Custom Cabinets

What makes a cabinet custom

A custom cabinet is built to your specifications instead of picked from a catalog of set sizes. Widths, depths and heights can follow the room, and doors and finishes can be made for the project. Semi-custom cabinets sit in between: they are built after you order, with many sizes and options, but within the manufacturer's catalog.

Most kitchens do not need fully custom cabinetry, and a good semi-custom line covers a lot of rooms. Custom earns its cost when the room or the design asks for something a catalog cannot do.

When custom makes sense

• Odd dimensions: sloped or uneven ceilings, shallow walls, tight alcoves, or tall ceilings where standard heights leave awkward gaps.
• Inset doors: doors and drawers that sit flush inside the frame, often chosen for traditional and farmhouse kitchens and for older homes.
• Specialty finishes: a color matched to a sample, a particular stain or a finish no catalog offers.
• Matching existing millwork: cabinets that have to match trim, paneling or built-ins already in the house, or an addition that should look original to it.
• Specialty storage: interiors and accessories built around how you cook, store and entertain.

Bring photos, a door or trim sample and rough measurements to your first visit. They show quickly whether you need custom or whether a semi-custom line will do.

The custom and semi-custom lines we carry

Crystal Cabinet Works

Crystal Cabinet Works is a family-owned Minnesota manufacturer that describes itself as a custom cabinet maker and says it builds every cabinet to the customer's specifications. Its Affordable Custom group, the Current, Current Inset and Frameless Current series, covers framed, inset and frameless construction. Its Premium Custom group, Keyline and Encore, adds custom finish matching, custom doors and special accessories. Construction details are on our Crystal Cabinet Works page.

Yorktowne Historic Series

If inset doors are the main reason you are considering custom, look at Yorktowne too. Yorktowne builds made-to-order cabinets, and its Historic Series is an inset line. See Yorktowne.

KraftMaid and KraftMaid Vantage

When the catalog fits the room, semi-custom saves cost and planning time. KraftMaid describes its cabinetry as semi-custom and builds each order after it is placed, with a wide range of sizes, finishes and storage accessories. KraftMaid Vantage adds all-plywood construction as standard. See KraftMaid and KraftMaid Vantage.

What our own shop builds

Our own shop builds custom closets and built-ins. Kitchen and bathroom cabinets come from the manufacturer lines above, which we design, order and install.

How a custom cabinet project runs

We measure the room on site, including out-of-square walls, ceiling heights and anything the cabinets must line up with, and draw the layout in 3D. Then we price it in the line that can build it, and next to a semi-custom option when one fits, so you can see what custom adds.

Custom work takes more design rounds. Settle appliance sizes, the sink and the range hood before the drawings are final, and choose your countertop slab early, since slab size and veining affect where seams fall. Once the drawings and finishes are approved, the cabinets are ordered and built to them. Our crews install and scribe them, and our fabricators template the installed cabinets for countertops cut in our own shop.

What affects the cost

• The line and series, and its box construction
• Wood species, finish and any custom finish match
• Door style, and inset versus overlay
• How many cabinets fall outside standard sizes
• Accessories, interior fittings, moldings and panels
• Changes after the drawings are approved

A quote built from your measured room is the only reliable number.

Start planning

Book a showroom visit in Tysons, Manassas or Front Royal and bring your measurements and samples, or request a cabinet estimate. Still comparing every option? See kitchen cabinets.