So glad for you! Please share details about your drawers - do you have 3 and 4 drawer banks? What height drawer fronts with what height internal space? That was another dilemma for me today. And it is only noon here....

My husband was very aware of my love for my cabinet maker....

It was such a relief to know I didn't have to worry about my cabinets. And the confidence that I had because I knew if something was wrong, they would fix it.

I don't have exact drawer front dimensions - just internal heights. These are framed cabinets.

4-drawer stack next to the sink, 17-15/16" wide (inside the cab, not inside the drawers), top to bottom internal heights are 4-1/2", 5-1/2", 6-1/2", 8-1/4".

3-drawer stacks on each side of the range, one 23-1/2" wide, the other 31-1/4" wide. Top to bottom 4-1/2", 9-1/2", 12". I wanted the bottom drawers deeper (rather than have the bottom two the same size) to fit specific things I'm putting in one of those drawers.

Did I mention how wonderful it is to be able to get cabinets sized down to the 1/16"?

When I told Dan that I wanted to put the pulls horizontally on the upper cabinets, he said "Jeff will install them however you want. He might think it's weird, but he'll do it!

It's really great when you find someone that truly takes pride in their work. It's amazing how hard it is to find those individuals these days. I love that he is really paying attention to all the small details.

So happy for you!!!

where is your guy? would love a good referral. we all would.

Thanks, Annkh. It is great when we can celebrate customer service and craftsmanship here!

that is an awesome post, annkh!! great stuff, very entertaining

He's in North Dakota.

He's busy enough that I don't think he'll take work too far away. I first talked to him in mid-January; I paid a deposit to get on the schedule in mid-February, and they start "slicing and dicing" (his words) this afternoon. I was expecting a long lead time - I would be leery of working with someone who was sitting around waiting for a customer to show up.

Oh, I forgot my other favorite thing about Dan - he complimented me on being thorough. Thanks, GW, for helping to make me aware of all the details!

Ann, I'm in ND and I'm looking for a cabinet maker for my kitchen remodel. Can you hook me up?

Karen

Radi's Custom Woodworks in Grand Forks. It's two brothers - Dan and Brian.

Thanks Ann for the info, I live in Bismarck, I doubt they would travel that far?
Karen

I would guess not - they've got plenty of work at this end of the state.

I hope you find someone just as wonderful!

I'm glad you feel good about your project :)

Parts, ask them for a referral!?

Annkh, what a wonderful relief that you don't have to worry about so many aspects of your kitchen. You did your worrying in advance and it's certainly paying off.

I cannot WAIT to see the pics!

When my parents redid my childhood home, I had a HUGE crush on the carpenter who hand built our cabinets. Something about a man, tools and sawdust.

*sigh*

:-)

I'm in the home stretch! I finished painting the ceiling and walls in the kitchen and dining room yesterday. Everything is ready for the new cabinets!

They are still a week or so away, but we will be on vacation next week, so that week doesn't count. I made sure Dan had my cell phone number, in case he needs to reach me, but mostly I'm not going to worry about the kitchen at all. We get home on the 13th, but sometime the week of the 15th my son and I are going to visit my other son, who is working in northern MN all summer (and he misses us). That gives me 2 or 3 more days that I'm out of the house without a kitchen.

The countdown is on, and I don't even feel like we've suffered (except for me being stiff and sore from all the painting). We've only been without a kitchen for 3 weeks, and have at most 2 weeks left (not counting a week of vacation). Then 2 or 3 weeks until Cambria install - hopefully we can at least hook up the dishwasher before that, even if the sink has to wait. And I'll be able to put things away!

I'm so grateful to all of you for holding my hand through this process, understanding my excitement, and giving me a place to BE excited (since my family is getting sick of hearing about it).

That's great! Did you find that he was cheaper or similar in price to other places or are you paying a bit extra for this quality work and peace of mind?

I had a whole family of cabinetmakers to love on my first kitchen, but did not meet most of them. They were great, did a fully custom kitchen cheaper than I could have gotten from semi-custom at HD or Lowes. Albers Cabinets at Richmond, Michigan.

