Ask an Expert: Kitchen Cabinet Edition
You’ve made your mood boards. You’ve studied Before You Buy: Kitchen Cabinets. And now, it’s time to meet with your cabinet maker!
But…you’ve still got questions. Big questions. This sounds like a job for the experts.
I had the pleasure of chatting with Dean Boerigter from Huntwood, also known as “the entire home cabinetmaker.”
Needless to say, Dean has seen it all and he graciously shared his perspective on everything from the first steps, to making selections, to planning your budget, and more.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Photography by Alex Crook (Cabinets by Huntwood)
Meet Dean Boerigter, our cabinetry expert
Sami: Thanks for joining me today, Dean! I want to introduce you first to our readers, so I thought you could talk a little bit about what your job title is. How would you describe your business, and also how did you get into this line of work?
Dean: So my official job title is senior designer and sales lead. I've been with Huntwood for about nine and a half years.
My job is to design and sell cabinet packages for any room in any home, in any wood, in any door, and in any finish.
I work hand in hand with designers (like Jennifer!) The designer provides me with a design package and I convert it into my design software and make some tweaks to determine how we can build stuff and then we'll make any revisions needed. And then I'll sell the cabinets to the designer who will then have them put into their client's home.
I got into this business by chance. I was an assistant store manager at a big box retailer and was burning out and went to the store manager and said, “I need to change.” He offered me an opening in cabinets. And I started the next Friday. So it was very much happenstance and I've been doing it now for about fifteen years.
The selection and decision-making process
Sami: Thank you for sharing a little bit more about yourself! The next round of questions I'm going to ask is really geared toward helping our readers plan for the selection and decision-making process. What do you think is the first step for homeowners who want to upgrade their cabinets?
Dean: I think it depends on how long they're going to be in the home. You have to worry about scope. If you're doing a remodel to sell the home, then your focus is going to be much different from somebody who's doing a remodel for a house they're going to be in for 15 years.
If you're going to be in a home for an extended period of time, then I think the main concern to start with would be color. Color will determine a wood species, and this is specific to cabinets. There are many different types of wood and, they all absorb stains differently.
So the same stain will give you a different color depending on what wood you pick. So I tell people, pick your color first, because your color will give you your wood species. From there, you can pick what style you want, what method of construction you want, and what cabinet you want. But it starts with color.
For me, if you were to walk in off the street, I'd have us start with color. This is assuming that you're not doing a new construction or a full-on gut job where you’re moving walls, windows, and things like that. Because in that case, you probably start with the layout. Once you know what the layout of the room will be, you can move on to color.
“From there, you can pick what style you want, what method of construction you want, and what cabinet you want. But it starts with color.”
Sami: So unless you’re doing an all-new layout, begin with color! What are three questions that you think someone should ask before they start a cabinet renovation project?
Dean: The first one is, why are they doing it?
The second one is how much are they going to do?
And the third one is how much is it going to cost?
Why are they doing it is key because are they trying to upgrade their house to sell or are they not going to move for twenty years and they want to live in a space where they're comfortable? The focus is completely different.
How much are they going to do is the same thing. Are they just doing a quick bathroom project or an office? Or are they doing every cabinet in every room in the house? Are they moving walls or windows? Are they redoing their floors? All of that makes a big difference.
How much is it going to cost? People have no idea how much a quality cabinet costs. It's not cheap. Kitchens are the most expensive room in the house by far because they're the room with the most stuff. Not only do you have walls and windows, but you have cabinetry, you have countertops, you have appliances, you have tile backsplash. All of that is expensive.
Most other rooms are four walls and some paint, maybe a bookshelf. You know, they're effectively empty and you fill them with furniture. Kitchens have everything. People should realize that a quality cabinet in a well-designed kitchen space with lots of functional internals and value-added things is going to be a big line item for any renovation budget.
Budgets, costs, and more, oh my!
Sami: Since we are diving into budget, I actually have a few questions about this topic that I think will be really helpful for people who are new to this space. Realistically, what do you think homeowners should expect cost-wise when they take on a cabinetry project?
Dean: There are five things that will affect the cost of any particular design.
What wood is it?
What finish is it?
What door style is it?
What are the cabinets built out of?
How are the cabinets going to be built?
You can triple the cost of a kitchen without changing the layout at all. It's all in your selections. As a ballpark budget number, I recommend people budget $1,200 to $1,400 per foot on the wall.
Then there's the caveat that depending on what you pick, your price could be less by a third and it could be double. So that gets you somewhere in the middle. The price point for cabinets doesn't include countertops, it doesn't include appliances, it doesn't include installation. It gets you the cabinets. So the average kitchen these days is probably thirty grand for the cabinets cost. And then it can go down from there, or it can go way up. It all depends.
