I'm in the same boat. I had one contractor take more than an extra month to get me his bid - he wanted it just right. I told him to just put a placeholder in an area that he was uncertain. He wouldn't do it. His bid ended up almost twice my other chosen contractor's bid. That contractor is not getting the job. I really like him and his subs but he didn't listen to me and he was very expensive. Also, since he didn't listen to me then who's to say he will listen later. He took so long to respond to me - does he want the work? If I were you I would get a few more quotes. Also, the bigger companies have overheard and it will probably cost you more.

We're having other work done besides the kitchen. I came up with a 2 page questionaire that I used to interview contractors. I didn't use all the questions for all the contractors but it helped me ask the right questions and tried to compare apples to apples. I really wanted a contractor who I can communicate with - I've heard too many horror stories! I also wanted someone who I could get along with. I'm going to be on site 4 days a week doing my own projects. I told this to everyone up front.

Reading your post, it sounds to me like you like the first guy better. Plus you haven't even gotten a quote from the second guy yet, right?

Personality, response time and communication are pretty important, right up there with quality of work. At this point, I'd go ahead and get a third guy out there at least to get a price comparison in case 2nd guy never does give you a quote.

Trust your gut feeling. If you like guy#1 better than guy#2, you don't necessarily need any more justification than that.

Rereading your post, the second guy's response is odd. He's quoting to put in some railing and paint it -- what is there to "personally review" and why does it have to wait till next week??

Well to clarify - we did get a third person, however he was a decks and fences guy...so someone who didn't do kitchens. I liked him just fine and in fact he gave me a quote right then and there on paper.

Might have to find one other contractor that could handle both, or just go with guy #2

Timely quotes are important. I give a week on my small cabinet job, and my general contractor came back in one week via email for the other work. I was pleased with that. I'd have allowed more time had I been doing odd things, or ordering hard to find things.
Ability to communicate through email is very important to me. It makes it easier to ask tough questions, and makes the person answering have to explain things in a more understandable way - and in a format you can keep and refer to later. For instance, when I asked my cabinet maker why he couldn't do full overlay, I would have prefereed a written explanation, instead of hearing some mumbo jumbo on the phone that I didn't understand and couldn't refer back to.
When you work in an office, it can be difficult to be discussing things like this on the phone.
Who wants to wait for snail mail? Not me. If contractors want business to flow, they need to get current.

I might take exception with a highly referred master craftsman who is older and not computer savvy, but produces something rare and of very high quality.

But, if you have the brains to fix my porch or renovate my kitchen, then you should have the brains to operate a computer. They are cheap enough nowdays, as are ISPs, and a cheap printer that scans!
Sorry for such a long answer, you can tell this is one of my pet peeves!

OOPS - I mean go with guy number ONE! the one who knows and uses EMAIL!

Me too. My electrician gave me a estimate right away via e-mail. He came and did the work when he said he would. Now..my drywall-cabinet installer gave me a estimate right away via e-mail and others took 1-2 weeks. I hired the right away one and he is dragging his feet. Drywall finally done and now starting cabinets. He failed to tell me he had a full time job and mine is a extra one! I'm saving $2,000 but going nuts in the meantime. He wants to install my wood flooring but I don't think so..........I want them in a week, not 6 weeks! Whoever you get, make sure to put a time limit in the contract as to when they will start and finish.

Good luck getting a time limit in the contract. particularly in residential projects, you will have a hard time determining any "penalty" for exceeding the finish date. Commercial firms can calculate income lost per day of overrun. They also often provide bonuses for finishing ahead of schedule.

These aspects usually do not play out well in residential work. Do you want a contractor to bang out a job simply to finish it on time?

There have been a number of discussions in here about trying to define time limits and penalize residential contractors for not meeting deadlines and why they dont really work.

If he wants the job, he will get back to you in a couple of days. A contractor who doesn't want a job just delays getting you a bid or overbids it. It also could be it is too big of a project for him. Never beg for a bid. Take it as a sign to keep looking for another contractor. He has his reasons as to why he doesn't want to job, he just isn't going to reveal them to you.

Update: Just received the bid from the un-timely guy and it's nearly 3x the two other bids we got. Clearly he doesn't want the job!