Building a house... millwork and cabinets

[Kevin Post]

I'm building a new house. I am going to build some or all of the cabinets. I'm considering purchasing the boxes from a place like cabparts.com or another supplier rather than making them myself to save time. Do you guys have any thoughts on this? Can you recommend other suppliers? Should I not bother and just make them myself?

Among the other things I'll be doing are the floors and trim carpentry. I'm planning on making moldings and casings. I'm also considering making hardwood flooring but the jury is out on whether this makes sense or is cost effective. Can I buy it cheaper than I can make it? If so, from where?

SWMBO and I are not rich so I'm doing this work as much from necessity as the pride of doing it myself. We want nice woodwork but I can't afford it unless I do it myself. I really need to keep the cost down but I don't want to compromise the quality of the house. We're going with all paint-grade millwork upstairs where the bedrooms will be located (money again). Is it feasable to make the paint-grade moldings from MDF and spray them with an oil-based primer? I know they sell MDF moldings at the local suppliers but they look awful. I figured I could make better... I have the necessary tools except for some of the cutters. Where can bargains be found on molding knives for my Williams & Hussey?

I'm about half way between Minneapolis, MN and Madison, WI. Do any of you Creekers that live around the area have favorite places where bargains can be found on windows, doors, ceramic tile, carpet, appliances, decking?

BTW: Anyone wanna come help?

-Kevin

[Scott Coffelt]

I am doing the same thing. I am not sure what savings you would have buying pre-cut or partial assembled cabinets. I choose to buy sheet goods and do the whole thing. In my case, they will be Maple (visual ends) and Birch (inner components) cases for the most part and will have frameless fronts. I'll pocket screw them together for the most part. I found a good source locally for reasonable prices on sheet material.

Woodworker's Supply has bulk drawer slides (blum knock-offs) that have been good for me in the past (average about $1.75 per pair). I will also get my f/e slides via mail order.

All I know is it will be mucho work, but I feel I will be up to the task. I am going more exotic than most kitchens and the price to have done lcoally where too expensive. My labor is cheap to me, so it's just a trade off to me doing something else with it.

[Tom Peterson]

Kevin,

There are a few mill shops in our area that you can get components from. When we get on to the kitchen project, we will be making the boxes and buying the doors, drawer fronts, and drawer boxes. Most of the comments I have seen lean towards being able to buy for less than you can build from scratch. For a paint grade maple, we were estimating ~$19 per square foot for a raised panel mitered door just as a point of reference. Have not locked on to any one vendor yet