I never understood what was so hard about building a box, and for what they cost they must use gold nails or something.
Finish carpentry is getting expensive labor wise, nobody learning the trade and the old guys need more money to stay in the business. That is why cabinets are going up in price. The mass produced units aren't much cheaper because they need more machines to replace the shortage of labor at the higher cost. High end machines aren't cheap, sliding table saws and big panel saws are into the 10's of thousands. Line boring machine for euro style cabinets start at $2500, but they save you 4 hrs of work and hopefully you don't screw up one hole. Belt sanders, are $5000+. They have to re-coop the money some how.
The machines save time but the cost require a lot of stuff to be built. I looked at the line boring machine to do my cabinets, but I needed to build 100 cabinets to justify the cost. I only needed 1/4 of that max. Granted I could sell the remaining but you just don't build overhead and wait to sell. Custom is the only way little guys like me can work, and there is a long stretch between custom cabinets. When I get my bigger shop I can take on entire projects but right now I can't compete with the big shops as I can only build 1 or 2 at a time vs 30 for a kitchen. Frankly a line boring machine is only good for one thing...cabinets.
I agree it feels good to build you own, but at this point I'm buying so I can sell the house...
Back to the subject though. I think the projects turning out great really enjoying reading the thread.