I'm afraid you're the only one who can decide if it's worth it or not. I bought a vanity from a big box store and installed it myself, and it's fine. I had a custom cabinet maker build my new kitchen, and it's all kinds of wonderful.

If a standard size doesn't fit exactly, I would be tempted to go with custom. If you can live with the features of ready-made, and it fits your space well, save the money.

I'm no help at all, am I?

It's not all or nothing! Go to a local kitchen design store and look at semi-custom cabinets. You can pretty much get what you want, it will be good quality and you will pay less than custom. I know Shiloah does bathroom cabinets - look for a local dealer.

Most cabinet manufacturers have standard dimensions in increments of 3". From here, it looks like option 1 and 3 are the same (hardware is the main difference) and quite honestly, those 'custom" white pedestals are not that nice (ok, they are ugly, lol).

Can you make it work using increments of 3"? (If there is need, you can use a filler or some trims at the ends.

I'd go with option 1 and different hardware.

As a matter of fact, I always use the 3" increments everywhere I show cabinets (when designing, e.g.: 1'-6", 1'-9", 2'-0" etc) this way, the owner can decide to go custom or just buy "boxed' cabinets. If it were my house, I'd go standard sizes, but select the best manufacturer I can afford, usually the one that offers a good warranty.

AnnKH they are all the same size and will definitely fit. I am not getting any fancy features or custom accessories so I guess I am just having trouble justifying paying custom prices for what essentially is a standard cabinet. The only real difference is the cost, and the craftsmanship. The custom are hand made locally. The others are made in a big plant somewhere and don't have the attention to detail. So things like crooked drawers, and tilted handles are a possibility.

Anglophilia #1 & #2 are semi custom. I have went to multiple stores and the prices were all within a couple hundred dollars of each other. These are the 3 I have narrowed it down to.

It could be worth it depending on what you get with it. What is the construction of the custom? Are drawers dove tailed, what type of drawer slides, what hinges, what is the box construction - plywood vs. MDF, are they face frame, what material for the face frame, what materials are the door constructed of, how is the door construction done. How is the finish process done for custom?

Then compare these to the factory ones to see how they compare.

For example full extension drawer slides with soft close like Blum would be a more expensive option and worth the price to me.

Dove tailed drawers is another nice quality option, but maybe it is somewhere in between.

I think to make an informed decision learn how the pieces of the cabinets are put together and compare that to the 1 and 2 to see if the extra cost is worth it or may even prove to be a good deal in comparison.

Naf_Naf we DEFINITELY are not getting those horrible pedestals. lol. That is just what is on the showroom vanity.

To be clear, none of these cabinets are the correct color, the correct hardware, or the correct size. These are just the samples they had available to look at. Look at the inspiration picture for what we are actually wanting.

We are getting a 60" vanity. No matter which choice we will choose the color and hardware. The choice is really between handmade or not. I am worried if I buy semi-custom that the cabinets will fall apart in a couple years. lol.

All cabinets are wood, soft close drawers, dove tailed joints. The HomeCrest ones just seem kind of slapped together. As a side note. Do slab drawer fronts look outdated?

First, your inspiration picture is lovely.

I'd go with the first, least expensive option. My thoughts:

- It's a bathroom vanity. I am very picky about my kitchen cabinets, but I care considerably less about the bathroom vanity. Given that you're looking at paint, I think my level of care would be even less because paint color stands out more strongly than design.

- Rather than all-Shaker, I prefer -- fairly strongly -- that the doors are Shaker while the drawers are slab.

- I agree with the above poster who says change the hardware. The hardware is everything, especially when you're talking about a relatively large vanity that will sport quite a few pieces of hardware.

Naf_Naf we DEFINITELY are not getting those horrible pedestals. lol. That is just what is on the showroom vanity.

Hey, I like pedestal sinks ... but only in the right application, and it seems you're quite far from that concept. I'm planning a pedestal sink in my half-bath.

Showroom samples of pre-fab cabinets may be put together by indifferent assemblers, so I wouldn't totally judge the workmanship on that basis. But if you are having them assembled on site, you will need someone experienced with their idiosyncrasies. Crooked drawers and tilted handles should be exchanged.

"Custom" local cabinet makers often include pre-cut doors and the other pieces are cut to fit from standard panels.

For the seven-figure homes I've built, I did use inexpensive pre-fab cabinets for the basement baths, but topped them with higher-end counters, sinks and fixtures. Kitchens and master baths were always custom. Never heard a complaint.

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Here is a picture I found that is the same size/brand/style of the #1 option. Thoughts on this? Not as beautiful as my inspiration picture but HALF the price as custom.

Custom- worth it. Definitely. Custom sizes really beg for customized cabinetry, to those sizes. There is most often a designer in their shops, who can- and will- help you customize even the insides. Places to put all your "stuff". It's easy to say- hey, I'll just go to The Container Store (or wherever) after, but? It's less expensive, better quality and less brain damage if you do it all at once.

One other things that standard cabinetry very rarely delivers, that elevates custom? Custom will happily come in to adjust- drawer not right, door not "soft closing"- whatever. They care about the product, because they just built it.

2 years later? I had a "thing" happening with a bit of my finish. Not an emergency, but needed to be dealt with. When will J be in the neighborhood? Soon enough.

