How To Order - Our Process

Ordering Custom Kitchen and Bath Cabinets

If you are interested in ordering or having us bid custom kitchen cabinetry, custom bathroom cabinetry, library or bedroom built-ins, mudroom built-ins or whatever you might have in mind you can email us drawings and we can usually get a bid for you within 48 hours.

See below for a partial list of our standards. Please call or email for more information on the process. We can answer all your questions and get you started.

Our Cabinetry Standards

What we DO:

We use only hardwood doors and drawer fronts and face frames.

We use concealed pocket screws and glue to build our face frames so they remain strong and square.

We use domestic plywood for its quality and consistency.

We use 1/2" plywood backs in our upper cabinets for better support since those cabinets are essentially hanging on the wall with no other support except what the back of the cabinet can support.

We use dados in the sides of the upper cabinets for the top and bottom shelves to give more strength to the cabinet. We also dado the face frames into the cabinet boxes so they are structurally more stable.

We can either provide adjustable shelves or can make the shelves fixed. Adjustable shelves are made of solid wood with eased edges front and back.

We use concealed European style hinges and high quality drawer slides. You can choose from a standard side mounted European style drawer slide, a full extension side mounted slide rated to 100 pounds, or a top of the line bottom mounted soft close slide.

We use solid wood drawer boxes dovetailed on all four corners.

Our cabinets are finished inside and out using pre-catalyzed lacquer for a high quality finish. Interiors are finished in natural unless otherwise requested. Exteriors are whatever the client desires, paint, stain, glazing, brushed glazing, distressed. We will even build cabinets without finish if you choose to finish them yourself or have your own finisher.

Instead of making a lot of small boxes, we make our cabinets as long as possible, up to 8'-0". This is better for several reasons. First, it makes the cabinet more structurally sound and makes for far less joints in the face of the cabinet. It creates more useable space on the interior and gives the designer far more flexibility. And it makes it much easier on the installer since it is only one cabinet where it might usually be 3 or 4 individual cabinet units.

With "custom" cabinets, you are free to design and build nearly any configuration. You are not limited by a standard factory process. We use our standards to maintain structural integrity but they can be used with nearly any design or style.

These are not all of our standards but should give a good idea of our intentions. We want to build cabinets that last. We don't want a client calling 3 years from now asking why the floor under his sink is deteriorating after a little leak from his sink! A cabinet made from particle board will do just that, quality plywood will not.

We make sure on the front end that our cabinets will remain as beautiful as they were the day they were installed.


What we DON'T do...

We don't use ANY particle board or MDF(medium density fiberboard). These are sheet goods that are made from either sawdust and chips in the case of particle board or paper products in the case of MDF. They are then pressed together with glue to make it into one stable panel. Both are typically straight and flat and therefore are easier to mill and process. Since they are very inexpensive and easy to process, they are often coverd with vinyl or veneer to imitate the look of real wood. Most ofen, you will find it on the interior of cabinets in the big "Home" stores, or in other factory-made cabinets. However, you can also find it on the doors and drawers of some of the more inexpensive lines of cabinets. These products also have a very serious problem; they don't tolerate water or moisture very well at all, even when "sealed" in vinyl. When these products get wet, they swell, sometimes dramatically. Once they have gotten wet, they will not return to the original thickness and will further deteriorate over time. Hardwood and domestic plywood does not react to water or moisture in the same way and even after getting wet, they will return to their original size.

We don't use any imported plywood simply because in our experience, it is not as high in quality as domestic plywood. Imported plywood is not as well made and has voids in the inner plies. It is also not as straight and flat as domestic plywood, but it is usually less than 1/2 half the price of domestic so it is an option for economy minded cabinet makers.

We don't use 1/4" plywood for our flat panel doors, we use only 3/8" solid wood in those doors since it feels and sounds better and of course, looks far better.

We don't use hot melt glue, we only use Tightbond II Premium wood glue for it's strength and holding power. It is made specifically for use with wood, not hobby projects like hot melt glue.


So if this sounds like the type of experience you expect from your cabinet maker, call us and let's talk about the possibilities.

Ordering Custom Furniture, Doors and Art Glass

If you are interested in ordering custom furniture, doors or stained glass call or email us about what you are interested in. Your ideas, some pictures and/or sketches. Lots of communication always brings it all together.

Once we work out all the designing details we will fax or email you a confirmation.

Upon your review and acceptance we require a 50% deposit which secures your position on our scheduling calendar.

Depending on what’s in the studio/shop we usually need 8-14 weeks. More specific time frames can be given as your piece goes on the calendar.

Shipping

Shipping requires an additional charge. If you are within a 300 mile radius of the studio/shop, we will arrange to deliver your order ourselves.

If you are farther away, we will contact you prior to shipping to confirm all the shipping details including insurance and give you a firm price from a shipping firm we have used and trust. The final payment will be required prior to shipment.

If your piece or cabinetry is delivered within Virginia, sales tax has to be collected.

For items delivered or shipped outside Virginia there is no sales tax collected by our company.

Our Guarantee

A furniture maker knows wood is a living organism and as such is subject to an endless variety of color and variation. This is not a defect but an inherent part of the material, something we think should be celebrated.

A cabinet maker knows the above but says it a little differently. He knows variation is a characteristic and the nature of wood. He wants you to keep in mind that any sample you get is a representation of color or tint. Your actual cabinets may vary slightly in the lightness and darkness of the wood or the tint you have chosen.

Further, they both want you to know our wood and glass products are guaranteed against structural defects in the material and workmanship for the lifetime of the buyer.