So many questions.... lol

As someone who's built some of the highest end residences in my area, I'll be honest & say that for the "average" homeowner, brand/manufacturer of cabinetry makes absolutely no difference. It's the features of the kitchen along with cosmetics that capture most peoples attention.

As a general rule, so long as the brand you choose has solid wood doors & plywood ( not osb ) cabinetry construction, with German or Swiss made lifetime warranty hardware/softclose and good quality handles, you should be golden. Higher end manufacturers tend to have more options for customizing storage options & wood varieties etc. VS stock, so it all depends on your kitchens size/ layout and of course your personal needs & budget. If you're in a more upscale neighbourhood, then yeah for sure , spend more money on cabinetry as your " investment" will likely be fully recouped upon sale.

I've installed kitchens with custom antiqued/distressed white washed cabinetry that cost $ 65 k just for the cabinetry that IMO looked just awful.... Conversely, I've also installed $ 10 k slabs of granite/marble & other solid stone on top of clients who opted for IKEA full gloss white cabinetry & it still ended up looking great. I find kitchens to be such a personal space for many clients , that only you yourself really know what you'd prefer.... Don't overthink cabinetry, they are just wooden boxes after all :) Good luck with your project !

The first thing to do is get a pro kitchen designer, and realize no contractor IS THAT. The contractor is the technician who installs that which you select. He is right about one thing. Don't paint the dated "crappy"cabinets. And you are wrong about drawer microwaves. most probably. Get a KD to the site and preferably an independent, versus just a kitchen cabinet shop salesperson.

At some point you are dealing with hardwood vs plywood with veneers and quality of finish. With the higher price point usually comes more service, which costs. They only way to get your questions answered is for you to be sure you are comparing apples to apples. There is for sure a tipping point where you are paying for the label.

I love to look at the houses for sale in my neighborhood. It always astounds me to see lower quality cabinets in a home that is well north of 2.5 million dollars. Sometimes it looks like they went for the cheapest cabinets they could find - white overlay - probably because they 1) have huge kitchens so the cabinets costs could be outrageous and 2) no one actually cooks in the kitchens.

I liked @3 Peaks Renovations paragraph about "general rule".

It always astounded me when working at a box store to have a customer buy the instock cabinets and then put granite on them. I would encourage them to use laminate and spend more on the cabinets, but, no, they wanted the stone and that is where they spent the money.

...so long as the brand you choose has solid wood doors & plywood ( not osb ) cabinetry construction....

Typical American bias. Very very expensive European cabinets rarely use wood. Yes, use wood for the doors/fronts, but the cabinets do not need to be plywood for superior construction.

Two other points: 1) understand the difference between framed construction and frameless. (Again, there's an American bias against frameless). 2) Drawers are real drawers, Pull-outs are not drawers.

I have all high end appliances that work for how I cook but I have Ikea cabinets and have had them in this house and my last house no issues and they look awesome about 85% of the kitchens I design I use Ikea and some have gone into some very hig end homes over the yars. BTW have you checked to see if you can actully vent the range to the outside not usually possible in most condos or apt bldgs. I totally agree with actual drawers not pullouts always . I have no put regular base cabinets in my designs for almost 20 yrs except for lazy susans and until now under the sink. IMO Ikea still best bang for you buck This was my Ikea kitchen in my last house still looks awesome 22 yrs later

Thank you to everybody for all of your input!

Manhattan is kind of strange when it comes to real estate. A $1 million dollar apartment is solidly middle-class in Manhattan with a very basic kitchen. Don't they say something about your kitchen should be 20% the value of your home. I'll say most million dollar apartments probably have a $40,000 kitchen unless you're really into cooking. As I don't live in prime Manhattan, I will not recoup the money I put into this when it comes to selling. But that doesn't bother me as I'm building this kitchen for me. Unless I win lotto (which I won't because I don't play), I'll be staying here for quite some time.

I appreciate your advice to get a designer. I was so nervous about it because all of the designers I saw on houzz seemed very fancy showcasing their $10 million dollar Soho lofts. But I found somebody that I think may be a better fit for me, especially as she specializes in co-ops. I'm trying to arrange a time with her.

I know lots of people with Ikea cabinets who are very happy with them. The thing is I want to have my lower cabinets in a green to match my Bluestar stove. So I think I need to go with something more customizable. Patricia Colwell, your kitchen looks fantastic!

Sushipup, I would prefer frameless cabinets as it would make better use of the space. It seems that Kraftmaid is only framed cabinets. I should also mention that I'm looking for shaker cabinets as my building is 100 years old, and I'm looking for something to honor that style vs going totally modern. If you know of any company that may work for me please let me know. And while I love the look of inset cabinets, I don't think they would be right for me due to all of the humidity issues in NYC. And it would kill me to lose all of that drawer space. And it tends to be more expensive.

