kitchen makeover

So the co-op we are in contract on needs a kitchen makeover.... It's tiny.... 10x8.... and set up like a galley or a NYC kitchen.... we want to put new cabinets in and either granite or corian (since there's not that much space we figure it'll be worth the splurge)....

We just went to Home Depot Expo to get ideas and holy moly they were expensive!!! $800/linear foot of cabinets! The woman told us with counters and cabinets we were looking at 20k for MATERIALS alone....

then we left depressed and went to Home Depot where the same cabinets were $173/linear foot..... and the woman there said looking about $6,500....

When you redid your kitchens where did you go for affordable pricing? Is there any other place besides HD where you can buy the cabinets from and do the install yourselves? My brother's a contractor and DH and he and my dad can handle putting the cabinets in....

We don't want to go broke over this and honestly I thought we could do it for about 5k based on how small the space is....

We went to Consumers Kitchen and Bath and they were snotty to us and wouldn't do a design at 2:45 because they close at 4 on sundays.... lol...


Any suggestions?

We are re-doing our Kitchen also!
Home depot we didnt like the people. They didnt like it when we told them we had to get back to them....they wanted us to make our decision right then and there....NO WAY. If we're spending 7 grand on new cabinates we're going to think about it and be sure we like them etc etc.
We then went to some place on 110.......WASTE OF TIME!!! Their price was doubled from the price we got from Home Depot.
Last week we went to consumer Kicthens and Baths....got there at like 11:15 (they open at 11) and we waited for 45 minutes and they were still on number 37 (we were 42). We also found their prices to be more than Home Depot....Lowest prices around my butt!!!
Lastly we went right up the block to Lowes. They spent so much time with us, designed the look of the kitchen for us and didnt pressure us at all.
We ended up getting the cabinates from them.
Oh, I dont know if your FH is Handy or if you have any 'handy' family members but you'll save a quite a bit of money if you install them yourself. Thats what we're doing.....FH and his Uncle are doing it.
Hope that helps and good luck!

Up in Tonkonkoma - on Lakeland - there is a Habitat for Humanity store. They sell surplus cabinets, fixtures, etc...

Sometimes it is leftover from a build - sometimes it is donated by an estate. Regardless - you can get some AMAZING bargains.