DIY kitchen

I know that this must have been discussed before, but I did a search and didn't come up with much.

SWMBO has asked for a new kitchen. If I do it myself, there could be some farily nice powertool related rewards for all the $$ savings, so I am pretty keen. Plus it sounds like a challenge that I just can't pass up...

At this stage we are thinking of buying flatpacks and then getting someone like granite transformations to install a benchtop.

Anyway, my questions are:

1. is it worth the effort? Are the $$ savings really worth the pain?

2. can anyone recommend a flatpack place that can do high quality work? I'm in the Canberra region, so ideally something local. However, I am able to travel to Sydney for the right price/quality etc.

Hope someone has been in my shoes before!

Thanks in advance

Trav