Your custom experiences both sound odd. I'd never trust some recent college grads. I want a custom company that has done dozens of completely custom jobs and understands well how cabinets are made. And, I want someone who does enough volume that it isn't just one old dude who may or may not pull through on the job.

Seven years ago we got quotes for everything from high end cabinets that are not custom to completely custom and found the two were not that different in price. We went with the completely custom shop that had been in business for 60 years, had a staff of four FT employees plus an installer and the owner. We have used them twice now. Every detail was completely custom. I had a pair of vintage salvaged laundry room doors and loved the proportions of the molding that ran inside the styles and rails (not sure what to call this) and they copied it exactly for our cabinet doors. They were inset, they made lots of samples for us, we played around with proportions a ton. So many decisions, but beautiful in the end.

I think those kinds of shops are out there, but hard to find. We also lucked out when we did our kitchen and found an amazing cabinetmaker through word of mouth who made our custom cabinets (half inset and half frameless) for a fraction of what they would have cost most places. I think ours was only his second inset job, and one of the few painted jobs he'd done since at the time stained cabinets were the trend. He was just starting out and couldn't command the same prices that many in the area did, but it meant we got a kitchen of high quality custom cabinetry for about the same cost as IKEA with custom doors (which was the other option we considered). Fast forward 15 years and he runs a large area cabinet shop and we couldn't even afford a bathroom vanity from them...just happened to be in the right place at the right time back then! (I deeply regret not buying more cabinets at the time, though. Definitely the best money we spent in the whole project and we will probably not have cabinets that nice in any future homes!)

To Kendrah's point, though--it's also about the market and what you are looking for. If you want experience and a shop that is well known/widely reviewed, you will typically need to pay more for that. If you take a risk with a smaller shop, you might get a great deal, or you might get burned.

Sorry, I wasn’t clear. These two weren’t just graduated, they have been a custom furniture shop for some years. I was referred to them by some mutual friends.

They mostly make tables, sideboards, dressers, chairs, desks - the sort of stuff that people get made custom. Have a line of pre-designed furniture too - I’d like to get a pair of their nightstands, but $6,000 is more than I value nightstands at.

They don’t do kitchen cabinets, but took my project because it was different. I told them I wanted kitchen cabinets built like furniture, and they thought that was interesting. Also helped that I wasn’t in a hurry. Took about nine months from first check to delivery. I basically didn’t start the kitchen until the cabinets were done.

I’ll be working with them on a custom island next. If I can afford it, thinking about a custom bathroom vanity after that.

Not sure how my friends found their “old hippie” furniture maker. They are architects so I guess they have connections. I tried to contact him but I think he is retired.

But anyway, my thought is - these small craft shops don’t spend money on marketing, showrooms, administrative, and sometimes you can catch them when they’re slow.

I was curious if others have price compared the two options.