Built to last
When buying kitchen cabinets, one of the biggest decision is whether to use custom or factory-made
When you’re planning a home remodeling project, do you want custom cabinets built right in your home by carpenters, or do you want factory-made versions that you order and get shipped to your doorstep?
If this sounds like a trick question, you’re right.
Custom, job-built cabinets sound so desirable because they’re made just for you, in your home and by people you can actually watch work. Factory made? They sound inherently inferior, like they’re made for the masses and you’re tapping into a cookie-cutter product you hope will work for you.
The truth is that both have pros and cons.
First, let’s dispel the whichis-best myth: the answer depends on what you want.
Kevin Vick, president of Vick Construction and Remodeling and a past president of the Greater Houston Builder’s Association’s Remodeler’s Council, said he uses custommade cabinets on his projects for the precision he gets.
“When we build on-site, everything is built to within one-sixteenth of an inch, very precise,” Vick said, noting that making cabinets on-site also allows him to be more nimble in responding to clients’ changing wishes — during or even after cabinets are installed.
The downside, though, is a big one. The finish on a jobsitebuilt cabinet will never be the same as one made in a factory, where paints, stains or varnish are applied in a dust-free environment and baked on to a durable, blemish-free finish, he said.
To make up for that, Vick cleans an area, then installs a ZipWall system to keep dust and dirt out while painting.
Anyone in the middle of a planned bath or kitchen upgrade or in a home renovation project forced by damage from Hurricane Harvey likely is finding cabinets a sticking point in the project.
On one hand, there’s a shortage of carpenters available to build the kind of cabinets Vick uses in his projects, but kitchen cabinet manufactur-
ers also are struggling to meet demand, as they’re all geared up to fill orders for people affected by weather events in Texas, Florida and on the East Coast.
One measure of quality in premade cabinets is to look for the seal of approval from the Kitchen Cabinets Manufacturers Association, a trade organization that provides third-party testing on the quality and durability of cabinets.
Look for the KCMA blue or green sticker on the inside of pre-made cabinets or on the back of their doors, says Lisa Fisher, KCMA director of communications.
All of this is important because kitchen remodeling isn’t cheap — so you want to do it well.
Plus, as the kitchen becomes the heart of the home — for daily family life as well as entertaining — we’re putting more features in for both style and function.
Kitchen cabinets are likely to be a big chunk of your remodeling budget.
A 2018 Houzz survey shows that updates in Houston range from $20,600 to $49,500 for a large kitchen to $14,300 to $16,400 for a small kitchen, and some 31 percent considered their cabinet purchases a “splurge.”
Peggy McGowen, founder of Kitchen & Bath Concepts at the Design Center of Houston, said the cost of cabinets can vary widely, but said for an average 12-foot by 16-foot kitchen, cabinets could cost from $18,000 to $42,000.
Just as important as the construction of cabinets themselves is what’s behind them.
She also is an advocate for factory-made cabinets.
“Factory made isn’t necessarily lower quality,” she said. “It’s still handmade and still handsawed using high-tech equipment and with beautiful, flawless finishes.”
In addition to American-made cabinets such as Wood-Mode, McGowen cited modern European makers such as Eggersman, Poggenpohl and SieMatic as high-quality cabinets made of particle board.
“Modern cabinets like Eggersman or Poggenpohl aren’t wood cabinets. The boxes are made of dense furniture core, a high-tech particle board that’s very dense and stable,” McGowen said. “In Texas, we like to say that if it isn’t wood it isn’t good, but that’s not true.”
Stylewise, cabinet choices are clean and simple, with the Shaker and flat-front styles the most popular choices. Their hardware — door knobs and drawer pulls — are getting prettier and more functional. She said the trend in hardware is for knobs and pulls that are less bulky and in warmer metallic tones or even mixed metals.
“Twenty-five years ago, when they came out with mixed metals on faucets, we called it the ‘Rolex
look.’ I’m serious,” McGowen said, noting that the combination is back in style.
If you’ve got a kitchen filled with stainless-steel appliances but you want a brass or gold-tone faucet, you need something in the room that has both.
One idea McGowen offered is a range hood that’s stainless steel or brushed nickel but with brass or gold trim.
Organizational features inside drawers or behind doors are the new bragging
points, too.
There are inserts to organize cooking utensils, knives and spices and drawers fitted to hold pots, pans and lids so there’s no need to dig for that, either.
“You should never get on your hands and knees to retrieve anything from your cabinets,” she said. “It should swing out, roll out, whatever … it should come to you.”