Stain grade cabinets must use higher grades of wood where exposed and have a higher degree of skill and workmanship. That's why they are more expensive than paint grade cabinets.

There are so many aspects for the design, construction, hardware and installation of cabinets as to be virtually impossible to generalize.

Talk with your cabinet maker about the various common options and pricing.

Have you spent time in cabinet shops looking at and comparing cabinets?

Actually, paints are more difficult to apply, have look good, and not sustain damage. Paint is usually an up charge from every single cabinet maker or cabinet line. 15-20% is common.

Finishes are one of the major differences in what separate the back yard hobbyists from a true custom maker. Opaque finishes are not “paint”. Or, they should not be. They should all be a conversion varnish finish, whether a pigmented opaque, or a clear coat.

You slap want someone who can use any wood, and produce any door profile, and any finish. Too many “custom” folks are parts ordered and assemblers. Try asking for something they don’t show you. A custom stain match. Or a different door profile. If they resist that, they are likely faux custom, and really just produce stock items with the intentionally deceptive label creep.

1. "I am planning on stained cabinets, but not really what my "style" is. Ugh."

I'm confused. Why are you getting cabinets that are not your style? If you are doing a custom build, what is stopping you from getting something that is closer to your style.

2. You say you don't know how to describe your style but you know it when you see pictures. Can you post some pictures here and we can help you figure out how to describe your style to your cabinet maker?

3. How did you choose your cabinet maker and are you going to shop around for a few different ones? Also, what does Amish cabinet mean to you? I find that is kind of a generic marketing term these days.

We started our cabinet design project in January. The cabinets have been built, are off-gassing now, and will be installed in a few weeks. It is both overwhelming and exciting. People on houzz are full of excellent opinions. Yes, the forum suggested above is where you will get best information. Good luck!

Sophie is right - while I have wanted stained from the beginning, they did say that painted trim and/or cabinets are 20% higher cost.

What kind of woods should I be looking at? Any suggestions? I want a somewhat rustic look, but not *too* rustic. We will have medium wood floors and white painted trim. Warm colored paint and furnishings if that matters. Open concept floor plan.

Kendrah - sorry, I had a typo. I want stained - what I meant was that they said to show pictures of what my style is and I don’t really *know* what my style is.

When i say Amish, it’s high quality, truly custom cabinets. I want to take full advantage of that, but despite looking at a million pictures, I feel like I’m a person who could be happy with a hundred different styles.....I am not particular at all. A blessing most of the time, but I’m feeling frustrated now that they are going to want some definite answers and I’m feeling like anything I get will be great.

Hire a KD. Cabinet makers don’t design. They just create. You need someone who can educate you on the possibilities and help you put it all together cohesively.

Momma...I have an Amish company doing my cabinetry but they only work through the kitchen designer. I have a very skilled kitchen designer that has designed my cabinetry and they work off of her plans. They have a really good working realtionship with my kd. Although my cabinetmakers are very skilled craftsmen, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they can design a really good kitchen. Perhaps they could but I know that they just don’t.

is your cabinetmaker actually doing the design work and are you confident in his skills?

Eek - I wish I had given this more thought earlier. The meeting is tomorrow. I am confident I love the layout of the kitchen at this point so hadn’t thought about a KD just for cabinets, but now wishing I had considered that earlier. Too late now I think

No. It's not too late. It's only too late when you write the check. Either take this to the Kitchen Forum and let them know you may have a time crunch or delay and hire an independent kitchen designer. What is too late is a bad decision made in haste. Your cabinet guy will understand. It will be a few weeks before he gets started anyway. Get some other eyes on the project. It may be perfect or it may be a disaster. You won't know unless you ask.

What are the time constraints you are working with? Can tomorrow be an initial meeting and you get to take more time to think this through? It is great that you love the kitchen layout. Who designed that? It is also possible that the rep you are meeting with from the cabinet company has some good suggestions for you too. Try to ask a lot of questions to ascertain their knowledge around cabinet design, not only construction.

Can you show a picture of your layout?

Do you have any inspiration pics at all on houzz?

Did you get recommendations from his other clients? Have you checked Google reviews? How much is he requiring up front? What's the process you need to follow if there's a problem? Get answers to all of these questions, a good feeling about who you're working with isn't enough.

As I agree with all the other comments(lol!) I won't repeat them but just add something that will hopefully help you to start narrowing things down.

Think of:

-light, medium, or dark stain? any preferences in each range? I for example know that my favorite woods on the light side would be unstained maple..white oak cut in a way it shows less grain..then cherry..then as I move even darker it will be teak and walnut. For example. Any idea what are your favorite woods? Are they woods that can be stained, better left unstained, etc?

-shape of the door? you say you prefer somewhat rustic. could be unfussy traditional raised panel, or could be shaker, or could be flat, or could be beaded..What you envision?

do you want to incrporate glass? chicken wire? shelves? "rustic"-is it more like Mission, is it more like cottage..? What's the style of the house?

-are you a color lover, or all the other surfaces will be subdued? Think of your kitchen as a whole..when planning cabinets your plan about other surfaces should be in your head as well

-does it get a lot of light, your kitchen?

