Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Cabtastic!

We have our cabinets installed and we are thrilled with the way things are looking around here. There are so many options out there when it comes to kitchen cabinets but luckily I had already narrowed down the door style I wanted. This helped us decide what kind of cabinets we wanted.
I had decided on the “shaker” door style a long time ago when I would lustfully look at kitchen cabinets (we had not even moved into this house yet!). The part that really made me think was the color of the cabinets. I love white kitchens and they are so hot right now. Almost every kitchen they re-do on TV is white. Our last house had white cabinets that we had painted and so going into this process I was pretty sure that I wanted white cabinets. As we looked at many sample doors on showroom floors I began to quickly realize how the painted white doors showed cracks really badly in the joints and the fingerprints were just gross. RC and I are relatively clean people and I don’t mind cleaning smudges off the cabinets but cracks are whack. Also, I don’t consider myself “trendy” (you may be reading this and saying “yes you are” but I like to think I am not; agree to disagree – okay?). White kitchens are so hot right now and I am concerned that it is a trend meaning that in 5 years I will hate my white cabinets because I should have gone with wood cabinets since wood never goes out of style. Both RC and I love dark wood and much of our furniture is dark wood so I went with my second love of cherry cabinets.  I don’t have to worry about dirty smudges, or the cracks, or my white cabinets looking dated in 5 years. It was a very difficult process for me - I still lust after white kitchens I see.
We looked at a bunch of different manufacturers and ultimately decided on Wolf Cabinets. They are made with solid wood doors, plywood construction, dovetailed drawers, and soft closing hinges and drawers, and made in the USA.
I must say that the last part really made me decide that these were the cabinets for us. Those of you who know us personally know that we love products made in the USA and well, RC just loves the USA.


We worked with the kitchen designer and had a design that we were able to walk out with that day. This was possible because I had taken measurements and drawn out a map to bring with us so we could tell them how many linear feet of cabinets we needed. Since we had our map we were able to tell him what kind of cabinets we wanted in what space so we knew exactly what they would cost.
Below is my map compared to the map the designer gave us.

The kitchen designer worked out a layout for us and we were able to walk out that day with our new layout. It looks pretty close to what I had in mind.
So we ordered the cabinets that day and just had to wait for them to be delivered to the warehouse so we could pick them up.

Things we learned:
  • Quotes are typically given in “linear feet”. This gives you an idea of what you will ultimately spend on cabinets – of course there are a bunch of different options that can increase your cost but this is a good baseline. You ultimately pay by the cabinet you choose (lazy susan, double door, single door, drawers, etc.)
  • Going to the showroom with a “map” of your kitchen with measurements of walls, windows and appliances is key.
  • Cabinets come in increments of 3” in width.
  • Custom cabinets are very expensive – standard sized cabinets are just as nice.
  • Standard cabinet dimensions: Height 36”, Depth 24 inches.
  • Patience is a virtue.

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