Why You Should Add Custom Cabinets to Your Home

If you are starting a remodel, include

custom cabinets in your plans. This is an excellent way to create the storage you need to hide the clutter, create organization, and add beauty to your home. While many people tend to think of cabinets as no more than a functional item, they can also be beautiful and improve the appearance of your home. We can make cabinetry out of all types of wood. They can be painted or stained, and blend in or stand out. The choice is yours, and we can help you select the type of cabinetry perfect for your home and your family.

Custom Cabinets in the Bathroom

The bathroom is an excellent space to have custom cabinets designed and installed because they can maximize your storage. This is especially important if a bathroom is being shared by multiple people. For example, if you have a kids' bathroom being used by a teen, an elementary student, and a toddler, you will need to store three very different types of products. While your teenager may need a blow-dryer and a curling iron, your toddler might still be using bath toys. This means that your storage solutions need to keep up with the demands of your family. We can install various cabinets and drawers for each person to use, so their belongings can be entirely separate. We can also create space for towel storage, toilet paper, etc., so your hallway closet can be freed up. In the master bathroom, we can get more detailed with your storage solutions, providing cubbies for makeup, hair accessories, etc. This can make it easier and faster to get ready in the morning.

Custom Cabinets in the Family Room

Most families have games, toys, CDs, DVDs, blankets, etc. that all end up in the family room. If you have multiple video game consoles or your kids like to read, the amount of items that need to be stored only increases. This can turn any family room into a cluttered space in no time at all. If you are tired of picking up constantly or having the room look messy when it is actually clean, you should have custom cabinets built. With a wall of built-ins, there can be a space for everything that lives in the family room, which will make the room look better and make picking up less of a chore for you and the kids.

Custom Cabinets in the Kitchen

When it comes to your kitchen, cabinets are a must. We can design them to function as both storage and organizational tools. For example, you do not have to use a large cabinet for a tower of pans to go in. We can create cabinets that can actually separate and store pans, dishes, utensils, appliances, and more, so everything has its own organized place. Cooking will be much easier this way, and cleanup will be faster, as well.

To get started on your remodeling project, call and schedule an in-home consultation.

Why You Should Hire a Professional for Your Kitchen Cabinet Installation

When it is time for your kitchen cabinet installation, you may want to consider hiring a professional to do the work for you. At first, a cabinet installation may seem like a simple process, but it actually requires extensive skill, professional equipment, and a keen eye for design. We offer professional and quality cabinet installation services for your kitchen. 

Your Kitchen is a Highly Trafficked Area

In most homes, a kitchen is a central location that encompasses cooking, cleaning, and socializing. Even if you have a living room, sometimes you may find that everyone is congregating in the kitchen so that they can be together and work together. For a comfortable family environment that also allows you enough space to work, a professional can help you determine the best layout for your kitchen cabinet installation. 

Your kitchen is such a common room that it will receive a fair amount of attention from visitors. This being so, you will want your kitchen to look beautiful even when it is messy from cooking. Having a proper quality cabinet installation can make your kitchen look like it has come straight out of a magazine. You will enjoy impressing your family and friends with your functional, but chic kitchen cabinet outfit. 

Expensive Houseware is at Risk

When you invest large amounts of money in cookware and dining ware, the last thing you want is for those expensive necessities to be at risk for breaking. When you install your own kitchen cabinets, you may not know how to properly reinforce the cabinets so that the weight of your dishes and appliances does not cause the cabinet to come loose. If your cabinet breaks, the entirety of what is inside of it breaks too. This is especially true if you have fine china that was expensive or passed down through generations. Not only is taking a chance on losing important house-ware costly, but it is also dangerous to anyone who could be nearby if a cabinet collapses. 

The Right Fit is Necessary

When you are performing a kitchen cabinet installation, you may find that a piece does not fit into place correctly. When this happens, you will need the right tools and the know-how to shape and cut the pieces in a way that leaves them unblemished. A professional can do all this detailed work for you while also providing you with cabinets that fit and that are left unscathed. New kitchen cabinets are an investment that you don’t want to throw around lightly by trying to fix minor issues yourself. 

Replacing Old Cabinets

If you are having a kitchen cabinet installation done in an older home, you may already have old cabinets in place that need to be removed. A professional can remove your old cabinets without creating a mess in the process. We can provide you with a cleared area for your brand new cabinets. 

