Cabinetry 101

We don’t have many regrets about our Coastal Farmhouse build, but one of our biggest is our cabinetry. During the planning phase I asked around town for cabinet shop recommendations. I had one particular cabinet builder’s name come up multiple times and several acquaintances raved about his work. Even so, I went ahead and interviewed four different local shops before finalizing the decision. It was basically one high end, semi-custom cabinet maker, two semi-custom, high volume cabinet builders, and one fully custom cabinet builder (the one multiple folks had recommended). There was a $30k range in the pricing I received for our complete cabinet package. Two shops provided me with renderings, two didn’t (they just provided me a written description). The custom builder had given me penciled drawings and what I was so impressed with was that everything was symmetrical and there were no “half cabinets.” For some reason, I was pretty hung up on this idea of not wanting any “half cabinets.” He even was currently building another kitchen and he invited me to the shop to see the beautiful custom hood he was building for another client. He was a good salesman and we finally agreed on a price and due date and put down our deposit for fully custom cabinetry with fun details and symmetry throughout!

I’ll spare you all the dirty details, but due to Hurricane Michael complications and this man’s personal issues at home, he got months and months behind, holding up our construction. He was basically a one man shop and did not have near enough help for the jobs he was taking on. In the meantime, I was nauseous and dealing with first trimester ???? as I found out I was pregnant. Somewhere in that blur of a time, Matt called me and said that the cabinet builder wasn’t going to be able to provide us the custom hood in our contract and wanted me to pick one out of his catalog. (I was so sick that I still don’t have any recollection of this but Matt swears it happened. ????????‍♀️) Months later when our cabinets were finally installed, I immediately called Matt and said, “This is NOT the hood we agreed on.” Matt politely informed me that changes had been made when I was ???? and that there was no going back at this point (if we wanted to move forward and get into the house timely- and we had already moved 4 times in this process).

side note: we do have a long term plan to replace our hood with what we originally wanted, but that is another blog post. ????

Sadly, when the cabinet doors were later installed I had a real gut punch moment: this was NOT the cabinet style I wanted ???????? I pulled out the contract and scanned it multiple times but it wasn’t written or specified anywhere ???? I had never even thought to double check that we were getting inset-style cabinets, I just assumed it based upon his pencil sketching. ???? What we ended up with are partial overlay style (which is typically the lowest priced option). Full overlay is the mid-grade style and inset cabinets are the higher end of the cost spectrum. It was completely my mistake, and I’m writing this blog post in hopes of preventing anyone else from making it.

Here are my 9 tips to avoid Cabinet Regret:

1. Verify in writing your cabinet style (inset, full overlay, partial overlay). Money tip- mix and match those for different rooms as a way to maximize your budget. For example, if you want inset cabinetry for the kitchen but can’t afford them throughout, maybe do full or partial overlay in your other spaces.

2. Verify in writing your drawer type (Dovetail joints, or not- dovetail is usually the preferred type but may be an upgrade cost)

3. Verify in writing whether you are upgrading to soft close or not- again, this is usually an additional cost

4. There is absolutely nothing wrong with semi-custom cabinets and that is what the vast majority of new homes are using! Fully custom cabinetry is really not necessary; if you don’t like the way the cabinets are looking, ask your cabinet builder to change it up. There are tons of cabinet options available nowadays and you should be able to get the look you want from semi-custom. And, it’s a more affordable option.

5. Verify in writing your paint and/or stain colors. I have read so many horror stories from people who are building or remodeling and they got “paint grade” cabinets but they wanted to apply a stain and ended up having to paint them because their cabinet orders were not clear.

6. Verify your cabinet shop’s prior work on their social media pages or website. If they can’t provide any photos of prior work, let that serve as a red flag. ???? The cabinet shop we used had plenty of great references, but I didn’t look at any of his prior work before signing that contract. Big no! Those prior customers were happy because they wanted a completely different level of work than I did.

7. Verify all cabinet upgrades in writing. Drawer pull outs, lazy susans, spice racks, and you know, all those handy things you can add now. And keep in mind that some of these items can be added later which may save you some dough upfront.

8. Remember that good paint and great hardware really go a long way in elevating the overall look of your space. Especially if you have a huge mishap like ours ????

9. don’t get super sick or pregnant while building- just kidding! It’ll be fine, everything is fine. ????

Cabinetry is a huge investment into the overall aesthetic of your home and I genuinely hope this has been helpful information for you. Share this with your friends who are building, planning to build, or remodeling so they can hopefully avoid these mistakes, too. Let me know in comments/email/DM if you have any questions or any specific topic you’d like me to cover next. ???????? There’s so many details to cabinetry design that we could totally do a “Cabinetry 102” if you want it!

Head to my Instagram @summer_onthecoast to see the original Reel- this platform doesn’t allow the music

thanks for being here and stay warm out there!