The Ins and Outs of Custom Cabinetry

Last week on the blog we talked about the vocabulary of cabinetry, and how mastering the lingo can help you better understand the products available to you. We touched on the difference between custom and stock cabinetry; custom cabinetry is designed and built to specification for installation, while stock cabinetry is pre-fabricated, and often comes in standard dimensions (which limit design potential) and fewer size and color options. This week we want to explore the meaning of custom cabinetry a little further.

So, custom cabinetry is designed and built to specifications—size, material, finish, purpose—and then installed in your home. Once a homeowner has decided to go with custom, rather than stock cabinetry, it’s time to choose a brand that fits both your aesthetic and your budget. This is the fork in the road where you need to learn the difference between factory-built custom cabinets and cabinets built on-site.

If you’re looking to match a very specific architectural style, or existing work in your home, it is worth exploring a local cabinet-maker. The benefit there is the ability to exactly replicate something in your home, and a local professional can visit your home to achieve the very best result. However, when it comes to outfitting an entire kitchen with custom cabinetry, factory custom-built cabinets deserve your serious consideration.

Two major benefits of choosing factory-built custom cabinetry are quality control and warranty protection; both Wood-Mode and Brookhaven cabinetry offer limited lifetime warranties with significant protections for the homeowner. But beyond these—and more essential—is the central issue of longevity; factory-built custom cabinetry manufacturing processes produce a longer-lasting product that stands up to daily wear and tear.

Wood-Mode cabinets are manufactured and finished in a multi-step process. Wood is dried in kilns many times over, as needed, so that the wood will not shrink or expand after installation. Cabinets dried in this fashion also take their finishes better, whether painting or staining. Not only is it important that a finish look beautiful, it needs to be durable. Cabinets endure their fair share of daily use, but when the wood is properly treated and finished they don’t have to look like it.

Stop in to Cabinets & Designs’ showroom to see the Wood-Mode difference up-close, and decide whether factory-built custom cabinetry is for you.