Where are you located?

I went with full overlay but still have a more "old fashioned" look to them. The other advantage of full overlay is more drawer and cabinet space.

Pretty common to do inset in your kitchen and powder room + areas guests see, then overlay everywhere else. Cabinets are kind of independent of house settling, but the same would happen to overlay cabinets (doors going out of square) and the same hidden hinges are easily adjusted for either style

IMO inset cabinets are kind of rare, and most people won't take notice to them. At a certain custom level, they make sense to "not skip details" but it's not the first thing I'd upgrade. I do have them in my house and love them since they look so much cleaner

I'm in the bay area, California. What are the opinions of framed vs. frameless with the overlay?

40-60 for the entire kitchen as shown, or just the cabs? if for the entire thing, that sounds about right.

are you doing the white and the oak? how much of a diff w/the inset and the overlay is there?

If you do MDF on the inlay, you might avoid some of those problems. with the wood you may get uneven gaps like this.

I made an inlay media cabinet out of solid wood. I can't even open one of the doors now.

I think the overlay looks perfectly fine. Up to you what you prefer and what you want to spend

My cabinets are all inset - even my laundry room. It's just the style I prefer. I'm redoing my kitchen in the next 6 months and will do inset again. The ones I'm replacing will go to my daughter. We've had absolutely no issues with them for 25 years. With this new renovation, I am having a cabinet maker build them. The 25 year old cabinets are still in great condition - They were by Rutt.

40-60k just for cabinets. The only quotes i have received that were less were from online companies (ie. Cliqstudios), whom do not have an oak door option. I think we might do Cliqstudios for all of the other rooms in the house, but for our main kitchen, do something a little higher end.

"I really like the look of inset cabinets, but have been told by several of the cabinet makers that they don't recommend them because over time, they get stuck due to settling of the house/expansion etc."

That should not be the case with a properly constructed house and cabinets.

Cost is difficult because it varies a lot by region and time (e.g., how busy everyone is). Better quality glides, dividers and other stuff can make a significant difference as well.

Our entire house was $25K but I'm rural Kentucky with an Amish cabinetmaker. So $40-60K is probably about right for where you are located.

I would do full overlay. This was my second kitchen with it and I love the extra space it affords. You can extend your end panels and strategically place other filler panels and top and bottom molding to give your full overlay cabinets more of an inset look but still have the benefits of full overlay. I did that on our last kitchen but decided to forego it on this one as I found that over time the moldings were just another ledge to collect dirt and grime....lol. It is not uncommon for people to do inset on their uppers and full overlay on their lowers so that might of interest to you.

Have inset, no problems. Would do again, really like the look.

Did drawer base cabinets (NOT roll-out shelves) and have plenty of space.

40-60 just for those cabs in the picture?

seems a little high to me. But depends on craftsmanship (these are all custom, yes?) and type of wood used. I could see 40K, but for what you get here, 60K seems high. if the countertops were included, install, then maybe.

just for perspective, these cabs were from another poster on here about 2 years ago. All quarter sawn, white oak. All completely custom made by Amish outside of IA (maybe ohio)

She paid 14K for them. They are beautifully done. (not inset, but I hardly think that warrants another 30K !)

So like I said, it all depends on who's making them for you.

Wow! $14k would be amazing! I think getting them from the Amish would be a bit challenging in California :)

Any favorite cabinet companies with local reps (or online only) that I should check out?

lol. yes, I agree. and because we're here, everything is so much more expensive. (although, I know she had them shipped to IA. Might be worth investigating. even if you spent 20-25K, it would be worth it. For the white cabs, they could make it w/paint grade maple, ship it raw, and you could have it sprayed out here. For the island, they could make it in the white oak you like.)

Shiloh Cabinets get good reviews here on the forums. I know they have distributors in the LA area, so there should be some in the Bay area. I think those are normal Bay area prices you are being quoted! Another option is Ikea boxes with custom doors, but the savings come from DIY assembly, so if you are paying a contractor in the Bay area to assemble them, then you won't see large cost savings.

I'm waiting on a quote back from Shiloh. Hoping they are more reasonable!

My GC is handling the install.

My fear of dealing with a small, local custom shop not in the Bay Area is what if I have issues? It will be much harder to resolve remotely. Whereas a large cabinet company like Shiloh has the scale and infrastructure to manage this.

Not sure where in the Bay Area you are, but we got our kitchen cabinets made by Schmitz Woodworks in Watsonville -- really happy with them. https://www.schmitzww.com/

We had them done in 2 houses by cab makers. I wanted flat panel & he wanted to use some other wood for the panel. I suggested he make raised panel & turn them around. Worked perfect. I have had no problems.