacked cabinets down the road. Sounds like they would fit well in your space-- even to 11'.

I hope you allowed for contingencies even with a budget that large. You are bound to have some. Hope this is the only big one.

Get the Shiloh inset cabinets!! Not to knock Kraftmaid, but there is just no comparison. You can buy a cheap temporary range or skip the backsplash or throw poly'd plywood on the counters for now, but cabinets are a COMMITMENT, you have to get what you really want.

only buy Kraftmaid from Home Depot from a price perspective. An independent dealer is foolish to sell that brand. It has brand name recognition for being in Home Depot who gets them at a better price then your kitchen designer does. I bet if you drop off your cabinet list at home depot for the kraftmaid design you will get a better price from them.

2nd if you want inset and can not afford it send your plans to Old River Cabinets in Richmond Va they will probably be able to get you the inset at the price that Kraftmaid was.

3 a dealer that sells starmark is the selling the same caabinet as Field stone. It is a marketing thing they may have a better price point on. The last store I was a partner in worked Starmark. Old river would sell to the public at what our dealer cost was on Starmark that is fieldstone and you would get higher end features like soft close cabint doors and many other things.

If you want to make your kitchen affordable and want the inset look at 40% the Kraftmaid price look up Sagehilldesigns.com and find a dealer in your area for them. They have several lines that are kept in stock that are inset with soft close drawers in all plywood construction and they look really nice. I sell them in my store and no would know they are stock cabients by looking at them. A step up from them is 6 square cabients they have 1 maple and 1 cherry cabinet they keep in stock. They take 3 weeks to ship out go figure! They will be 50-60% of the Kraftmaid price.

Good info, Dave. That should be a thread in and of itself!

Another vote for inset!!! I don't understand why it would be a question. It will look lovely!

From Dave: " An independent dealer is foolish to sell that brand. It has brand name recognition for being in Home Depot who gets them at a better price then your kitchen designer does. I bet if you drop off your cabinet list at home depot for the kraftmaid design you will get a better price from them."

Dave, I also own a K&B store and have been in the industry for 20+ years. How do you know the box stores get KraftMaid at a better price? You are making the same assumption that I must deal with everyday...many consumers won't even give us a try.

I had KM for many years before the big box stores were even around. We were not happy when KM partnered with them. We almost dropped the line. However, our rep was right. People price shop and we get many customers checking us out too. I'd say 95% of the time, we get the job. How can that be? Many of our clients tell us after the fact, that our estimates were LOWER. Some say a couple of hundred....we've had some over $1000. But along with our price, we have experience and product knowledge...a rarity at the box stores.

The big box stores pay a bit more because they are able to return ANY cabinet OR ANY whole kitchen...NO questions asked. Plus KM must train all of their employees. So, that is why the box stores pay more for than I do. For a while, I wondered if my factory rep was trying to pacify us. However, a couple of years later, customer service accidentally faxed us an order confirmation for a Lowes job. We saw exactly what their discount factor was...and our rep was 100% right. So, please don't make assumptions on things you don't know for sure.

another vote for the insets. i am in the same camp. i have a pile of inspiration photos, every one of them is inset. i cannot do anything but inset. i am over budget and still, i will also be buying inset. long live inset!!! :)

I just priced a kitchen from my store where I knew the buyer was going to check the price at Home Depot against my price in a stock cabinet which I knew would be cheaper with me. Any how I was at $11,800 for a 40' kitchen in painted white cabinets plywood boxes dovetail drawers using full extension soft close drawers. It was a high low design of 36" and 30" cabinets with s 60x60" wood hood with slide out spice racks and the works. I went to home depot to play dumb as a contractor trying to get a possible job as a design build company. Home Depot was $22,408.

Kompy: I will take the drawing to a independent Kraftmaid dealer in my area if there is one on monday to get a quote. I have not had a reason to look. I will post the price and appoligize for miss speaking if they are lower.

I as an independent small store owner understand your fight and agree with you that you should know more about your products then an employee at a big box store. I pride myself on product knowledge and service as you do. I infact have made 60 cabinet quotes for the last 5 possible customers. They ask me to price things that many times call me foolish but I give them what they ask for. So yes we independent stores will give you much better service generally speaking then the big box stores do. I do all the measurements and designs and I personally oversee any projects I am responsible for installing. You will not get one stop shop service at the big box stores like that either.

I find it hard to believe that a the largest distributor of Kraftmaids product pays a high multiplier for it. Volume many times is King. Before I left Washington DC I can tell you that almost every independent dealer that sold Kraftmaid which was almost always their flagship brand thinking that was the smart thing to do went out of business last year. I am glad things are working well for you and wish all of you success in your projects as buyers or sellers.

For $2K, inset. I agree that it's not too hard to make up $2K in a project (but of course everyone's projects are different...).

That said, I would also step back and look at your actual cabinet layout and imagine it both ways. I thought inset was going to be nonnegotiable with my kitchen, but because of the way the cabinets were going to be laid out, I decided it wasn't worth the $10K extra. Not enough bang for the buck. In another situation, it might have been more important and I would have economized elsewhere.

From Dave: "I find it hard to believe that a the largest distributor of Kraftmaids product pays a high multiplier for it. "

I know. However, I've also heard from industry people that say they have sat in meetings and heard that these big box stores really don't want to be in the kitchen remodeling business....just a necessary evil to them. They KNOW what a liability these departments are,especially with the varied sales and design experience their people have. You know as well as I do,that what we do requires years of experience. Also,have you noticed how much their displays have been downsized over the years. The stores in my area have kitchen depts half of what they used to be. They expanded their appliance departments.

BB stores used to have another problem...they had too many deliveries and some truck drivers would refuse to wait in line. I know,personally...that is why my carpet was delayed with them once. Big mistake for me to order thru them...never again. So, the BB stores...at least Lowes, I think, now only do jobsite deliveries with KraftMaid. That adds a few hundred to every order...and the customer must stay home and wait for these trucks. Once they arrive, they need to check over the order and make sure it's all there. Lowes is off the hook for any damage issues that come up. Any damage then becomes the customers responsibility to report. With dealers, we set up a specific time and deliver at their convenience in to their garage or house.

In order for KM to accommodate the 'take back any cabinet' policy and the employee training, they have to cover the expenses for that....which is charge them more.