My true love is my contractor. Jim is a GC by license, carpenter by trade. He has done my kitchen in my former house, front porch including a ramp and front door replacement in this house, insulation and new bath heater/fan in this house, kitchen in this house, library in this house, and we are planning on the full bath next. The library included having to pull up a cracked poured concrete floor, working with my engineer on a plan for replacing it, and working with Jim's concrete contractor friend to do the floor replacement. In between, we had a different company do foundation repairs, and I think Jim coordinated with them, too. After all that, he did my library built-ins, replaced two windows, re-installed that front door and door sill, made the opening of the room fit the french doors I got off Craigslist after he drove 20 miles to pick them up for me, installed a new cork floor, did new trim for the foyer and library, and painted.

Jim has one helper, a somewhat quiet guy who has no intention of making a career out of all the construction and carpentry skills he is learning. (I asked him one day.) I think Jim has given up on trying to find an "apprentice" type helper to teach. He is happy to have someone who does the work and does not complain. He has no intention of teaching his son. "I don't want him to have to work this hard."

In our prior project, poor Jim was stuck with me using recycled cabinetry in the second kitchen remodel we did together. He had to deal with whether my design would work and work with me to adjust as we went. I asked him to turn a corner 27" double oven cab into a raised dishwasher cab. He rebuilt a sink cabinet. He suggested re-skinning any cab fronts that looked worn, and I always bow to his superior knowledge and experience. He knows I always do! He made the three cabinets I needed to finish the kitchen, too. He also built a new wall, replaced a ceiling and added a skylight. I, however, refinished all the door and drawer fronts and sanded and stained and poly'ed all the cab fronts and visible sides.

What I love about working with Jim is that he will listen to my ideas, consider them, tell me if I am nuts, give me comparison prices to let me know if doing things the "hard" way is going to save me any money, keep a good sense of humor, give me expert advice, AND let me decide. He says, "you are paying for it. I'll do what you want." He enjoys my creativity instead of "humoring" me like many men in construction do. And he cleans and straightens at the end of every single day.

To be honest, I didn't do a lot of shopping around. This is a small city, and my choices were one of 3 lumberyards, a decorating store that is notoriously expensive for everything (though I do buy paint there), and a handful of custom cabinet makers. I talked to a lot of people who have had cabinet work done, and ruled out 2 cabinet makers as a result. I kept hearing great things about Radi's.

The other custom shop that has a good reputation in town is actually based in Fargo, 75 miles away, though they do have an office here. The day I was going to stop there with my sketches, they were closed because of bad weather - they hadn't been able to make the drive. Then after I met with Dan, I was so smitten by his attitude, the workmanship of his displays, and his ability to read my mind that I didn't look elsewhere.

Our kitchen is U-shaped, 10' by 11' (more or less - there's a bump out on one end). We'll have a 6' floor to ceiling pantry in the bumpout; pullouts over the fridge; a trash/recycling pullout; super susan; 2 easy-reach upper corners; built-in cutting board; built-in spice rack inside a door; soft-close doors and drawers; base drawers, cabinets going to the 8' ceiling, with crown molding and undercabinet lighting. They will be oak, with raised panel doors. 42 sq ft of Cambria countertops. Because it's a small space, I wanted to take advantage of every inch, so if not custom built I would have had to go custom order. Even then, I'm not sure I could have gotten exactly I want. The only filler in the whole project is where 2 drawer stacks meet at a corner, and I have cabinets sized to 1/16".

The bid was $22,160, which includes install of cabinets and counters. So far I've paid $14,300 ($5500 to get on the schedule, 40% when construction start). I'll pay the balance when everything is completed to my satisfaction.

One of these days I'll have to see if I can price out custom cabinets, just for fun.

'It's really great when you find someone that truly takes pride in their work'

it sure is. I was talking to my sister about that yesterday. I went into their PR to wash my hands before we ate and stepped into water on the floor in front of the sink. then I felt a drop or 2 on my arm. Looked up to see the air vent with water dripping thru it. The humidity is up here - it's monsoon season. They just had a new a/c system put in this past March. BIL made a call to them. I don't think their house is but maybe 6 yrs old and they had to replace it already.

Maybe this Dan knows a good cabinet guy in the other part of the state?

Nancy - I like Jim too! still wish he'd come to AZ. Maybe he needs to know what it's like in 115 degree temps?

annkh - It's not the kind of money I could spend but if I had it to spend, I'd consider it well worth it to have the quality product and peace of mind plus someone who can read minds. Saving a few thousand elsewhere wouldn't be worth the stress that'd come with it.