Take the home depot quote to a local company and see if they can beat it. Ours did, by several thousand dollars. More on reddit.com

Home Depot has a process that allows a contractor to be an “approved” service provider: https://www.homedepot.com/services/c/partnership-overview/1dcd27833 It is not hard to get on the list. My experience is that just about any company (no matter how big or small) can get approved No Home Depot employee will inspect the remodel, and unfortunately disputes are not uncommon. And HD is not known for mediating these cases: https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can-i-sue-home-depot-for-an-unfinished-repair-to-a-2968227.html I personally have had great experiences with my local approved providers. They were knowledgable, on time, and within budget. Can’t tell you if I am the exception or the rule. Post to subreddits local to your area to see what experiences your neighbors have had. More on reddit.com

Sounds reasonable, all home improvement costs have shot up dramatically since Covid. Since you're getting the cabs from HD you should be able to price them out independently to see how much the contractor is charging you for the rest of the job. If you're not afraid of a little DIY, installing cabinets isn't that difficult if you know how to use basic tools, and watch some videos on how to do it. Might want to consider that. More on reddit.com

When I re-did my 110sqft kitchen, Home Depot wouldn’t even talk to me about layout and price quoting until I paid them to have a guy come out and measure my space. (Even though I had original blueprints and did my own measurements to confirm before even going to places to get quotes.) Then they quoted me something like $15,000. For cabinets for a 110sqft kitchen? Get out. Then I went to the local hardware shop, and they sent me to a local cabinet shop. They had a designer digitize the measurements I brought them, and they set up a couple different layout options (including giving me extra ideas I hadn’t considered). Then they got me set up with a cabinet order (and nicer ones than I had looked at when I was at HD) for around $3,500 cabinets only (pre-assembled). Was going to be somewhere around $6,000-7,000 if I wanted them to install it. And the customer service was on point, too. More on reddit.com