Jan, I know everybody LOVES the microwave drawer but I still don't think it's for me. I would want to hide the microwave. I'd rather see an expanse of drawers without a microwave wedged in them. It's expensive. I'm also wary if it breaks, it will be a pain in the butt to get it replaced. Also, my valuable real estate would be the drawers vs a kitchen cabinet as I can fit more things in a drawer than a shallower cabinet. I currently have OTR microwave and have no issues getting hot plates from it. But I haven't tried one. Who knows? I may love it if I try it. But for now I don't think it works for me even though so many people love it.

And, yes, it took me 6 months to get permission to vent the stove! That's huge, especially as I do a ton of wok cooking.

Waving from the Bay Area where $1M means nothing, especially in the kitchen. Listen to Sushipup. The best furniture has veneers. It's not particle board and and veneers, but veneers are not a bad thing, at all.

I like Ikea. I did a great kitchen with Miele appliances and Ikea it looked fab. My current kitchen has much better than Ikea, PO, not me, it is a great kitchen. Do I deal with the cabinets and think, Wow, these are so much better than Ikea? No. I too, btw btw, only had the crappiest cupboards until a little less than 10 years ago.

Save your money for anything else, but do not splurge on midlevel cabinets. If it's between Ikea and Christopher Peacock, then sure go for broke, but midlevel cabinets, nah. My two cents as someone who chooses the top or bottom, feeling ripped off by the middle.

If you don't like the Ikea fronts/doors, check out the several aftermarket companies that specialize in Ikea-sized doors. Great variety available.

Thanks! I've been looking at Ikea cabinets a bit. It sounds that it could work for me with modifications. My sister-in-law told me she wasn't crazy about her Ikea cabinets until she painted them in a semi-gloss. So I guess they can be painted! I'll probably have to add soffits to bring them up to the ceiling. And there's this one area where I need a very tall shallow cabinet to cover the electric meter -- and to add storage. The tall cabinets Ikea offers are too deep. I'm assuming it won't be a problem to have them cut. I probably should price both Ikea against Kraftmaid to see if there is a big difference in price.

Is there a big difference in quality of Ikea doorfronts and something like semihandmade?

And I have Beth Forer (kitchen designer) coming over in a couple of weeks. She sounds perfect for my needs as she specializes in NYC co-ops -- which seems like a totally different breed when it comes to renovations. She doesn't have the time to be a project manager but will be coming over for a 2-hour consultation.

And, Zalco, I've lusted over Peacock cabinets for a long time! Alas, not in my lifetime...

First question: What is the 'look' you are after? If you want sleek and modern, consider Ikea. But, If your kitchen is small and may need some minor customization ( like reduced depth, height or width), consider Shiloh's Eclipse. It's a mid-range cabinet with full customization and custom paint colors.

Small NYC kitchens usually need a lot of customization or you end up with lots of fillers or the scale of the door sizes can sometimes work out to be 'not ideal'. Eclipse by Shiloh is Modern looking like IKEA but offers customization in all directions. That alone could be the key between an OK kitchen and a great kitchen, in terms of fit!

If you want a white shaker like a lot of folks these days, then KraftMaid could be a good fit. Make sure you ask what price groups the door styles are. They have over 20. And there are a few in the lower price group. Once you get passed group 6 or 7, the price can get up there!

Shiloh framed cabinets also off 3/8 "lipped" doors that can look cool and vintage. Not quite inset.

Shiloh in both traditional framed and frameless offers custom sherwin williams paint colors so you can match your range perfectly.

Good luck!

Ps. Inset, lipped and partial overlay don't lose space in the drawers (over frameless) if designed well. Pet peeve of mine that people think this. Cabinet for cabinet, yes. Frameless will get you a slightly wider drawer, per drawer. But doing inset, lipped or partial overlay, you can design a kitchen with less fillers....so it's wash most times. In an island? Do frameless all day everyday!

For a microwave over the stove - I wouldn't. You went through all this to get the approval to vent outside - get something that is going to do the job! You can reheat food nicely in an air fryer or goo toaster oven. I can't wait to get rid of my microwave.

I think you could absolutely do slab doors - it's Manhattan, they are everywhere - so you don't have to worry about any humidity. It will be all about how you style it.

Good luck!!

My husband and myself put an addition on our house to enlarge our kitchen and family room about 12 years ago. We went with custom cabinets because of the look I wanted and different storage options that weren’t offered with other cabinet companies at the time. I picked a special color glaze coating 😢, we wanted to replace the trash bin cabinet door and found it’s nearly impossible to match. (Cabinet company is out of state) . It’s not like expensive cabinets stay in style longer, they don’t.
IMO the most important thing before planning cabinet layout with designer is know what you want in it. Have pictures or list of your must haves. Since you love to cook it should be your dream kitchen.
Examples
Beverage cooler, wine fridge, spice cabinet , how your fridge will be built into cabinetry, outlets in drawers or cabinets. etc
I’m sure it will be beautiful

I looked at Ikea a bit more carefully and don't think it will work due to the size limitations. I need a 33 inch base drawer cabinet. It appears there's a 36 inch and 30 inch. But nothing in between (unless I'm missing something).

