My top 3 cabinet companies
So many of you ask me the hugely important question “how do I choose my kitchen cabinets?” So many things are running through your head, I know. Your home is one of your biggest investments (if not the biggest), your kitchen is key to the value of your home, and your cabinets are crucial to the value of that kitchen. You want to make sure your cabinets will last: that they will be functional and in great shape at least a dozen years from now. Luckily, there are some great sources out there, like the Main Line Cabinet Review and the information I am about to share with you below :)
I have a friend whose house burned down. Thankfully, they all escaped. Her new home, which is now two years old, obviously includes new cabinets. Unfortunately, she did not know me when this happened. Her formerly pretty white cabinets, only two years old, are chipping and peeling significantly. Ugh, just what she doesn’t need! Lesser quality cabinets might look okay the day they are installed, but a year or two later, the doors are ajar or broken, and the drawers don’t close well. They are a poor investment and a source of enormous disappointment. I want my clients to be happy now and 10 years from now! This is why I have vetted my favorite cabinetry lines down to a select few.
Determining factors:
The factory’s finishing equipment. You want a finish that is a “10” the day the cabinets arrive and durable years later. You don’t want an orange peel sheen now, and you don’t want chipping and bare spots in a few years. An excellent quality finish is achieved by using top of the line factory equipment (would you spray paint your car, or would you want the best equipment possible?), which also means using painstaking hand finishing, sanding, reapplying, repeatedly in a controlled environment with experienced finishers.
Solid, well-sourced woods and plywood: Not all wood is the same. Green wood won’t hold paint well. Some wood is subject to sap, knots, and weaknesses. My favorite factories hand-pick each piece, which helps you avoid imperfections. I watched at one of my fav factories in Minnesota (see below) hand select literally each piece of plywood they were going to use. Now that’s a good product!
A well-built, solid plywood box, that won't twist and turn over time. Another friend (poor friends today, right??) put an inferior cabinet brand in her kitchen. A few years and a lot of meals later, some doors are broken, and drawers are way off kilter and don’t shut right. Lesser quality cabinet boxes can twist out square, meaning your doors and drawers won’t close well, especially in inset cabinetry. I like my clients to see the top of a cabinet, with no counter, so they can actually feel the difference between beautiful craftsmanship vs. the faster, easier assembly line made cabinets.
The ability to custom size, configuration, and what goes inside Have you seen my hidden paper towel roll or our drawer spice organizer? I designed the paper towel holder myself, along with a secret walk in pantry cabinet, and another of my fav brands (this one is a Pennsylvania company), helped me engineer and build both! If you want a really rich, custom look, you need to know that ranges and range tops vary in depth, and every refrigerator is a slightly different size. I send specs of every single appliance to the factories I use, and together, we review them in painstaking, excruciating detail to make sure my clients’ cabinetry aligns perfectly next to each appliance. The ability to assign unique dimensions to every cabinet and every panel enables the designer to create a beautiful custom look, and the difference between that and a semi-custom kitchen is very noticeable.
Client service. I know a builder who sells a custom brand of cabinetry. Every time he gets a delivery, there is damage, and there are a bunch of mistakes… and yes, this is an expensive, custom line. No one is perfect, but consistently experiencing numerous mistakes and damage is unacceptable. Time to move on. I am blessed to say that the lines I use rarely experience issues, and when they do, both the factories and myself scurry to fix, repair, or replace, and make every effort not to hold up the job.
One more thing before we get to my top three:
I recently read an independent review of top kitchen cabinet brands compiled by kitchen design and cabinetry experts. It’s very helpful and divides the cabinetry into categories based on price, rating them according to their pricing tier. I was pleased to see that our opinions aligned and that my two commercially available lines are both rated A and A+. Having been in the custom cabinetry biz for 20+ years, I have vetted down my favorites to a few brands, but outside validation is always fun! (The third line I carry is handmade just for me and is not available on the open market). Here’s that link: https://www.mainlinekitchendesign.com/general/cabinet-reviews-ratings-for-the-top-100-cabinet-brands/
I counted recently that I have designed and created more than (yikes!) 200 kitchens. So, here are my three favorite cabinetry lines in no particular order. Every one of these lines is made entirely in the United States. I have toured all these factories, installed numerous kitchens by each company, and am highly familiar with their craftsmanship and management. I have had the opportunity to work with more than a dozen lines over the last 20+ years. I want one thing at Fresh Design, and that is for my clients to be happy…now and 20 years from now. So, with that said, here are my chosen few lines that I feel can accomplish that goal.
Wellsford Cabinetry is the brand I used in my own home. I chose Wellsford for my home for the same reason I have chosen and vetted all three lines in this article. It is a 12 out of 10 quality, and I can accomplish anything I want aesthetically and functionally. Wellsford’s price point is not as high as many of the more mass marketed high end brands, and yet, their quality is better than the custom brands that grace magazine pages. Their emphasis is on transitional and traditional, but they can adeptly accomplish a very high-quality contemporary cabinet complete with flat panels and smooth doors in the ultramodern style. While many companies utilize a particle board (think pressed wood) cabinet box, especially in the contemporary lines, Wellsford utilizes solid North American plywood in their boxes, even in their frameless lines. A small company in Eastern Pennsylvania, Wellsford, has been in the hands of the same few families for decades.
If you want a spectacular, unique, and incredibly gorgeous kitchen, and you aim to accomplish something entirely off the charts, then Plato is the line for you. In business for more than 130 years!!, Plato is a larger company in Minnesota that has been in the same family for five generations. After touring their facility, my first thought was I wish every company were as well run as Plato. If you can envision, Plato can make it, and they will. Most notable is a solid wood door with three-dimensional geometric shapes that look like crinkled paper. Metal inlays? Not a problem. Extra, extra thick solid walnut doors for an estate appearance? Yup. Arches? Yes. Family crest emblazoned in…they can do it. They also excel at contemporary laminates, high gloss, and acrylic. Metal doors? Sure! Any time I want something very unique, this is my go to favorite, and there are plenty of examples on our website and media for you to view. Oh, and BTW, they can even ship out of the country, so if you are doing your Bahamas home, call me (Pllllleeeaasee call me :)
Our bespoke custom line
You know when you find that hidden gem of a person who does not know how talented he or she really is? My third and final favorite is a gentleman who makes fine cabinetry for us in his shop, which is not glamorous or publicized or even named but is of beautiful quality and a very fair price point. Through him, we can provide any color, any style, framed, inset, frameless, whatever you desire. He can even create curved doors! He also carries contemporary laminates and metal doors. He loves to create wine cellars and built-ins as well. This line is located in New York, has been in business for more than 20 years, and is built by hand by the owner and two gentlemen. His quality compares to the best out there, and his selection of transitional and traditional cabinetry is endless. Thick inset doors, frameless styles, or clean, simple lines…he is happy to build any wood cabinetry, all in either a traditional or transitional style.
A final note
All of the above offer framed inset and frameless, as well as contemporary. They all utilize solid plywood cabinet boxes, not MDF or particle board. All three can provide a wide variety of organizing inserts and accessories. I would be thrilled to have any of these three in my own home, and that is my barometer for my clients. If I put it in my home, I would be happy to put it in yours.
