Choosing a cabinetmaker...what to look for in past work?

13 years ago

After a huge hunt, we've finally found a local cabinetmaker who can give us a great price (i.e., within our nonexistent budget---yay!) for the cabinets we want. I'm scheduling some visits to past clients to check out his work to make sure this actually makes sense to do, though. Need some help on what I should be looking at beyond the basic specs, which I'm comfortable sorting through at this point.

We're mixing frameless and flush inset face frame cabinets, so he's referring us to one kitchen of each style that used specs similar to what we've requested. I get the impression from his portfolio that he doesn't do many flush inset kitchens, so I'll be looking especially closely at that one.

So far, I know to check the tolerances of doors and drawers on the inset cabinetry, and to check the drawer boxes for quality construction. Our kitchen will be painted, though not sure if either of these kitchens is---but obviously if so, will check the quality of that work.

What else should I be looking for specifically? One kitchen uses the drawer slides we want so that should give me a sense of whether the shop can install them well, but beyond that I'm at a loss as to what (beyond the overall look/feel) I should be checking for. What are key indicators of quality cabinetry vs. less experienced shops?

TIA for any help/advice on this. The kitchens are 45+ minutes away and he's scheduling visits with the owners, so I want to make sure I don't forget to look at anything!

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Comments (5)

karen_belle
13 years ago
I think the workmanship should be pretty easy to determine once you see the kitchens. It is the intangible stuff - how he'll respond to changes, questions, problems, schedule - that is harder to pin down. I hope you'll be able to have a conversation with each of the homeowners, out of the carpenter's earshot, when you are looking at these kitchens.

We hired a well-regarded carpenter to build our cabinets on site. He has made several kitchens for friends of ours and his work is really nice. On the other hand, we knew going in that he'd be hard to schedule. What we didn't know was that

1. he seldom answers his cell phone and offers no other way to contact him
2. he's easily distractable and had 10 different things going on at once in our kitchen, making it impossible for us to track his progress
3. he had a major health issue that he failed to disclose and which almost caused us to fire him midway when he didn't show up to work one day, didn't call and didn't answer his cell phone
4. he always underpredicts his time on a job. He told us 5 weeks, it took him 8.
5. he didn't use safe practices around his tools, didn't have health insurance and I'm sure he wasn't bonded, so if he'd cut off his hand or hurt his eye on our job I don't know what we would have done!

He did a beautiful job. He made some mistakes. He moved on before he'd really had a chance to correct some minor things, but I needed him to be gone so I could get the rest of the house finished and so he could treat his ulcerating cancerous tumor in his shoulder (no joke!).

People who come into our house ooh and aah over our kitchen and other built-ins. They do really look beautiful. I don't ever mention the other stuff, but it's there in my mind!
jejvtr
13 years ago
Art

I think Karen raises some valid concerns -

I would rec site visits to kitchens that are older - maybe 5 yrs - that will be a telltale as to how the quality holds up.

Certainly call some customers and ask their opinions

I think one of the best pieces of advice I got was to call the lumber yard and any other retailer the cabinet maker does business with. Ask if he pays his bills on time, orders correctly etc... that says a lot about a craftsman from the business end.

Additionally I would want to see copies of his insurance & if he is on site, that should include workers compensation insurance.

Ask how he can be reached, what his response times are, what back up plans if there is an unforeseeable problem (illness/injury)

good luck
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artemis78
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks! We got his name from a good friend of my husband's, and he's currently building their cabinets (to be installed in a few weeks, and identical to what we would be getting so that will probably be the best test---but want to get moving before then if possible...) So that helps, since we have a good sense of how he's been to work with during the job for them. Seems super responsive so far---but then, he hasn't gotten our job yet. (He does at least get bonus points for calling me back immediately, setting up an appointment for two days later, showing up early, and sending the bid two days after that---wish I could say the same of all the contractors we're trying to work with...*grr*)

I believe we will be going on our own to the other owners' homes (from what it sounds like?) so hoping to get some candid opinions from them. A few months ago I'd have said "but of course he'd only give us good references"...but after calling a few refs supplied by one general contractor we talked with and getting scathing reviews from them, ya never know!

The cabinet longevity is a good point. I'll ask how long those two kitchens have been in, and if there's an older one I can see too. He's been building locally for ten years so hopefully he'll have some. Also a great tip on calling the lumber yard!

And this is a little unrelated, but was one potential issue (though he disclosed it upfront)---he says his company is licensed to build cabinets but not to install them, but he would still prefer to install them himself if we are comfortable with that. His liability insurance covers him while he's in our home (which was my primary concern). I'm confused on how that would work (insurance for installation but no license?), but would ideally like him to install them if he's building them, since then if anything goes wrong there's no issue over when/with whom the problem occurred. Not really sure what to make of it---what are the implications in that case? The other bids we have don't include installation to begin with, so I don't have much to compare it to in terms of how that typically works. Any ideas on that?
claudialina10
13 years ago
My cabinetmaker (who made my bath vanity and living room built in) did full inset but we seem to be having problems with them in that the humidity/weather changes makes them hard to open and close. Why would this be? How does a cabinet maker make this work?
pence
13 years ago
Crown Point inset cabinets don't stick like my other inset cabinetry made by a local because the doors are back beveled on all 3 sides. But then, my crown point cabinets were 30 times more expensive...

Choosing a cabinetmaker...what to look for in past work?

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karen_belle

jejvtr

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Choosing a cabinetmaker...what to look for in past work?

Comments (5)

karen_belle

jejvtr

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artemis78Original Author

claudialina10

pence

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artemis78
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