The Kitchen Place, thanks for the recommendation for Shiloh. I'll check it out. I'm actually not looking for super modern as my building is almost 100 years old. I'm trying to stay closer to 1924. Of course, an inset cabinet would probably be more appropriate. I'm just wondering how high the cost would be and the humidity issues. I actually wasn't planning on getting new kitchen cabinets til I had the two guys come over for estimates.

And, Debi, no need to worry -- I won't be putting a microwave anywhere over the range. I want a microwave hidden in an upper cabinet so I don't have to look at it.

T Ciardello, I understand the regret with some choices we all have made in the past. I still have a couple of wenge bookcases I got from Room and Board 15 years ago. Of course, that pales in comparison to your glazed kitchen cabinets! I'm sure my bookcases were a lot less money than your custom cabinets!

I went with semi-custom all plywood cabinets from what was supposed to be a good local boutique kitchen and floor shop. Important to check reviews BEFORE decisions are made and weed out the obvious fake 5 stars. I bought Schrock brand, which are nicely made for what its worth, mid range in price. Adding a small drawer under the sink bumped the line up to custom, which made that one drawer cost $2000 more, of which I said no, I will make other arrangements for my cookie sheets. There are a few things I did not know but certainly do now about ordering a kitchen, as it has cost me a lot of money to fix the mistakes and there are a few Im just going to have to live with, as they want the fat check up front in full, no refunds. Here are a few things I did not even know to ask and first biggest mistake was trusting the store's designer who told me she had 25 years experience. I wanted to believe her but now know should have had the sentence finished as ....25 years experience not listening to customers and causing chaos for no reason lol. Anyway, here is my observations of the kitchen that took 6 months to get here and what I had to do: 1. Framed cabinets are much smaller inside than what I was used to. They look very nice, but I had the Great Purge and had to get rid of about half my stuff as it no longer fits. 2. Drawers instead of a pots/pans base cabinet. I now have less than half the space, as the drawers are small to accommodate the hardware and are not very deep, no stacking, so I had to get rid of a lot of cook ware. If there is a next time I will get the pull out drawers that can be larger with taller sides instead of just shallow drawers. I do not care what is trendy, I do care about how useful something is. 3. Plywood cabinets come with beautiful frame fronts and raw plywood sides. I was told at the time of ordering the sides were finished. Yep, sure were, somewhat smoother raw plywood. Her definition of finished and mine are very different. You have to make sure skins are ordered for exposed cabinets sides and the carpenter puts them on when they install the cabinets. I had to fight for pre-measured and cut sides and not the full sheet to be measured out by my carpenter. That was after fighting for even getting skins at all, even though she said I paid for them. I have no line item invoice, I went back on the email for the link and it had been deleted before I printed it. She told me they would send a full sheet of the skin as a "customer courtesy". I had to call Schrock to get the salesperson to do anything at all. My carpenter's hourly rate is not cheap and apparently since I was told I paid for the skins already I should not have to pay him to do all that again. I had so much less trouble last time by just going to Home Depot. No one changed my drawing or decided without telling me what I wanted or needed, I only find out I have the wrong stuff after the fact. I caught most mistakes but missed a very important one and signed off, my bad for her bad. Those cheap cabinets held up for 20 years pretty good until the leak destroyed them. All the parts and pieces came in, installed in one day. This time I am working on an additional month 3 to get what I need, as in 8 skins she insists on ordering 2 at a time when not flat out saying this last one I didnt need anyway so decided not to order it. It took them 5 months to be made and get to Florida to a warehouse and another month for their choice of transport to get them here to the house, just bad service all the way around. Transport will bump people several times after waiting all day those days without so much as a call, and when you call them, the dispatcher just says they are on their way. I was told by several people "well, thats just the way it is now, bad industry standard, just have to accept it". No, we dont have to accept it, thats the problem. I also got many quotes from contractors and carpenters, which is very time consuming but necessary. In my area I average about 8 interviews before finding a good one who does not try to take advantage, most will overcharge way beyond the going rate, and many have shot me so much baloney, they cant possibly believe it themselves but it all equals $$$ with no remorse. I just send them home, so its well worth it. I have done this every step of the way over the last 9 months of this and have found a good group of guys I can call in the future as the need arises for roofing, plumbing, carpentry, electrical and handyman. One guy showed up high and asked me for a beer LOL....I told him I dont normally pass out narcotics or booze until after the job is done hahaha....sent that one home too. Good luck and I hope I have helped, I am on here looking for counter tops and backsplash ideas now, next step, oh goody!

Verbo: reminds me of Sophie's postings on the old GardenWeb.