Which homeowner doesn’t dream of having a kitchen where everything has a place of its own? Who can say no to an organized space, where finding anything and everything feels like a breeze?
The most efficient kitchens are those that have the right number of cupboards, drawers, and shelves optimized to store all of your things. Now, couple such efficiency with stunning custom cabinetry, and we’re talking about storage solutions that are also beautiful works of craftsmanship designed to reflect your personal style and taste and last for years.
Generic cabinets, on the other hand, are typically mass-produced and poorly constructed. As such, they fail to stand up to the wear-and-tear of everyday use. The resulting crooked doors, sagging drawers, scratched surfaces, and loose hinges become eyesores.
Clearly, custom cabinets can significantly uplift the look and feel of your kitchen and the functionality, while also adding tremendous value.
That’s why it’s a job best left to the professionals. In fact, when you hire a custom cabinet maker, like those at Holland’s Custom Cabinets, you have a lot to gain in every way.
First, let’s take a look at some of the benefits of hiring a custom cabinet maker, then we’ll take a look at how to hire one later on in this article.
Advantages of Hiring Custom Cabinet Makers
1. Built to Your Exact Needs
One of the biggest reasons to hire custom cabinet makers is that you can finally get the cabinets you want, exactly suited to your tastes and to your home’s decor. While you can always buy standard cabinets from the big box stores, you won’t get much choice. You’ll need to settle for the design, type, finish, and the colors that are available.
However, when you work with custom cabinet makers, you get to decide everything from the design and colors, to the space usage and materials. You can even sample different types and textures of wood and other materials to help you make the best choice for you.
2. Quality Workmanship
Custom cabinet makers with decades of experience building cabinets and storage solutions bring vast stores of knowledge of materials and craftsmanship to their projects. As a result, they know exactly how to make quality, custom cabinets and what goes into designing layouts for kitchens and other spaces of all shapes, sizes, and styles.
Thanks to their experience in the field, they have access to the best materials, tools, vendors, and other resources needed to construct quality cabinets. They are also aware of the latest custom cabinet trends and innovations. Because of their experience and know-how, they can factor in all of your specific needs and desires, creating a design that’s both functional and gorgeous.
Further, seasoned cabinet makers can help you tackle any space complexities, such as uneven walls and narrow areas. They can find ways to open/close doors and drawers with ease, while ensuring a sleek look for your kitchen.
As a result, you’ll gain peace of mind knowing that your custom cabinets are secure enough to accommodate all of your kitchen items, and that they look great doing it.
3. Made with Expertise and Care
Think of custom cabinets as an investment in your home, which means it’s important that you engage only experienced, trained professionals to deliver on your expectations.
By working with reputed custom cabinet makers, you can spare yourself a lot of stress. You typically won’t have to worry about errors, delays, or other hold-ups. Given their expertise, you can rest easy knowing that your cabinet maker will take care of everything and complete the project on time and to your specifications.
4. Avoid Costly Mistakes
Building custom cabinets takes expertise and knowledge. That’s why DIY can prove disastrous. You might end up making costly mistakes that could’ve been avoided by hiring a professional cabinet maker.
Cabinet construction is more than simply determining how many boxes, drawers, hinges, nails, and screws you need. It takes a lot of time and effort to master the skills to build a cabinet from scratch and see it through to completion without making mistakes along with way.
For example, do-it-yourselfers may end up with uneven seams when cutting crown molding by hand, or they may end up with unequal door sizes because they forgot to calibrate their saw blades properly. These avoidable mistakes can cost do-it-yourselfers a lot. Experienced custom cabinet makers won’t make these kinds of blunders, saving you time and money.
5. Complements Other Furniture Items
Among the key benefits of hiring custom cabinet makers is that you won’t have to worry about the cabinets not matching your existing furniture and fixtures. Custom cabinet makers know what matters to homeowners, which is why they’ll dive deep into the details before starting your project.
This way, they ensure each element they incorporate into the cabinet design will complement the other items in your home. Ultimately, you should see everything come together seamlessly and cohesively.
6. Aesthetic and Sturdy Cabinets
Another important advantage of custom cabinets for your home is their durability and aesthetic appeal. Cabinet makers don’t just put wooden boxes together, their work goes beyond that. They use their training and craftsmanship to create quality works of art that can withstand a great deal of wear and tear for the long haul.
Whether they’re using wood or laminates, custom cabinet makers know how to identify and choose best-in-class materials for the project. Products made from quality materials not only stand the test of time, but they also retain their beauty without fading or distorting.