Don’t take your kitchen cabinet installation lightly when you can easily hire a professional to complete this complicated work for you. We are available to properly install your beautiful new cabinets in a secure and durable way. 

Summer is Here and it is Time for Your Kitchen Remodel

If you have been considering a kitchen remodel, summer is the best time to get started.  Remodeling your kitchen can transform the appearance of your home, give you an open concept floorplan and make entertaining more delightful.  We can incorporate every fun, practical and glamorous feature that you can think of while adding in beautiful countertops and high-end appliances.  There is nothing too extravagant when creating your remodeling plan.   

The reason that we encourage people to remodel their kitchen during the summer is all about practicality.  While we do a thorough job and are conscientious about the noise and mess, there is no way to prevent a disruption to your home and your family life.  The kitchen is a room that is used so frequently that not having daily access to it poses challenges.  During the summer months, there are ways to get around this.  For example, many of our clients will plan their kitchen remodel to start right before they go on their family vacation.  This way, when they come back, the remodel is either done or close to it.  While you are dining out or visiting grandma, we can work on replacing your floors, cabinets, appliances, etc.  

Another benefit of a summertime kitchen remodel is that you can cook outdoors.  This is the season where most people are grilling on the barbecue anyway.  If you are grilling one or two days a week, you might want to use this time to buy a smoker or look up new recipes so that you can continue to cook outdoors for the duration of your remodeling project.  Sure, you may need to eat cereal for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch but at night, you can pull out the grill, throw on your favorite meat and veggies and have a delicious meal without the need for your kitchen.  This is opposed to a winter remodel where you may become highly reliant on your microwave.  Thanks to the grill, most homeowners we work with, find that a remodel is less disruptive than they initially thought it would be. 

If your kitchen remodel involves an extension, there is the added benefit of being less worried about inclement weather when the roof or walls are exposed.  Our crew can get more work done since the weather is nicer, and we will not be as concerned with the potential for a rain delay.  Additionally, the summer means that we have more light to work with.  This is helpful when completing an extension because natural light is essential for laying the new foundation, putting up new walls and a new roof.  It even helps our electricians to be able to work longer.  The summer months provide us with the opportunity to finish a remodeling project faster so that you can get your kitchen and home back.

Regardless of when you decide to start your kitchen remodel, we will ensure that it is a positive experience for you.  However, if you are looking for the least amount of disruption, we encourage you to start today.

Make Room for Grandma With Help From a General Contractor

As a general contractor, we are experts at providing home remodeling solutions.  Whatever the needs of your family are, we can help.  We are solution oriented and it is important that your home suits your family’s needs so that you can enjoy your time there and feel comfortable, rather than stressed out due to a lack of functionality or space constraints.  One challenge that many families have is finding space for extended family, whether they are visiting for a month or needing to move in.  We can create a space for both.

As a general contractor, our home remodeling solutions can make space for extended family. To create a design for your home, we need to visit with you, take a tour and look at your property to determine what options might be available.  One thing to consider is who is going to stay at your home and how long they plan to be there.  This is important because if your guests will only be staying off and on, you may want to create a space that can be repurposed in their absence.  For example, Grandma may come to stay for a month around the holidays but if she only visits once a year, you won’t want an empty room the rest of the time.  

We will frequently build an addition that serves as a guest suite for short-term out of town guests.  To make the room dual purpose, we can make the bed a Murphy bed that pulls down from the wall. You can put it in place before they come so that the room is all set up, and when they leave, it folds back into the wall so that you can use the space differently.  This often works well as a combined at-home office/guest suite or as a craft room.  We can build in a reserved closet for your guests’ clothes with an entirely separate closet or storage center that can be used for the items that need to be stored on a daily basis.  This way the space can have designated zones rather than storing your craft supplies in the same closet that grandma needs to hang her winter sweaters.  Additionally, the benefit of using a Murphy bed is that if you do need a space like a home office for daily use, it can serve one purpose during the day and another at night while still giving your guests privacy.

Get creative with our home remodeling solutions.

If your visitors are planning on becoming permanent or semi-permanent house guests, you may want to consider a different type of solution.  If, for example, Grandma is moving in, we recommend giving her a separate entrance into her suite or unit.  That way she can maintain some level of autonomy.  You can easily do this with a ground level addition, and we can create a path leading to the door from your driveway area.  If you have a walkout basement or are building a garage apartment, this is also a possibility.  As a general contractor, we also recommend that you turn it into a one bedroom or a studio with a kitchenette.  While small, this can make life a little easier so that she can have her own snacks and things to prepare small meals if she, or you, would like some alone time. 