He showed up 3 days later, spent time "fixing" the finish thing, and then very quickly went through every single hinge in my home. All soft-close, found a few adjustments and did them. It cost me $0

It took them 15-20 minutes to help us, and we will always be an incredible reference for them. Service is service, and it goes both ways.

Try getting that from a place that you buy standard. Doesn't happen

In our new build we did the following:

- My daughter's bathroom - We had a 68" space to work with and wanted 1 sink off to one side, so nothing standard. We did Ikea cabinets, had to use ~2" worth of filler strips. Countertop was left over remnant from our kitchen counters. Spent about $1100.

- Powder room - Found a 36" floating vanity including countertop from Home Depot for $350.

- Guest bath - Found a 48" standard vanity including marble countertop from Home Depot for $875.

- Master bath - Had 79" to work with, so again, not standard. Went with custom white oak vanity. Used more kitchen counter remnants. Spent about $1500 total.

Honestly, all of them are fine. They will all operate under the conditions they are designed for for a long time. And no one is going to notice whether they were custom or not. I say go for the cheap option and make it look custom with awesome hardware.

Went the same route as AnnKH. Beautiful locally built custom cabs for the kitchen: 1) They are a focal point of the home. 2) They get a ton of use. 3) Replacement would be incredibly expensive so better to spend the $ up front. All of our bathrooms were from the big box. Our master is 72", double sinks with a marble top in grey. Was $1200 delivered. Is it well built? No. Is it perfectly fine for a room no one really sees but us and the cleaners? Yes. Is everything fit perfectly like the kitchen? Not even close. But for $2k savings it was more than worth it. In 10 years if it falls apart we can easily replace it.

Do you have budget to spare? If so go for custom. If not, you'll be fine with standard. My husband likes to ask if there's anything else on which I'd rather spend that $x. If there's somewhere else you'd rather spend that money or you're at/over budget already, I think the big box cabinetry will be a great option. It's also an easy piece to go back and replace/redo with custom if you want later.

Looking at these two bathrooms, I definitely like the first one better ... but why is the first one nicer? I don't think it's because the cabinet is any prettier. Rather, in the first picture:

- the mirror is bigger.

- the paint color is pleasing, whereas I find the brown of the second cabinet a bit flat.

- the counter top on the second cabinet looks much nicer, whereas -- again -- I find the plain white on the second cabinet somewhat flat.

- but biggest difference, in my opinion, is that the hardware is much, much nicer in the first picture. I find the hardware on the second cabinet underwhelming.

In my opinion, I think this is more evidence that you should go with the least expensive cabinet ... but be careful with the accessories.

I think you've gotten lots of great advice here, but what sticks out to me is that option 3 includes install. What's the price of the install for 1 or 2? Does that make them more comparable?

I our remodels (two so far), we've gone relatively cheap in the bathrooms w cabinets. In general, I find the kitchen cabinets to be used harder and thus a better place to invert lots. In the bathroom, I don't know that they get enough hard use to spend extra bucks

Ck with 'several' local cabinet builders. Get more bids. Don't 'ever' buy from a Big Box store, you'll pay 2x as much. I built a house 10 yrs ago with a custom local cabinet maker, for all kit cabs and 3 /12 bath cabs came in just over 12k. Big box wanted over 25k!

Depending on the depth of your drawers, 5 pc might not even look good. Something to consider is if you can have an edge detail. That will dress up a flat drawer. We have that in our bathroom and most of the kitchen drawers (all but the largest) and it looks very nice.

I agree very with the comments above about going with the less expensive option. It also makes a difference what bathroom it is going in and how rough those users are. I have a guest bathroom that is also my powder room and I have a very pretty pre-fab option that came with the marble top and sink installed. It was $800 and looks like I installed an old piece of furniture. I just added the backsplash and faucet set. After 5 years it looks wonderful.

I would personally go custom since the price includes installation. I dont know what the installation costs, but it would be nice not have to worry about that part. Then you can also customize the cabinets to the style and colors that you want.

For the price difference I would go custom knowing that the install of the big box store cabinets will close the gap even further.

Is this a heavily used bathroom, i.e. family of five all sharing one bathroom in the home? Or is this a guest bathroom that is seldom used? Or somewhere in between? What are typical bathroom upgrades in your immediate neighborhood? Is this the home you plan to live in until the undertaker comes to remove the body? Or are you hoping to move up or down in size in a few years? Answer these questions and you'll know what to do.

I
think you've gotten lots of great advice here, but what sticks out to
me is that option 3 includes install. What's the price of the install
for 1 or 2? Does that make them more comparable?

That's a very good point. You really need to ask what the install will cost ... until you know, you're not working with bottom-line prices.

This is for a master bathroom. Install will be less than $200. Also the first two options are not from a big box store. They are still built to order and take 8 weeks. I can choose size, color, doors, etc. These wouldn't be stock cabinets from Lowe's but more like the cabinets a tract home builder would put in. Mid grade quality.

The more I think about it, I am leaning towards option one. I would still get the all wood option and nice hardware. I think I would prefer to save the extra money for something like better floors. I am using a particle board vanity that someone gave me used in our main bathroom now and haven't had any problems with it...

Thank you autumn! It's nice to hear from someone who has used HomeCrest.