7. There’s a Place for Everything
Custom cabinets can be installed in any part of your house, not just the kitchen. From home offices, living rooms, and recreational rooms, to laundry rooms, mudrooms, and garages, custom cabinets can be made to suit any room’s specific purpose, ensuring optimal organization and aesthetics.
For example:
- You can choose to have custom cabinets installed near your garage or the entrance of your home to create storage space for footwear.
- You can install custom cabinets in the pantry to expand your kitchen’s functionality.
- You can have a custom cabinet built in your laundry room to hide dirty clothes and store cleaning products.
Even if you’re only planning to turn that small corner in your bedroom into a home office or use the vertical space in your kitchen to store lesser-used gadgets, custom cabinet makers can be of great help. Their suggestions and skills can transform an ordinary space into something that’s straight out of a home-interior magazine. The possibilities are endless.
8. Safety and Easy Clean-up
DIY projects tend to be tricky, especially if they’re complex. When it comes to building cabinets, you need to ensure a high level of precision and workmanship to obtain a promising result. Mistakes, overlooks, and carelessness can result in serious injury and high medical bills. No one wants that. It’s better to keep yourself safe and entrust the job of building custom cabinets to the experts.
Also, once your DIY project wraps, you’ll have to clear all the remaining materials, debris, and old cabinets. Do know how and where to dispose of them? With professional, custom cabinet makers in your corner, you needn’t worry about this aspect. They handle everything.
How to Find the Right Custom Cabinet Maker
Now that you understand the advantages of hiring custom cabinet makers, how do you find them?
Whether you’re planning to add storage solutions throughout your home or to specific areas such as the basement, kitchen, bathroom, or laundry room, installing custom cabinets can bring about a complete transformation of your home. However, deciding to go with custom cabinets to makeover your kitchen, bathroom, or other space in your home, is only the first step. Next, you need to find a reliable custom cabinet maker, someone who can partner with you on this important journey.
Hiring a custom cabinet maker should be a highly selective process. At Holland’s Custom Cabinets, we expect our clients to be very thorough when considering us for their projects. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
Reputable and skilled cabinet makers understand the importance of using high-quality wood and unique designs in the cabinets they make. They take immense pride in their craft, and they work hard to execute the vision that homeowners have for their new or remade spaces.
With the market being flooded with custom cabinet professionals, how can you be sure you hire the right one?
Naturally, you’ll want to work with experienced and talented professionals who can also provide excellent customer service. Here are a few considerations to help you make an informed decision.
1. Do Your Research
The first step in finding a trustworthy custom cabinet maker is to do your homework by researching custom cabinet makers in your area. Start your due diligence by creating a list of local professionals who offer the solutions you need. From there, your research will help you narrow your options.
Call the custom cabinet makers on your short list. Speak with them to find out more about their solutions, their services, and their processes. Get formal quotes for your project, including renderings, and gather all the information you need to make an informed choice.
Thorough research like this will not only give you with the information you need to compare and contemplate, it will also help ensure that you hire someone with a communication style you’re comfortable with.
2. Experience Matters
You want to hire a custom cabinet maker with experience building the kind of cabinets you’re contemplating. For example, if you need cabinets for your home, make sure the prospective cabinet maker has experience building custom cabinets for kitchen, bathrooms, and other areas of the home. Similarly, if you’re looking for office cabinets, your cabinet maker should have experience in that area.
Making sure the cabinet maker’s experience aligns with your needs helps ensure that you hire someone with the appropriate expertise—someone who is prepared to tackle any obstacle while doing his or her best work for you.
3. Get References
Custom cabinets are an investment. To ensure you get the most bang for every buck you spend, be sure you hire a cabinet maker with an excellent track record of fulfilling client expectations.
Don’t be shy about asking for references from each of the cabinet makers on your shortlist. Any reputable professional should always have a list of happy clients to share. If the cabinet maker doesn’t or is hesitant to share references, that’s a definite red flag (and it’s time to move on to the next name on your list).
Talking to previous clients helps you understand how the custom cabinet maker delivers and treats customers. Checking references can help you avoid troublemakers and identify the right professionals to work with. You’ll hear firsthand from someone who was once in your shoes: does the cabinet maker do shoddy work? Have there been lawsuits filed against him or her? Or are clients extremely satisfied?
4. Check Out Previous Work
Because you’re spending your hard-earned money on custom cabinetry, you want to be sure your cabinet maker can deliver results that reflect beauty as well as utility. Make sure you check the cabinet maker’s website for photos of his or her best work before you hire. If you can’t find photos online, ask to see some pictures. Reputable cabinet makers should have huge galleries of their past work in both print and digital formats, and they should be eager to share.
