I'd pick another cabinet maker. Or use Ikea. In your neck of the woods, you have hundreds of choices, so it's not like he's the only game in town.

So what you are saying is pick a different style since I really cannot pick a different cabinet maker?

Anybody else? Please help!!!!

Full overlay on framed cabinets should achieve the same look as frameless. The doors and drawer fronts cover the frames in full overlay. You would get more storage especially for drawers from frameless - which would be nice since it is a small kitchen, but you should be able to get pretty much the same look from framed.

Thanks Cloud.
I really appreciate it. I'm sure I am going to really be mourning the loss of space although it will still be 1000 times what I have now. I'm just trying to tell myself that anything will be better than my current situation and I should stop agonizing over everything but it is pretty difficult to follow my own advice.

I have framed full overlay modern slab doors in both full custom and manufactured cabinets (Kraftmaid) in my kitchen.

Are you happy with them, Palimpsest? How narrow is your narrowest drawer and do you still find you have enough usable space? Any chance you could post a picture? In any case thanks for replying!

Are you happy with them, Palimpsest? How narrow is your narrowest drawer and do you still find you have enough usable space? Any chance you could post a picture? In any case thanks for replying!

nyccarrie how wide is the widest drawer your chosen cabinetmaker will make for you? This is the question. Ask not about narrow drawers. Ask not about someone else's kitchen's narrow drawer. Focus on what you have. You have a cabinetmaker. Have him make wide drawers. Wide drawers are better for many reasons.
Hth.

nyccarrie f.y.i. when two or more Ikea cabinets get installed together in a cabinet run, the two touching sides = 1.5" thickness. The (Ikea) Blum Tandembox glides get screwed directly onto this. Now, if your cabinetmaker can make his frames fairly thin, and can put the drawer glides onto some wood that fits inside that space, then your "space loss" is almost nothing. A good question to ask him now is which drawer glides he is thinking of using, or which ones. Another good question to ask him now is how he physically attaches the glides to the cabinet sides (i.e. with spacers or not, and so how far apart are the glides of one cabinet from the glides of the next cabinet ...). At Ikea, you (or he) can buy fully assembled Blum drawers with Tandembox sides and glides for less than the cost to him of getting Blum Tandembox glides from a professional distributor. This is the big thing about Ikea.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/search/?query=deep+drawer+Rationell

Hth.

Here is a link that might be useful: deep drawer Rationell (Tandembox Blum) Ikea

Our narrowest drawers are a 4 drawer stack 28" wide.
Our widest drawers are 2 3 drawer stacks 30" wide.

We will also have 3 upper cabinets and 3 shallow open shelves.
Fortunately, I have never had a large kitchen so I'm used to a lack of space
but I would like to do the best I can with what I will have.
Thanks for the information, davidro. I will speak to my cabinet maker tomorrow.