Cabico has 3 lines. Elmwood, Unique and Essence. I just ordered Elmwood for my kitchen. It was great working with the Elmwood dealer. Overall, I've heard great things about the Elmwood line from several general contractors I talked to.

Move on to Option C & D. See if there are KitchenCraft, DuraSupreme, Medallion, or Omega dealers aground. They all offer frameless. Skip the plywood. It isn't needed ever.

Thank you all. We have already invested so much time and are at risk of falling behind on our project but I can try to locate one or two other dealers. I just looked up KitchenCraft/DuraSupreme/Medallion/Omega and Omega seems to be readily available in my area. I met a DuraSupreme dealer earlier and the kitchen designer didn't offer much by way of ideas or insight. I am wary of working with someone who is satisfied with my architect's mediocre design. If I can't find an alternative, I will go with Showplace. Because the designer is so involved, I am hopeful that they will stand behind the product if Showplace doesn't come through.

At an initial meeting, you won’t be getting a lot of design ideas for your space. You’ll be discussing the designer’s past projects that might be similar, and the clever solutions that they came up with for those. You’ll get an idea if you can work together, and what the relationship will be. You won’t get a lot of free work from anyone until you do a design retainer.

If you live in a larger area, there's a chance you could find another Cabico dealer you might like better to work with. I've seen wide swings in price quotes reported by people who had the exact same layout quoted from two different dealers of the same brand. Obviously there are wide swings of service levels from different dealers of the same brand, too, something I've experienced.

Any update on this? We are looking at Showplace and would love to hear what you decided on.

I ended up going with Showplace because the kitchen designer was really helpful and invested in improving on the architect's poor design and I felt that he would personally stand behind the product if we ran into any issues. Our cabinets are ready but will be delivered in a couple of weeks. However, if I already had a layout I was happy with or was just replacing cabinets in an existing kitchen, I think the Cabico cabinets would have been a better choice for me. It's all a blur now, but I preferred the color selection and overall they would have been more cost effective because I think they are cheaper to begin with and you could use a combination of custom and semi-custom cabinets from their line to meet your needs. With Showplace I found that every time I made what was a small change in the design from my perspective, it was incredibly expensive, and we were cutting corners to avoid completely blowing my budget. By cutting corners I mean not including cabinet accessories that I could get cheaper aftermarket or not putting in glass door cabinets that I had originally had in mind. Overall, I am happy with my concept and the turnaround on the cabinets is quick (about 6 weeks).

Thanks for the feedback, Swell! I am still trying to work with a local, custom cabinet maker, but if I can’t get that to work for my budget, Showplace is my next stop. Friends of ours have their frameless cabs from a kitchen reno about 18 months ago and love them. Good luck with your project!