Check out the Kitchens forum for lots of discussions about cabinets.

My husband and I used Barker Cabinets for my mom's kitchen. We kept the original top cabinets, added new doors and refaced the sides. The bottom cabinets were purchased from them as well. We are really impressed with the quality and found it simple to assemble. This was our first home improvement project ever.

Rosa, thanks for the info. You and your husband did a great job on the cabinets!

I've used a contractor that made their own cabinets on site. The guy that made them was incredible talented, they were better than anything from a store. They were around half the price of store bought and made of all ply and dimensional lumber.

Raye, I've heard that is sometimes the way to go. Sounds like it's worth getting a few quotes from cabinet makers. Thanks.

Thanks to The Cook's Kitchen, I'll look into your suggestion. I think we may need custom uppers due to ceiling height being 10'.

I rented a house that had the kitchen cabs to the ceiling and I loved all the extra space for storing less frequently used items.

No one needs custom cabinets to take them to a 10’ ceiling. You can stack cabinets in any semi custom line. Even some stock lines have enough sizes for that.

What you need is a realistic budget for that. And the right designer. And the right installer. You have to understand all of the details and clearances. Don’t leave the installation to the builder’s carpenter. He won’t own enough clamps and shims. And unless he is an expert finisher with a clean room and experienced in spraying conversion varnish, no local hobbyist can come close to the durability of factory finished cabinets.

We just ordered ours , and our ceiling height is 10'. Online cabinets direct is a great RTA store based out of TN. They ar mainly made from maple and reasonably priced (lower than big box stores or custom cabinets). They came beautifully made and Have customizeable choices. Below is copied and pasted from their website. I love how mine have turned out.

cabinetry consists of full overlay, raised panel doors with a decorative applied molding, full overlay door styling, superior quality all wood I-Beam box construction, full extension undercount soft close drawer slides, solid wood dove tailed drawers.

Cheepchinesecrapola.

A very large amount of the stuff you buy in big box stores are made in china. So unless you are going 100% custom, 100% American made $$$... I went to Lowes and saw their cabinets, I wasnt impressed. I did my research online as well. Lowes had a few different cabinet brands, the more expensive brands look like my cabinets, EXCEPT I paid less for mine. Mine are Maple cabinets , made from plywood, not MDF and came very well made. They are greenguard certified. Boxes labeled and excellent quality. I am very happy with them. I am also happy with the American small business that I purchased these from. My only complaint was the shipping company would not deliver inside...

http://houseupdated.com/rta-kitchen-cabinets-review-pros-and-cons/

Thank you Pandang81