Cabinets
Hey - Good luck with the cabinets no matter what you do...and thank you for your military service from a grateful citizen!
We redid our kitchen last year with KraftMaid. If you go through the big box stores, after they give you the final price, ask for 10% off of that. I've been told by more than one Lowe's employee that they will give you 10% off of any major purchase if you ask. If worse comes to worse, you can buy a 10% off coupon off of e-bay for about $5. I've bought several of those. Anyway, that will save you a little (it saved us about $1,500 at the time).
Another option...in Atlanta (actually, outside of Atlanta), there was a wholesaler who sold KraftMaid cabinets. He claimed that if you brought him your design, he could match the cabinets and save you 40%. I never got around to checking because we'd had great service from Lowe's and decided we'd stick with them as we liked the design of the door panel, and that particular design was exclusive to Lowe's. Unfortunately, I can't remember the wholesaler's name, but he was outside Atlanta...in Canton if I recall.
We also installed a butler's pantry (this one is actually "butler-less"), and we got the cabinets for it from IKEA. We really liked the look (a beadboard white), but they were pricier than I thought they'd be. We paid $1300 for three 40" upper cabinets (one with glass doors), two lower cabinets, beechwood countertops, crown molding, and lights. I then had to assemble them myself. And they aren't real wood. But they went together easily and installed very easily. You can install IKEA cabinets by yourself. Those Scandanavians really designed that aspect quite well.
In a previous home, we used Mills Pride cabinets twice...one for our office and once for cabinets in our bedroom. Very easy to build..a little more difficult to install versus IKEA. Biggest benefit of Mills Pride is that they have a lifetime guarantee. I cracked a door 18 months after installing them and just called their 1-800 # and they sent a replacement lickity split without any questions.
KraftMaid also offers a lifetime warranty, but we had to go to Lowe's to order replacement parts (cracked a solid cherry door on one of the cabinets). So it was a little less easy compared to Mills Pride.
I hope this info help! Good luck!