It’s been too cold/wet to work on the roof so I’m looking at my next big project while I’m sitting inside.

The kitchen.

Before I bought my house, the previous owners did a quickie makeover in the kitchen. The cabinets are from home depot and not only look cheap, they are super shallow. 9.5” deep.

I have poor interior design abilities and it took me six months to decide on paint colors for the dining room, so I’ll need help getting in the direction for where to buy cabinets.

I want American made goods. I am accepting to Canadian sourced wood if that needs to happen.

My house interior if I had to describe it is light Victorian with steampunk attributes (lots of copper/bronze, lots of detail in wood carving).

I want glass in the above counter level doors.

Any directions where to start?  Good manufacturers?  Places to buy?  I can and will drive around metro Detroit or Toledo to obtain good stuff.
Budget is not decided yet. I don’t have an idea of what good stuff costs. My kitchen isn’t huge though, so perhaps under $6k would cover me.

Not in a rush either,  I just want to start piecing things together over the winter.

Any Amish cabinetmakers nearby?

hahahahahahahhahahaha
snort, sniffle, let me get back up on my chair.

you haven't priced kitchens lately have you?

good cabinets cost a buttload.  (even shitty cabinets cost a lot).

a good kitchen designer is well worth their fee.  

minimizing moving plumbing and electrical will keep your expenses down, but the materials are still spendy.

Start thinking about $10k for the cabinets, even for a small kitchen.  You have to assemble and install them, too, for that price.  The thing is, they will be top quality, American made cabinets.

Here are two places to look over to get started.

Barker Cabinets

and just for fun

RTA Cabinets

If it were me, I'd buy Barker.

I’ve never built a kitchen.

I’ve installed counters for a buddy, done sinks and swapped appliances. Never had to price cabinets.

I do mean small though.

Closest is probably Ohio. Amish tend to stay 3 hours away from Detroit at a minimum.

I know some Menonites. Do they also do furniture?

Based on what you want, more like 20k


The previous owner probably spent 6k on what you call shitty

I just tossed them into an online cart at Home Depot. $1200.

You are underestimating how few cabinets I have and how expensive the existing ones are.

Just to give you a ballpark number, I just finished a diy kitchen remodel. The cabinets in my small kitchen are home depot "custom" cabinets, i.e. ordered, not off the shelf. With misc. memorial day discounts, they ran about $7500.

i install cabinets for a living , ive never seen cabinets 9 inches deep , even from Home Depot , the uppers should be 12 deep not including the doors , base cabinets 24 deep , 34 1/2 high before tops

if you are on a budget you may consider a facelift rather than total replacement ,  you can replace the doors and it will change the whole kitchen , saving money for new tops that will upgrade even more , by swapping doors ,and possibly crown molding  you will save money from having someone like me charging you through the nose

if you are dead set on a total redo , then there are many factors that go into cost

size of cabinets , (uppers) , there are 30 ", 36", 42" , and a country cabinet that are 48" (tall) with various widths conforming to design, obviously the taller the upper the more  the cost
material of cabinet , many types of wood , oak , hickory , cherry , maple , OR the least expensive Paint , i will bet 3 out of 5 installs i do are paint kitchens , not small either , some are 50 cabinets + and they look great and the best thing about painted cabinets is touch up is easy , dent or gouge and there is a wood crayon that literally makes it disappear

base cabinets are mostly about options , simple shelf , or rollouts , lazy susans , sheet pan racks , my advice is to forgo these and add later

tops , the price of granite has come down , (at least prior to fake pandemic) , formica is labor intensive and the cost is less but close enough to granite to get you thinking , stay away from shaker cabinets , and for a small kitchen , you may be able to get a builder grade line of cabinets that fit your stated budget , they wont be amazing but they wont be total trash either

Been there about 6months ago, went with barket modern, I am very happy with the service and quality of cabinets

If it comes down to budget constraints to get a good appearance,  I “need” uppers bad. I can’t fit all of my glassware. It barely fits a medium plate.

Edit to add,  budget wasn’t really set in mind yet. I just pulled a number out that based on some basic OT, I could easily swing. Show me the cabinets that I want, I’ll find the way to make it happen.

There are plenty of places that make doors to order. You then just put them on the cabinet.

I did cabinet joint online.   Great company, awsome,  with the returns on things we went happy with.  The cabinets are American made, real wood and very happy with the quality.  Custom sizes, they even built a 9 inch deep base cabinet where.   They are RTA but very easy to put together.

If you are handy look at ready to assemble cabinets (RTA). Lot's of companies and cheaper than premade.

Why do you say this?

Yeah tag for info... I love the shaker look.. Simple & clean.. Im actually going to be doing my kitchen here in a year or two, I plan on making all the cabinets my self... Its much cheaper to buy sheet goods and make a box than it is to buy a pre-made box... Plus its something I enjoy doing... But if its anything like the rest of the house has been thus far, its going to take 5x as long and cost at least 3x as much as I planned on lol....

..................

I'm a GC, just had custom cabinets built for a kitchen, plus 2 large double vanities and 2 other built in cabinets with uppers.

Not including paint, but with install and soft close hardware, was $6500





Look for a cabinet maker, they will build you whatever you want.

That looks awesome. That’s quite a few more cabinets than I’ll be able to hold. I have a 1930 kitchen, so adding a dishwasher really eats up the space.

My mother was over Saturday and kept asking “But what if we knock down this wall...”
I don’t think women understand physics sometimes.

Yeah... but she's right.  You really should knock down that wall.

No photos at the moment,  but I have attached the hand drawing that I’ll use to make a CAD one.

Attached File


C means cabinets.

There is an arched entry wall semi marked on the drawing. Drawing is 1/32 scale.

The wall separates what was once a doctor’s overnight room from the kitchen. I use it to store my 6 tap beer fridge and liquor.

The house above was built in 1927, and bastardized several times since then.

There used to be a wall where the fridge/peninsula are, which we removed and opened up the two rooms.

We did a double 2x12 LVL in its place in the attic, and even then, it wasn't absolutely necessary. It have me a good support for a rafter beam spanning the other direction, and we tied up all the other 2x8 ceiling rafters up to the beam for extra stability.

Your small arched opening can most likely be removed, depending on which way your ceiling/second floor joists run.

If its north-south on your picture, you're good to go, unless its something crazy like 2x4

If im reading your drawing correctly, and the width in that opening is 8ft, a double 2x8 can span it with no problem.

We have done a few drop down headers before, because it couldn't be recessed into the ceiling cost effectively, and cabinets got built AROUND IT.

Thats the beauty of custom, it ACTUALLY fits your space

i just made mine out of a bunch of cherry wood

pretty easy project actually

The gap where the sink is, that is an exterior window. All joists run parallel to that wall.

Archway gap is about 46”. The “beer fridge” room is 96”x94”, 94 being the direction of the arch gap.

High quality RTA cabinets.

https://www.cabinetjoint.com/

I bought my cabinets from a local manufacturer, the quality was above the top end of Lowes' Semi-Custom lines.  I spend about 8K between the cabinets and quartz countertop for the island and counter.  I completely redesigned the layout to make it more functional for 2 peolpe to use it at once.  It was a ton of work to remove, change floor plans and get new cabinets installed but it was very rewarding.
Attached File

Message me if you need recommendations on cabinet makers in your area, there are plenty great ones within 3 hours of Detroit.

Could also buy Pioneer up in Davison, great quality cabinets and respectable pricing.