It took me longer to cut and paste these into the thread than it did to find them using Google.

M&M Cabinets
33238 Central Avenue
Union City, CA 94587
(415) 228-3812

Fred's Cabinets
703 Castro Street No. 11
San Leandro, CA 94577
(866) 641-3948

West Coast Cabinets
1703 Voumard Ranch Drive
Turlock, CA 95382
(530) 510-4176

I'm sure there are a lot more.

What style of cabinet are you looking for? That would help people answering the questions. Have you considered someone like Scherrs if you are not able to find something locally?

Good luck!

Way back when I was shopping for cabs I compiled this list of manufacturers and websites. I used the websites to determine which manufacturers were available in my area. There are lots of brands in the middle pricing. Lots of them get mentioned and questioned here.

Here is a link that might be useful: cab mfgs websites (along with a comparison of framed & frameless)

Please forgive me if I am way out there on this. Do you have any fireplace showrooms nearby. Most fireplace showrooms have ties to local cabinet makers for custom mantels and surrounds. Just trying to help.

gwendelen, I answered your question about qs oak custom cabinetmakers on the other thread. As far as price, the quotes for Diamond and Kraftmaid cabinets from Lowes came in between $13,000 and $15,000. The custom cabinets came in at $22,050 for an extremely custom design. Much of what they are building, they have never done, and have had to research and design for the job with a lot of input from me. OTOH, several other quotes from custom shops were between $40k and $60k. Good luck, you will find what works even if you need to do it in phases.

Judy

Gwen, where are you located? I'll know Monday if I can recommend my east bay cabinet maker, but he's done nice work in other homes I've seen and is very good about, well, custom stuff.

If you aren't opposed to the South Bay, we really liked these guys.

Roth Wood Products Ltd.
(408) 723-8888
2260 Canoas Garden Ave. #C,
San Jose, CA

When I lived on the East coast, I found a great carpenter from a recommendation from the landscape designer that I liked. In So Cal, I found one from a recommendation from the hardwood flooring guy (that I also really liked).

If there is a local hardwood shop that sells specialty woods (as in exotic wood), try popping in there to see who might have some cards pinned up on a bulletin board.

It does take more work to find a local guy that is reasonably priced, but in the end, I think it is worth it. Good luck!

gwen:

Are you located in San Jose area? I am working with a local cabinet maker and have recommended him to a couple of others. I also have two others who were recommended to me. I could pass on their info if you are interested.

I've read the postings here where they say that custom can end up being cheaper than the big shops, but I can't imagine that being the case in the SF Bay area where every single cost is so high (labor, supplies, overhead, etc.). We are on the peninsula and got estimates from 2 custom cabinet makers and from Scherr's. We ended up with Scherr's because even our GCs said that their guys couldn't come close to the price with the high quality. But DH did the install of the cabinets, don't know how much it would have been if we'd had to hire that out.

I read the same messages as you and got several quotes from local cabinetmakers. I also went to local kitchen design centers. I found the kitchen centers more helpful and lower priced. I think it depends on the area you live as to whether local cabinetmakers are the way to go. I finally found a small design center through a referral from someone in the neighborhood. Don't give up and keep asking everyone you know!

If I'd gone with standard cabinet sizes, I could have gone much cheaper than custom. But with a small kitchen I didn't want to be constrained to stock sizes. I may have gone overboard with too many customizations--I'll report back on that if we finish--but I won't have any filler!

Scherr's is a place to consider IF you are up to the long-distance thing. They are really nice to deal with and we did talk with them a bit.

I like the idea of a local company just because it's easy. They're starting installation early Monday so that if they need to run to the shop to trim anything, there's time. And if they have to come back the next day, no big deal. I like that the guy who measured is the guy who built and is the guy who is installing. If it doesn't fit, we all have a really good idea who is responsible.

And of course my city needs the tax dollars...

Thanks to each and everyone of you that responded to my post. I was completely frustrated last night, and to find all these helpful responses this morning was so encouraging.

To answer questions, I'm in the North Bay (of SF Bay Area). My cabinet plan was QS Oak. However the QS oak I can afford doesn't look anything like the real QS oak of the top lines. So perhaps I should change my choice. I still want to go with a shaker style door with a "California Bungalow" look. My granite is green so I'm apprehensive about choosing cherry as I don't want a red and green kitchen.

Thanks again, I 'll explore all the options suggested.

gwendelen,

I posted some pictures of my quarter sawn red oak cabinets in the other thread, I just wanted to add here that I ordered them through Scherr's which several people have mentioned previously in this thread. They are very high quality cabinets built to my exact specifications, and Scherr's was very easy to work with through the process.