You can also try to arrange a visit with a current client so you can see the cabinet maker’s craftsmanship and quality first-hand. Doing this will allow you to gauge the cabinet maker’s skills and abilities. Plus, you might get some ideas and inspiration for your own custom cabinets.
5. Ask Questions
One of the best ways to size up custom cabinet makers is to ask them direct questions. Quality professionals should welcome such inquiries and remain unfazed by them. Asking questions also helps you understand whether they’re actually interested in your project or if they’re just looking to make a quick buck.
Here are a few questions to ask (and the kind of answers you want to hear):
- Do you make the entire cabinet yourself or do you order some components (such as the door)?
(Quality custom cabinet makers never order or buy mass-produced components. The answer to this question should be a definitive “yes.”)
- Will you be able to show me some of your work from around three years ago?
(While most cabinet makers tend to highlight their recently concluded projects, it’s a good idea to see some of the results they’ve delivered further in the past. This way, you can be sure that the custom cabinet maker you’re hiring keeps up with the evolving trends and delivers long-lasting solutions.)
- Can you provide some references of your past clients? Can we speak to them?
(The cabinet maker you hire should be able to provide multiple referrals of satisfied clients who sing their praises. If they can’t, buyer beware.)
- Do you do the finishing yourself?
(While some cabinet makers do the finishing-related work themselves, others may have it done by a third-party contractor. When you ask this question, look for clues that suggest the custom cabinet maker has proper quality control measures to outsource the finishing job. As long as the answer convinces you of this, it should be fine.)
- When can I visit your showroom and workshop?
(Reliable cabinet makers will never keep you from visiting their showrooms and workshops. When visiting the latter, however, don’t expect to find swanky spaces. Expect to see some ongoing work and the process of cabinet making. This should serve as a testimony to the cabinet maker’s abilities and professionalism.)
6. Don’t Forget Fees
Most homeowners have a set budget for their custom cabinet project. Knowing how much you can spend helps you target the best cabinet maker within your price range. However, don’t let price alone stop you from hiring a cabinet maker who might charge slightly more. Remember, experience and skills come at a cost.
In fact, a cabinet maker who charges lower than standard rates could mean trouble. It can indicate the use of cheap, poor-quality materials that deliver short-lived results.
Before deciding whether the cabinet maker is overpriced or inexpensive, do some probing of your own. Don’t make the mistake of hiring a professional based only on cost.
7. Make Sure They’re Good Communicators
You’ll be able to get a good idea of the custom cabinet maker’s communication style during your initial interaction. It’s important that his or her style agrees with you since you’ll need the cabinet maker’s guidance and recommendations at almost every step of the project.
The custom cabinet maker should be able to tell you about all your options and assist you with finalizing a design according to your needs. Also, when it’s time to install the custom cabinets, the cabinet maker will guide you about the most suitable way to proceed, since there are several.
Simply put, communicating with your custom cabinet maker should feel effortless. This can make a huge difference to your overall experience, so be sure to choose someone who makes you feel included in the process and who puts you at ease.
8. Look at Online Reviews and Testimonials
Customer reviews and testimonials provide insights into the quality of workmanship and services that the custom cabinet maker offers. Checking online reviews of the custom cabinet maker’s previous and current clients can give you a fair idea of what you’re getting.
Fortunately, the internet has made it incredibly easy to find local, custom cabinet makers online. It’s as simple as conducting a Google search. Read through the reviews to learn more about what people are saying about the cabinet maker. Also, make a note of the cabinet maker’s responses to any reviews, especially the negative ones. This should give you a clear sense of the cabinet maker’s work ethic.
Browse through the cabinet maker’s website to read testimonials from clients. See if the cabinet maker is affiliated with the Better Business Bureau, Home Builders Association, and other relevant entities. These are reliable associations that indicate the custom cabinet maker is credible.
Make Holland’s Your Custom Cabinet Maker
Custom cabinets add flair, sophistication, and character to a space. They bring organization and order to different areas of a home in ways that mass-produced, storage cabinets cannot.
To truly enjoy the benefits of custom cabinets, you need to work with the right custom cabinetry makers, ones able to assure you of a job well done using quality materials and superior craftsmanship. You need to work with Holland’s Custom Cabinets.
The team of professionals at Holland’s Custom Cabinets creates handcrafted cabinets and storage systems that reflect your personality and enrich your lifestyle. We’ve been doing it for more than 40 years, with hundreds and hundreds of satisfied clients. To learn more about Holland’s custom cabinetry solutions for your kitchen, bathroom, or other parts of your home, call us at 619.443.6081 or fill out our online form.
