Cool cove. If the cabinet boxes are solid, have you thought about just resurfacing them and getting new doors and drawer fronts? That's what I did with the cabinets when I bought my house. You can veneer the frames and get doors to match.

Thank you, I love the coves too. The cabinets are from 1957. They are awful. They have only 14" of clearance from the countertops which is annoying. Also, they have a ton of dead space in the corners. Currently, I have to store food in with my dinnerware because we are out of space. If refacing were an option, I'd be all over it.

Kitchens are the hardest working rooms in a the home. Why anyone would do cheap disposable cabinets is beyond me. Buy twice and endure the renovations twice rather buying long term cheaper once than buying poor quality to begin with? That is nuts.

Right. I didn't say cheap cabinets. I said cost conscious. We would never get the money back on an expensive kitchen if we moved. For some people, money is no object. However, for some of us price is the difference between doing it and not doing it at all. There are plywood cabinets that are RTA. I'm asking people for their experiences.

Several options can work. You can purchase low cost pre-fab wall cabinets (better to go at least mid-grade) that are 12" deep. This leaves about 3" of exposed underside of cove. Depending on the method by which cove was framed, you can patch and paint the exposed underside of cove, install a crown or trim piece to cover it, or "furr out" the 12" cabinet from the wall so the face comes out to the cove edge (may need a filler under the wall cab).

Contact contractors who renovate larger homes in your area and let them know you're looking for good quality second hand cabinets. When we renovated our flooring and kitchen, a couple saw the trucks in front of our house and poked their head in to ask if we had any old hardwood flooring they could use. We asked for no payment but they removed the flooring themselves, saving us the cost of removal and saving the wood from the garbage bin. We also gave away our kitchen cabinets/door that were eventually refurbished and used in another home.

Our local Habitat for Humanity (Tulsa, OK) Restore sells cabinets. A group of retired guys make them for the Habitat homes and make extra for the Restore. Well made at a great price.

Not a kitchen designer, but investigate Woolf or Bertch cabinets. Woolf is $. Bertch is $$, but ask about the countertops available with Bertch. There is a “program” which makes counters more affordable.

Hope this helps.