You need to spend more time getting to know the market and find people who can offer referrals. There are plenty of good custom shops in the SF Bay area who can do the work for less than or the same as many of the higher quality semi custom companies. Many of them are hungry for work right now - business is really dropping. You will not find the best ones through a Google search or in the yellow pages. As someone else said you will find them through other remodeling contractors as well as people who have recently had work done.

Look for a forum specific to your area - they are all over the place - some have names you would not expect - like Berkeley Parents Network - sure they talk about kids stuff but searching the archives there will be a lot of referrals about remodeling too. If you are not a parent but work with people who are - ask them to post a request for referrals on their parent forum - most of us are on one ;-)

Walk your neighborhood and look for signs of recent remodels - as is evident here we all like to talk about our remodels! I am sure you will find people are receptive to questions.

Our cabinet maker only does work in our area - peninsula - but we got much more for our money with a custom shop.

gldnfan nailed it - you won't find the custom people online. First off, many of them don't have websites since they work with their hands, not with computers. Second, the websites I've come across really aren't all that impressive such that I wouldn't feel comfortable going with them.

I am in the Seattle area and every single one I've found has come from networking and asking around. Networking ideas:

1) think of any possible person you may know who has touched home construction lately - friends who have built houses, done remodels and are happy with their contractors - ask for the contractors name, call them and ask if they know of any custom cabinet makers

2) do you have friends who are tradesmen: painters, carpenters, floor guys?

3) go to granite yards or flooring showrooms or appliance stores and ask if they have anyone they work with that they can recommend. Especially at the appliance stores you are almost guarenteed to get some referrals as they have relationships with cabinet people and often give discounts to the clients of the cabinet makers they partner with.

When we went appliance shopping last week, a rep for a company that sells/fabricates granite and tile had set up a booth in the corner of the store. While I was purusing granite at the appliance store (that sounds kinda funny), I asked if they recommend a custom cabinet maker and they responded by saying they do cabinets. They use a local husband/wife company that has their own custom shop and reps a semi-custom line I'd not heard of. I looked at their website and was thorougly impressed. More impressed than any site I've seen! I just got an initial bid from them and was expecting it to be upwards of $10K more than it was, so I think I may have found someone - all because I went appliance shopping and asked.

So basically just find someone in the industry and ask!

Fori, I'm in the east bay and would be interested in knowing about your guy as well.

gldnfan nailed it - you won't find the custom people online. First off, many of them don't have websites since they work with their hands, not with computers. Second, the websites I've come across really aren't all that impressive such that I wouldn't feel comfortable going with them.

You should still be able to locate these custom shops online, even though they don't have any online presence themselves. Virtually every business that has a business phone line or a business license is listed by one or more business information brokers like manta.com. These listings almost always pop up in Google searches. While they really want you to subscribe to their services, they do provide the business name and its phone number for free. Let your fingers do the walking.

You can also go directly to the business information company's web site and search from there.

These companies will not find the unlicensed guy operating out of his pickup with a cell phone, which is usually a good thing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Manta

Look at the appliance store. The cabinetmaker we used was among several companies who supplied cabinets for the displays at the appliance store. I thought their price would be too expensive until a GW poster had his kitchen cabinets made by them. They were reasonable, well done and he was very happy with his finished kitchen.

I would go to the higher priced model homes in the area, looking at the millwork and go from there. Sometimes you find a good guy there!

I understand your frustration. I live in the south bay (Los Gatos). I checked out three custom cabinet makers here and all of them were recommended to me. None of them could give me something comparable to what I've got with my Medallion/Schuler cabinets. I did go with the best of the Lowes' brands, which is Schuler, but because I opted for a painted glazed hard rock maple door, plywood construction, soft close hinges, full extension glides, super susans, mullion corner cabinets, six inch crown molding, etc., they were not cheap by any means.

I looked at Rawson Cabinets in Campbell, Knock on Wood in San Jose, and West Coast Custom Cabinetry in Santa Clara. None of them were competitive with my Schuler cabinets. I think it's very difficult to find truly custom cabinets in our area. Both Knock on Wood and the place in Santa Clara used wooden doors from elsewhere anyways (Cal Door, I think). Of all these places, probably Rawson Cabinets came the closest to being truly custom, that is, actually producing their own cabinet doors, but they sniffed at my small budget because they are so used to doing bigger jobs.

So, I agree with your assessment that it is not true that one can find more affordable options with custom cabinet makers in our area, particularly for painted finishes.

Toomuch, I'll let you know tomorrow after installation!