How to Save Money on "Custom" Cabinets

Sometimes you have a vision for a centerpiece in your home that can't be accomplished with out-of-the-box cabinets from the hardware store. When that happens you might think of having custom cabinets made.

But custom can be expensive, so here's a trick to save money: ask about semi-custom cabinets.

​Today I'll show you an example of a semi-custom job and how well it turned out.

It started with a phone call from local interior designer Liz Hackett.  One of her clients, a couple living in West Asheville, loves to entertain and wanted to create a cocktail bar in their dining room.

After meeting to look at the space and review the project budget, we determined that a semi-custom project would be the best choice.

We started with these cabinets from Lowes...

...and then carefully considered them from all angles. They were very plain on the sides, and would look odd sticking out into the room like that, so we suggested adding end panels.

Liz also wanted to incorporate a mini-fridge, so we designed an end panel to surround the fridge, too.

Once the cabinet arrived at our workshop, we got busy building and attaching the panels.

We also sourced custom pull-out drawers to make it easier to access the items in the cabinets. This is another advantage of semi-custom: the pull-outs wouldn't have worked in the stock cabinets. We had to add interior supports to attach them to.

When we stepped back and snapped a photo, it looked a lot like our original drawing. (Except for the countertop, which was installed by another company.)

Liz's clients were thrilled with the way it turned out, and tagged us in their story on Instagram.

There are times when semi-custom cabinets won't work well. If the cabinet will be fit into a niche, it really does need to be custom built for the space, like on this project:

Semi-custom works best when the cabinet will be free-standing, like a kitchen island...

...or placed up against the wall with three sides visible, like the dry bar we just showed off.

So if you've got a "custom" cabinet project, it may be possible to save a little on cost by doing a "semi custom" installation. All you have to do is click the big orange button and contact us to find out.

Contact Us