§ 03.04Custom cabinetry — TX + OH
Built for the wall it lives on. Not pulled off a shelf.
The word custom means almost nothing in cabinets. Most catalog lines are shop boxes resized at install with filler strips and caulk. Ours is bench-built. Plywood box, hardwood face, six-sided finish, soft-close drawer hardware. The carpenter who measured your wall is the one who mills the box and hangs it.
The six lines on a cabinet bid where quality is decided.
Almost every cabinet bid looks similar on the cover page. The difference shows up six lines deep — the box material, the finish coverage, the hardware brand, the wood species, the acclimation time, and who builds it. We hold every one of these. Most don't.
Particleboard delaminates wherever the cabinet meets moisture — toe-kicks under sinks, the back panel behind a dishwasher, the joint where humidity sits.
Unfinished interior wood absorbs moisture, swells, and warps. Swelling is the difference between a 25-year cabinet and a 5-year one.
A drawer full of pots needs a different runner than a drawer full of utensils. Catalog runners are sized for the cabinet, not what goes in it — that is why they sag.
A solid hardwood door can be sanded and refinished in 15 years. A veneer or thermofoil door cannot — once the skin chips, the door is finished.
Wood that sits in your home for a week before install moves with the house. Wood that does not sit cracks at the rail joint by the second season.
Year-one callbacks bounce between the shop and the installer. With one carpenter on the whole job, the warranty has one phone number behind it.
Eight to fourteen weeks. Most of it is waiting on the wood.
A custom cabinet run is mostly dry-time and acclimation — not bench-work. We don't speed past the cure or the in-home rest. Skipping either is the single most common reason a brand-new door cracks at the rail by the second season.
Field measure — by the carpenter who would build it
Not a salesperson. The crew lead who would mill your cabinet measures the wall, the soffit return, the appliance footprint, and the floor slope. Field dimensions drive the spec — plan-set dimensions do not.
Tape, laser, level, square — every dimension twiceSample board approved in your light
A physical sample board sits in your room before any wood is milled. Stain reads completely differently under a south-facing window than under fluorescent showroom light. Door style, frame profile, and hardware finish all decided here.
Real samples in your kitchen, not a brochure on a counterMill in shop — box, face frame, doors
Plywood box dimensioned to your wall, grooved-and-glued (dado-and-glue is the joinery word). Hardwood face frame mortise-and-tenon joined. Doors milled to match the sample board. Every panel sanded to 220-grit before the finish goes on.
~3 to 4 wk shop time depending on run length and speciesSix-sided finish, sealed end-grain, full cure
Stain or paint applied to every face — including interior, back panel, and shelf undersides. End-grain sealed. Two coats of topcoat minimum on doors. Full cure before any panel moves out of the spray booth.
48 to 72 hr cure, hardware-freeIn-home acclimation — 5 to 7 days
The finished panels stage in your kitchen, library, or mudroom for nearly a week before install. Wood that acclimates to your home does not move after install. Wood that does not acclimate cracks at the rail joint by the second season.
Boxes wrapped, doors stickered, hardware baggedHang, scribe, hardware adjust
The same carpenter who measured the wall hangs the boxes. Where the cabinet meets the wall, the side stile gets trimmed to the actual wall shape — not caulked over a gap. Hardware adjusted under a real load (a drawer full of pots, not an empty drawer). Final reveal walked with you before sign-off.
No filler-strip-and-caulk installThree decisions you make in your light. Not in a showroom.
Stain reads completely differently under a south-facing window than under fluorescent showroom light. We bring real samples — actual hardwood swatches, actual door profiles, actual finish coupons — to your room before any wood is milled. Three choices. Real wood in your hand.
White oak
Open, straight grain. Reads modern under stain, Shaker-clean under paint. Workhorse species for heavy-use kitchens.
Maple
Tight, even grain. Holds paint better than any other species — best choice when the cabinet is going white or off-white.
Cherry
Warm red-brown that deepens noticeably with sun over the first year. Reads traditional. Photographs beautifully.
Hickory
Strongest contrast grain of any common cabinet wood — sapwood pale, heartwood near-walnut. Loud, on purpose.
Walnut
Deep chocolate brown. The premium pick. Heavier, slightly softer than oak — extraordinary on doors and end panels.
Shaker
Five-piece flat panel inside a square frame. The most ordered profile in the country — and for good reason. Reads timeless.
Slab
Single flat door, no frame, no inner panel. Reads strictly modern. Veneer-grade on hardwood — not thermofoil.
Raised panel
Inner panel beveled and lifted forward; stronger shadow line, more traditional weight. Pairs especially well with stain.
Beaded inset
Door sits flush with the frame (not overlay) and the frame edge is beaded. Custom-furniture register. Old-house perfect.
Both build to the same plywood-box, six-sided-finish, soft-close standard with us. Framed reads more traditional and gives the door a hardwood face to grab — easier to repair years later. Frameless reads more contemporary and gives 5–10% more interior storage. We bring sample doors of each to the design visit.
Where the spec
actually gets cut.
Big-box semi-custom
- Particleboard or MDF box on most lines
- Catalog sizes shimmed at install with filler strips
- Stock hardware — soft-close often missing
- Bare interior — no finish on the inside panels
- Sub crew installs what a different shop built
RA in-house custom
- 7-ply plywood box with hardwood face frame
- Built to your wall — measured, milled, hung in-house
- Blum BLUMOTION soft-close, sized to drawer load
- Six-sided finish on every panel, sealed end-grain
- Same carpenter measures, mills, finishes, and hangs
Local cabinet shop
- Plywood box on most reputable shops
- Shop builds; a different crew installs
- Hardware varies — confirm soft-close on the spec sheet
- Finish quality usually high in-shop
- Year-one callbacks bounce between shop and installer
§ 12Continue the manual — related to this page
§ 03.01Remodeling
Kitchen remodels
Eleven trades on one schedule.
A ten-week kitchen calendar with a single project manager. Plywood-box cabinetry, six-sided finish, soft-close hardware, integrated appliance spec, stone counter field-templated at week 8.
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§ 03.05Remodeling
Custom trim + millwork
Four cuts decide the trim.
Coped inside corners, mitered outsides, scarfed long runs, returns at every cut end. Old-house profiles milled in-shop. Wainscoting, coffered ceilings, library walls, mantels, accent walls.
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§ 02.06HVAC
Flooring
The deck below the board decides if the floor lasts.
Per-room recommendations across hardwood, engineered, LVP, and tile, with the five-layer subfloor protocol most installers cut. Vapor barrier, moisture meter, in-home acclimation.
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§ 02.07HVAC
Interior painting
Two coats over real prep beats four over caulk-and-pray.
Sheen-by-room workflow, real prep, two finish coats of Sherwin-Williams Cashmere or Emerald — or Benjamin Moore Aura on jewel tones. Sample boards under your evening light.
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§ 03.07Remodeling
Interior
Read the page.
Page content for /services/remodeling/interior.
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§ 06Reach the dispatch desk
A written bid that holds 30 days.
The carpenter who would build your cabinetry walks the room with you, takes field measurements, and brings hardwood samples plus door-style mock-ups. You leave with a real spec — wood, finish, hardware, framed-or-frameless — and a written number that does not move on you. About 90 minutes. The walk-through is free.
(214) 578-9961