Here is Everything You Need to Know About the Types of Wood Cabinets

When you think about wood cabinets, more often than not, kitchen cabinets come to mind because kitchens tend to require the most storage space. However, cabinets are more than just storage units. With thousands of options to choose from, wood cabinets can reflect your personality, your taste, and your sense of style and, at the same time, fit into most budgets. Most wood cabinets can be fit into a few categories such as framed or frameless, stock or custom made, traditional, country, or modern. They can be made of hardwood, softwood, wood veneers or other materials.
Solid Wood
Because solid wood cabinets are not only extremely versatile but have a timeless appeal, they have become the most popular and sought after material used for cabinetry. Wood looks warm and inviting, comes in a vast array of enticing options that can work beautifully well with any décor.
Different woods are priced differently, depending on their availability, point of origin, durability and overall appearance. When choosing your wood option, it all comes down to three important details, type, color, and grain.
Wood is largely classified as hardwood or softwood. Hardwood comes from broad-leafed trees such as birch, oak, maple, cherry and hickory and are easy to saw. Softwood comes from needle bearing evergreen trees such as pine, spruce, and cedar and are harder to cut.
From the lighter touches of maple to the darker hues of birch, all woods have natural color variations, which can result in a number of attractive possibilities for the room you are decorating. Different wood finishes can either enhance or mask the natural grain patterns and color variations. When selecting wood options that will suit your home, it is important to understand the natural characteristics of the wood you will choose and which varnish or stain will work best.
Some Of The Popular Options in Solid Wood Cabinets

• Oak.  For years, oak was a favorite among cabinet builders because it is a very hard, durable, heavy wood with a coarse grain that varies from straight to distinctive sweeping arch patterns. Many consider oak to be timeless, blending with virtually any color scheme or style. Oak also stains well with standard finishes.
• Maple. Recently, maple has become more popular choice because of how adaptable it is to any cabinet style, how durable and shock resistant it is. Maple is a medium to hard wood with a straight, wavy or curly grain and has a uniform, light appearance that produces a smooth, clean look when stained. Its popularity can also be attributed to the fact that it can be finished to resemble other, more expensive woods such as cherry and cedar. Maple would be a great option if you were looking for a light, airy kitchen or a dramatic kitchen with darker finishes.
• Birch.  This is a smooth hardwood with a straight, curly or wavy grain. It is especially resistant to wear and tear and is susceptible to most stains and finishes. Birch is relatively light in color and can vary from cream to yellow tones unless it is taken from the core of the tree. If from the center of the tree, birch will have darker reddish to brown tones. It is extremely versatile and looks equally at home in a casual or more refined setting.
• Hickory.  This is a strong, hard and heavy wood. It is unique, in as much that it has an array of random, colored streaks that run through the wood.  These streaks can range from light cream, dark reddish browns to sometimes nearly black, all of which can be enhanced by light or natural stains.
• Cherry.  Recently cherry has become more popular.  It is well known for its smooth grain and unique pinkish color that deepens as it ages into the more reddish brown tones. Depending on the how much light exposure it receives, cherry wood will tend to darken several shades over time. The darker tones tend to add a warm elegance to any room.  Cherry is considered a luxury wood and is a little more costly.

Mahogany, ebony, walnut, and teak are considered more exotic woods and are, therefore, far more expensive.
With the never ending variety of wood cabinets to choose from, finding ones that match your personal style, decor, and budget, is not very difficult.  We can help you to select the perfect set of wood cabinets for your home.

Make Sure that Your Bathroom Remodel Lives Up to the Demands of Your Family

If you have a large family, your bathroom remodel needs to stand up to the constant wear and tear that it will be receiving.  Bathrooms are one of the most frequently used rooms in the home, and they have a tough job to fulfill.  Your family needs to be able to use the restroom, take showers, brush teeth, get ready in the morning, etc.  Your bathroom even serves as an emergency room when one of your kids cuts their thumb or gets something in their eye.  It serves as the beauty salon when your daughter is getting ready for a dance, or your children have school picture day.  The list goes on and on, but most people don’t think about these things when planning for their remodel.  This is one of the reasons that it pays to work with a professional.  We know how hard your bathroom has to work and can provide solutions that make it more functional while also ensuring that it is beautiful.

