One of the first questions I am often asked when first meeting with clients is, “what cabinet brands do you carry”. My response to this is generally, “can you please share with me the brands that you know of”. Typically the answer to this question is either none or on occasion they can name one or two brands. This illustrates a very important point when shopping for new cabinetry. Unlike cars that have excellent name recognition, most people know little of the history, reputation, and quality of any one manufacturer. There are literally hundreds of manufacturers servicing our area and the only ones that you may be familiar with are those that spend a great deal of money on advertising. In my opinion, this typically translates into a higher cost to the consumer.
At Tri County Kitchens, we carry three lines of cabinetry. Our high volume allows us to broker them direct from the manufacturer for your lowest price. Our philosophy is simple, if the lines have been carefully chosen to represent the best value to the customer, a representation of good, better, and best is all that is needed. In my 30 years of kitchen designing I find that carrying a multitude of brands only leads to confusion. With the tremendous amount of product options within any carefully chosen line, I find it challenging enough to stay intimately familiar with all the colors, styles, and options available. I often meet with clients that have priced elsewhere, know the brand priced, but have no information about the quality of the cabinetry in their quote. They are often shocked to learn of the poor construction. This shouldn’t come as a surprise due to the fact that they usually do not ask and typically a salesperson will offer the lowest quality to come in with the lowest bid rather than take the time to carefully explain all of your options.
We carry three lines of cabinetry. The first line of cabinetry is an all wood semicustom cabinet. The key words here are all wood. Many stock cabinet lines today incorporate a great deal of particle board and or Masonite. In my opinion this is a very poor choice of material for constructing a kitchen cabinet. I tell my clients that they were to screw an eyelet into a half-inch piece of particle board and tie a rope to it I’m sure that with a quick pull, It would pull right out. On the other hand, if you were to screw an eyelet into a half-inch piece of plywood and hang it horizontally, you could tie a rope to it and lift yourself off the floor. If that same piece of particle board gets wet it will swell, turn black, and typically crumble to pieces. Another practice of many manufacturers is to cover that particle board side with a matching laminate. You’re told that this is for ease of cleaning. What you’re not told is this amount to not much more than contact paper over your particle board. Your new kitchen is not only the heart of your home, but an important investment. You certainly do not want to have to replace it in a couple of years when it falls apart. The best news is this our all wood semi-custom cabinet often prices out very close to the same price as the garage cabinets, as I like to put it that are commonly sold at the “box” stores. There are many styles, woods, and finishes to choose from. A good designer that knows how to use a line to its best advantage and maximize space will rarely have to go into custom cabinets to achieve a great design. As we have always said we specialize in problem kitchens and unique designs.
The second line of cabinets we carry is an all wood custom cabinet. This manufacturer has an excellent niche that fits our program well. Their construction is similar, but a little bit heavier than our semi-custom with many more options as well as in between sizes. When a cost conscious customer comes in with a space so unique that they would be sacrificing valuable space to accommodate stock sizing or wants a color or style that’s very different this line is perfect. As with all our lines they are a service oriented manufacturer with an emphasis on quality at an affordable price.
Our third manufacturer competes with the high-end name brand custom manufacturers in our marketplace at a fraction of the price. I like to tell my clients that if I can draw it on a piece of paper they will make it. The combination of styles, colors and Woods available are endless. They are truly a joy to work with as they strive to accommodate our customers that want nothing but the best. With this being said we often are told that our quotes are 20% to 35% less than competitors with similar quality.
We also carry two lines of all American made, all wood constructed cabinets available for quick delivery in limited colors and styles. These lines compete directly with imports. Our designers in conjunction with our small shop can do wonders with quality installations in a tight budget.