Ikea is not necesarilly cheaper than going to kitchen & bath dealer and getting plywood cabinets. what region of the country are you in perhaps I can recommend a competing product line

I agree w/ Sterling. Have you thought about an unfinished cabinet and painting them yourselves? That is, if you are on a really tight budget. You can get a better quality cabinet and create a unique look all your own with perhaps dark cabinet on the bottom and a lighter version (about two steps on a color chip) of the same color on on top. Painting cabinets is not hard and you can get a very hard finish when you use an enamel paint.

Find an Armstrong distributor. Someone who brings in 18 wheelers of cabinets for stock. They can provide factory assembled, allwood, softclose doors and drawers, and finished for roughly the same money.

thank you we live in chicago and great idea to paint cabinets...what line would you suggest. What about countertop quartz or granite

Quartz all the way. Compare finished and installed total prices not sq ft prices. Quartz will be more but if you want a top to last forever with basicly no maintenance quartz is worth it. Beware of Chinese foe quartz. A company called Breton invented quartz manufacturing and all of the legit brands use their technology. Dont pay quartz prices for knockoffs made with knockoff technology. Cosmetically Cambria and Caesarstone have patterns that can pass as natural stone.

wow really appreciate your suggestions thanks

Definitely quartz. Please don't disregard the idea of an ikea kitchen. I've installed one in my beach house and I love it. The finish is as tough as nails and the hardware is better than some offered domestically. Plus the price really can't be beat. At least use their planning tool on their website and get an idea of what your design would cost. Plus they run really long 20% off sales a few times a year.

we did get an Ikea quote and talked to an installer that said the same as you did. Which of their cabinets did you install. We want a cool contemporary look. We've been leaning toward the quartz so thank you for confirming our choice. We have never done a remodeling job so feel a bit over our heads with the choices and options out there.

Love, love, love your aqua ceiling (and accents) mforr!

Thank you very much. It was a lot of fun going "beachy"

love your picture thanks. Do you think white cabinets on top would look ok with the living room/dining room open floor plan. We have lots of east light overlooking lake michigan in chicago. I think I mentioned we are leaning toward American Cherry by Kahrs for flooring.

if the house isn't super traditional then the contemporary white cabinet doors would look fine. What color are you looking to do on lower cabinets?

Is this the color of flooring?

Maybe this is better pic

Have you considered Duchateau flooring? It is from Holland and the price is not as high as Kahrs. The only issue for me was the micro-bevel but they have a great selection and found some for 40% off.

yes that is the color. Do you like it? Its a 40 year old condo. We are not super traditional. We have some traditional pieces though. Never heard of that flooring will check it out. Thank you this is so helpful. We started exploring kitchen options a few months back and are definitely moving forward with our
project now.

I think that is a beautiful shade for your floors!

I like it very much. Keep us posted on your choices as you go along

ok thank you. I will check in when we narrow down the cabinet choices. Feels like baby steps!

Yep, that's how it always feels, you're not alone : )