What size and space do you need?

If you have the ability to determine the square footage, due to building an extension, for example, that is an excellent opportunity to really build the space that you need.  However, even if we are working within the existing footprint, there are often creative solutions that can be implemented.  It starts, however, with understanding how many people will be using the bathroom and whether or not they will be using it at the same general time.  For example, if your hallway bathroom needs to accommodate three school-aged children, we need to know this.  In theory, you can time showers so that they take them at night, or only one takes a morning shower.  Still, they will need to brush their teeth at the same relative time, brush their hair, and when they are older – do their makeup.  This can lead to massive conflict in the morning.  We can help to ease the tension by creating zones.  

What are zones?

Think about your bathroom like you would the floor plan of a tiny house.  Every area needs to have a function and by arranging the layout correctly, it can become possible for people to be in the room at the same time, without being in each others way. For example, you may not have enough space for two full vanities but you may have space for a shallow counter along an open wall in the back. We can use this space for storage, a counter, electrical outlets, and a mirror.  All of a sudden, this bathroom will have a separate space for doing hair and makeup while someone else is using the sink to brush their teeth.  This is a simple solution but incredibly effective for allowing your bathroom to accommodate several kids at the same time. Simultaneously, this can also work in a smaller master bathroom.   If the space is large enough, we can also create a separate room for the toilet since this is the most effective way of allowing multiple people to use the space at the same time.  The only thing that goes in there is the toilet so that people can continue to use the sink and get ready while someone else is using the facilities.  When we meet with you to discuss your bathroom remodel, we can discuss zones further after looking at your space and gaining an understanding of who needs to use it. 

A Guide To Granite Countertops

Whether they are buying a home or remodeling their kitchen, consumers almost always choose granite counter tops over those made from any other material.

With good reason.

Granite countertops not only have an extremely hard and naturally non-porous surface that resists staining, heat and scratches, but are available in an endless assortment of patterns and an array of colors that range from almost pastel to very vivid and striking. Considering its durability, versatility, and easy maintenance, it is little wonder that leading consumer magazines consistently rate granite as being the ultimate material for kitchen counters. In other words, although most materials have their advantages and disadvantages, granite countertops are head and shoulders above ceramic tile, stainless steel, butcher block and other manufactured surfaces.

How We Use Them

Granite is not only used for indoor and outdoor kitchen counter tops, but also for bathroom counter tops, shower and floor tile, patios, etc.

A Few Facts About Granite

Formed by volcanic activity, granite is primarily made up of quartz, mica, and feldspar... minerals that determine the color variations and movement in a block of granite. Granite is first blasted from quarries in large blocks and then sliced into slabs. It is then taken to a facility where the slabs are cut into thinner pieces, treated and polished. These slabs eventually make their way to your home to be a beautiful counter top.

Granite being one of the hardest and strongest materials in nature, is quite impressive in its ability to withstand constant use and wear and tear. Thus, the comparison to diamonds. Granite countertops are almost impossible to scratch and, as an added bonus, are heat and bacteria resistant. Additionally, stains don't pose a problem under normal use. Although it is scratch resistant, it is recommended that homeowners use a cutting board to avoid blunting kitchen knives. However, it should be noted that as a stone, granite is inflexible, and can be chipped or cracked if hit with a very heavy object so you should still treat it with care.

Choosing A Granite Counter Top

Because of the vast array of options available when considering granite counter tops, coordinating your counter top with your kitchen cabinets, faucet, appliances, walls and flooring to achieve the look and feel you desire, has never been easier. The vast array of colors available in granite is quite remarkable. You have your pick of soft beiges, golden browns, pale pinks to corals, deep plums, romantic reds, sleek and modern blacks, rich blues, exotic greens, stark whites and many, many other shades. No two granite samples are alike, because each block will have a flecked or pebbled appearance that varies in size, shape, and density, depending on the composition of quartz, crystals, and minerals in that particular stone.

After you have chosen (from a few thousand possible combinations) the color and pattern that best meets your design needs, you then pick the texture and finish you desire. Granite countertops come in honed, flamed and brushed finishes, with the most popular being a polished surface.  Granite is naturally beautiful, durable, and elegant, and no other natural stone can match the many unique features it offers. Granite countertops are an excellent choice for any remodel project you may be planning, one that you will enjoy it for many years to come.