Have they actually given you a price quote on the cabinets?

I had a similar situation with a duo. The two work well as a team. The one ( big Peter as we call him) is the GC half and the other (little peter - yes they are both Peter) is the artist/carpenter/cabinet maker

you don't need to get them both but they work very well together and the price was ridiculous ( lowest of all the quotes) and the work equally ridiculous (they are both very detail oriented) Ridiculous in a very positive i-can't believe-it sense

So my advice is to get the quote and check out their work. if it is within the budget & expectation you have your team.

I really really like the fact that he has told you not to give up your dream. To me that speaks volumes.

We'll be going with them as GC for certain, I'm just not sure if we'll get them to build our cabinets. I'm happy with the quality of their work I just need to be patient and wait for a few quotes in the kitchen sector. We just aren't there yet, layout wise. :)

Deep breath. This is getting serious! Our furnace goes in this month and we're hoping to start in spring! Six long years of saying 'it has to wait until the reno'. I'm sure I'll laugh at my eagerness 9 months from now!

I personally would never accept "custom" cabinets with 3rd party manufactured doors and site built in this manner and then site finished. That's 3 strikes against. That's old time technology, and it's mostly gone from cabinet construction for plenty of reasons. The only reason it is still around at all is that it's cheap to do.

Yes, plenty of "custom" makers buy their doors from 3rd parties and then build the boxes. But, they aren't true custom makers and mostly use standard sized doors and standard sized boxes. They aren't adding any value to something you can walk into Lowes and pick up for yourself off the shelf. In fact, since you have to finish them, it's actually more work and probably more money than stock cabinetry from a box store. At least with American Woodmark/Shenendoah you can do custom depth and other semi custom touches.

Site built cabinets will be one big "box" with multiple doors rather than individual units. Things get lost in there. I speak from experience. Some people do like this, but I prefer the modular boxes with adjustible shelving so that my cabinets fit the things stored in them rather than me having to figure out how to store the pasta maker that won't fit under the immovable fixed shelf. And I prefer the versatility of having pull out shelves and other organizers to help keep the stored items easy to access. If you want to add those at a later time to cut down on initial costs, good luck in adding them to site built. It's not impossible, it's just very difficult compared to adding a roll out tray or lid organizer to a modular cabinet that actually has walls to attach the brackets and glides to.

Site finished is the lowest grade of finish. Any finish not done in a clean room designed especially to minimize the dust and trash that's on any construction site will end up with that dust and trash in the finish. Just ask anyone who's had site finished wood flooring. It can vary from just a few bits of dust and specs of debris to it looking like someone shook out a vacuum bag on it. And, you can't use the most durable of top coat finishes on site. They require respirators and a clean room to apply. The best are factory baked or cured with UV light. Even an off site custom cabinet maker's very nice finishes won't approach the smoothness and durability of a factory finish.

Now, if your contractor duo actually have a cabinet maker that they use that can create boxes and decent real custom doors and finish them in a clean room, then that's a different story. But what you're describing would not be acceptable to me.

I don't think the doors/drawers issue is universally true. Every single small "custom cabinet" shop we talked to in our area orders doors and drawers---even the incredibly costly guys. There are a couple of large shops that make their own---but they also sell doors and drawers independently in addition to cabinets. However, the third party door makers still make any size or style you specify, and the cabinetmakers size the boxes to your specs. I consider our cabinets custom since we specified exactly what width, height, depth, style, and material we wanted for everything---and the cabinetmaker didn't blink. We have plenty of wacky cabinet heights, widths, and depths to fit a small kitchen. And as a bonus, all of the seams on our inset cabinets could easily be built combined---that was $$$ with the larger cabinet companies that do inset because they do everything based on modular components.

I'm also not sure why site-built cabinets would necessarily equate to fixed shelves or single big boxes (though I agree that if it did, that would be a big mark against it). Ours will be built in a shop, but are also boxes with third party doors and drawers, and are all adjustable shelves. There was no issue putting pullouts or any of the other gadgets we requested in---if it was a cabinet that was a single box (e.g., pullout trash under the sink) they are just putting a panel or block in to attach the hardware.

And finally, while I'd agree that if you're using a finish that will be fume-filled it's better done off-site, I know plenty of people who paint cabinets on-site, and in states like CA, cabinetmakers have to use low-VOC finishes and paints now regardless of whether they're finishing the cabinets on or off-site, so it's less of an issue than it used to be. Catalyzed finishes are definitely nice, but there are *lots* of very high-end custom cabinets that are intentionally hand-painted because people are trying to avoid the factory finish look.

So no, I wouldn't rule these folks out based on any of these things---but you can and should definitely ask questions. I agree with livewire that I wouldn't want someone cutting wood and sanding on site (unless, maybe, there's an outdoor space, but even then it gets really messy!) But that may or may not be what they mean. Ask, look at their past jobs carefully, and go from there.

I talked to them again today. Apparently I misunderstood, They buy the doors and panels and build the boxes in their shop. I've seen the quality of their finishing carpentry on entire houses, including the kitchen, which is why we chose them in the first place. He utilized pull down shelves in the universal design house he built for my SIL's parents and the shelving inside the cupboards was amazing. She does all of the painting, staining etc. and she is a perfectionist. We've looked for SIX years to find a contractor. Most of the ones around here are just glorified handymen as we're very VERY rural. The nearest major city is 6 hours away.

We had our bathroom re-done last year by a 'jack of all trades' and it shows. When he came fresh, the work was good, when he was hungover---well, it was horrid. I was just glad to get him out of my house. He left a chopsaw plugged in overnight outside my back door (we have very young children) and didn't bother cleaning up the exacto blades from the HALLWAY floor when he left for the day.

I will price out a few different kitchens to see what our options are, I just can't do that until our addition floorplan is finished. I don't know that we'll use our contractors for the kitchen but it is nice to have that option.

Oh and, I *did* work for a custom hardwood flooring company for years so I have a decent idea about dust and finishes. :) We won't be living in the house during the renos, we'll be living in a combination of our 5th wheel, studio and my Mom's laundry room :)

Thanks---this is the input that I need to ask the *right* questions!