-do you like contrasts a lot, or you're after softer look?

-know that the more and the better you want the more it will cost)) but it's possible. you can bookmatch the finish, for example, and whatnot.

now, from my experience with custom cabinetmakers(I had three during years)-if they're good they'll have pictures to illustrate, sammples to show, information to share, they'll explain, they'll be listening to you, and they'll be patient with you taking your time. This is a precise work. They'll be fine in their level of patience.

They can be very helpful with layout as well-unless it's of course big space, complicated project..then it's better to have a KD.

They won't advice you on the WHOLE of it-they can give their opinions, but they'll be making cabinets, and cabinets are of course one of -if not most-important paar, but still a part of the whole.

Is your cabinetmaker meeting you in his shop, or in your house?

Main thing-don't worry. If you need to take time thinking-take it. To share here on Kitchens forum-please do. To look through inspiration pics-do look. Visuals help.

PS my favorite part are drawers!! but of course. (or pullouts everywhere where no drawers.

and spice cabinets

(and colors. and what I see from my window. lol)

my least favorite part is my own stupid mistake-I was so obsessed with having an oven exactly at the most convenient to me height, that my microwave got too high..just a couple inches but already non-optimal. And it's totally my mistake. Why I was so stuck on oven, when I use microwave more often? I dunno. Maybe because I thought that things going in the oven are heavier? Anyway. Whatever you think won't make difference-most likely will. In woodwork, it will. So same patience I hope your cabinetmaker will have-have it too:)

Good luck to you!

Sophie is right, you need a KD pronto!

I'm working with a completely custom cabinet maker. It is much like how April described:

We met at their place a few times. We were able to see and touch TONS of sample doors. It helped us understand what different stain, paint, trim, edge styles looked like.

We toured their work area too. Nice to see that they truly do make everything there as they said.

After a few meetings, they made two sample doors for us that are completely custom. We liked a particular door trim but not the ratio of the size so they played around with it for us and gave us the samples to look at in our own space, our own lighting. They also gave us samples for approval of the paint on the doors.

There has been a ton of communication. The person who owns the shop - been in the family for 50 years, was able to make recommendations to use about drawers vs shelves, function of different cabinet types, layout and design.

Is your cabinet maker going to do the install or just make the cabinets? We love that our cabinet makers are going to do the install. That way if there are problems with the cabinets, the maker can't blame the installer and vice versa.

Thanks, Kendrah - that is helpful to know what to expect. The meeting tomorrow is at our house site. I'm pretty sure the cabinetmaker installs them also, but I will ask for sure tomorrow. I think tomorrow is to discuss layout of the cabinets in kitchen and bathrooms, and then we will meet at his shop at a later date to nail down colors, etc. Still a little overwhelming to think about!

Kendrah. my experience was like yours. My cabinet guy (I came to know him as Dan the Cabinet Man) operates the business with his brother, and everything is made in their shop. Dan repeated two things every time we met: "I don't want you to have any surprises", and "I just want you to be happy".

I designed the layout of my kitchen, and Dan made sure that everything fit, with proper clearances (for example, after my sink arrived, he made sure it would fit in the specified cabinet size; it not, he would have slightly adjusted the cabinets on either side of the sink). When it came time to choose a stain color, he made up a number of sample boards for me to take home, so I could choose the one I liked best. He would have made as many as I needed to get exactly the color I wanted.

He has an install crew that has been with him for 25 years, and is fantastic. When one drawer front didn't look right to the installer, he called the shop to have a new one made - I didn't even see it. When a couple of things were not as specified on the drawings that Dan and I both signed, they were changed quickly and cheerfully.

There were no surprises, and 5 years later, I am still very happy!

cpartist - do you find it hard to keep the island clean with the clean up sink there? Do you hand wash dishes? Where do you dry them? I keep going back and forth on this.

Ann, your cabinet maker sounds like a dream. Our install is later this month. I hope it goes as smoothly.

cpartist - do you find it hard to keep the island clean with the clean up sink there? Do you hand wash dishes? Where do you dry them? I keep going back and forth on this.

I can't tell you for sure yet as we've only been in the house since Friday and I only tried making one small thing on the cooktop. However I'm the type to clean as I go and usually DH helps with cleanup. Plus it's only the two of us.

And if I'm not ready to clean up something, the farmhouse sink is deep enough to hide dishes. ;)

I do sometimes hand wash but not too often. When I do, I will leave them out and eventually dry them and put them away.

Kendrah, he is! Tall, lanky, smells like sawdust. and just wants me to be happy - I developed a bit of a crush, I guess. My son said to me "Mother, is your husband aware of this fascination you have with the cabinet man?" (he did).

You crack me up Ann.

Use a KD is probably the best info you can get from this site. We went from a kitchen with 3 walls of cabinets and an island to a single wall kitchen with an island and we are able to work better in our new kitchen with more people because of the thoughtful layout.

Sure they cost more upfront, but the money & aggravation they can spare you is invaluable. Nothing feels worse than spending thousands & thousands only to be left with regret.