I would say that if you're doing a budget, you should over-budget and underspend. So whatever number you come up with, add 10% for a fudge factor. In a perfect world, you don't spend it. And then you can claim to all your friends that you underspent on your project!
Sami: Overbudget and underspend. It’s much better to do that than the opposite! My follow-up question is do you have any tips for homeowners on a budget?
Dean: If you are under budget and then you do a design for your perfect kitchen, but don’t have the budget for it, you’ll be disappointed. And then you have to make sacrifices on what you want, or what's going to be in the kitchen, or how it's going to look, and so on.
If you overbudget, then you can get the kitchen of your dreams and still have money left over!
Common challenges (and how to avoid them!)
Sami: Awesome advice to me! I want to know what are the common challenges, inconveniences, and stumbling blocks that homeowners can run into. What do you wish that more homeowners knew about the renovation process?
Dean: This process can take a really long time. Cabinet lead time from order to delivery can be anywhere from six to sixteen weeks.
You can do a lot of work in the space while you're waiting. You can do your demo, you can do your floors, you can do your walls, you can do all your utilities, and things like that. And then when the cabinets come, they get put in. And then you put your countertops on. And then you finish up your trims, and your painting, and you're done. But cabinets take a long time.
Another one is that Murphy’s Law works overtime in our business. If it can, it will go wrong at the worst possible time. Don't know where, don't know what, don't know how bad. But expect something to go sideways. That way when it happens, you're prepared for it.
Sami: I agree with that! Another question that I have is what are some common challenges that you do see people run into and how do you think they can avoid them in the future?
Dean: It goes back to timing. I get customers who come in and they need cabinets tomorrow because they've already done their demo. And they don't realize that it's going to be a while for them to show up. So they're working and living in a house that is a construction zone.
Timing is everything. I recommend finding a good partner to help you through the process. Somebody who does it for a living like a contractor or an interior designer. Or both!
Find good suppliers like Huntwood to help you through the process. Talking to the experts is important. That's why we're here. We're here to help you. We're here to answer questions. We're here to make sure that what you’re investing in turns out the way you want it.
What does success look like?
Sami: Well, speaking of success, what are the measures of success during a cabinetry renovation?
Dean: An order that has no problems and where everything fits. It’s the worst when you have something show up and it doesn't fit because then you're waiting for replacement parts and pieces. So an order that fits right out of the gate is great.
Success is having a customer or a client who is absolutely happy with what they’ve got and they have no regrets after they finish their project.
Rising design trends
Sami: Are there any design trends that you've been noticing lately in this space? Have people been asking for a certain type of style or color?
Dean: Color is coming back, greens are coming back, and stained woods are coming back. So it used to be that it was all painted. Now people are moving towards woods with more pronounced graining, either vertical or figured wood.
Hickory is coming back because when people want a wood cabinet, they want it to look like a wood cabinet. So that is a welcome change.
We're going away from all the white, black, and gray cabinetry to more color, which is very nice. Don't be afraid of color!
Inspiration from the expert
Sami: Have you worked on any projects lately that really inspired you or that you thought were really cool or different?
Dean: Yeah, I have! I worked with a customer who was building a full custom home on the water here in Bellevue. He was doing a very modern house and it was all done in slab vertical grain with black walnut in a dark stain. It turned out really well.
Sometimes doing very contemporary spaces can be a lot of fun, but they can be kind of sterile. So doing more traditional spaces can be a lot of fun too. I did a very traditional kitchen on the water just south of the I-90 bridge. It was a very old home and it was very nice, very traditional. There's something to be said about going old school.
Sami: Is there anything else that you would want to share with homeowners who are looking into cabinetry or who are thinking about starting a project?
Dean: Don’t be afraid of color. Don't be afraid to think out of the box.
Know what you're looking for in a kitchen. Are you looking for a kitchen that's going to be a chef's kitchen? Or are you looking for a place where you can just reheat microwave meals because you don't cook? They're two completely different spaces.
A lot of people are getting more and more into cooking, which is good. There's a lot of really good food in the Pacific Northwest. The ingredients are wonderful here. And if you're a chef, you should have the things that make cooking easier. Have pantry space, have spice racks, have trash cans, and have all of the stuff that makes the function of the kitchen easier for you as a homeowner. It adds cost, but it's worth it.
If you're redoing the kitchen, now is the time to add those details because it's really hard to go back and add them in later.
That's another thing. Don't underspend! That's probably the biggest one. Don’t underspend because you can always replace your appliances, but you can't replace your cabinets.
Photography by Mary Hatch (Cabinets by Huntwood)
I want to give a big thanks to Dean for taking the time to share his expertise and experiences with us! Visit Huntwood if you’re ready to begin a conversation with a cabinet maker.
