We sell to the trade in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.
What I mean by “the trade” is primarily kitchen and bath dealers/designers and design build remodelers, with a smaller percentage of my customers combining kitchen and bath design with whole home interior design services.
We are a Manufacturer's Rep Agency
Domestic Custom Cabinets
Imported Cabinets
This category starts with entry-level custom cabinetry and goes up to high-end, luxury, “we’ll build anything” custom cabinetry. There’s an approximate 25% price difference between the least expensive to the most expensive custom lines I offer.
The imported cabinets I sell are stocked in warehouses throughout the United States. 65% of this business is R-T-A (ready to assemble). Assembled cabinets are also offered throughout my territory, which is Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland.
Semi-Custom Cabinets
We can think of semi-custom cabinetry as a hybrid of both stock and custom cabinets. They cost less than custom cabinetry, yet they offer more more design and material choices, including many door styles, finish options and wood species selections than stock cabinets. Selling semi-custom cabinetry is not without its challenges – or its opportunities, depending on your point of view. I’ve written an article describing how you can be successful selling semi-custom.
White Oak Supply Shortage Continues
The custom cabinet industry continues to experience a shortage of quality White Oak lumber and veneer. This issue is compounded when the demand for more restrictive grain patterns, like Rift Cut and Quarter Sawn White Oak, is increased.
Several issues are a work that impact this shortage.
Logging and Mill Labor Shortages
Believe it or not, the availability of White Oak logs is NOT the primary issue. An estimated 5.2 billion White Oak trees cover 235,000 square miles of the United States.
Part of the problem is that there are not enough loggers harvesting in the forests. Further, there are fewer dimensional lumber and plywood mills to produce the required product. This means cabinet manufacturers must cope with the restricted supply of quality White Oak lumber and veneer.
White Oak lumber processing takes longer than other domestic hardwood species. White Oak must be kiln dried slower to avoid checking and staining.
Custom Cabinetry Design
With the popularity of painted finishes in custom cabinetry, species like White Oak and Black Walnut are used heavily as a design accent species. Kitchen islands, glass door interior accent species, floating shelves, wood counter tops, mudroom cabinetry and bathroom vanity cabinets have all seen a dramatic increase in the use of Rift Cut White Oak.
The straight grain pattern of Rift Cut is highly desired by designers, however, Rift Cut is a cut that yields the least amount of lumber per hardwood log.
Stave and Burbon Barrel Production
The demand for bourbon production in the US far exceeds the production of White Oak barrels. More than 600 craft bourbon distilleries are currently operating in the US. More than 2 million White Oak barrels are produced annually, and each barrel used over 50 board feet of quality White Oak lumber.
Federal Law mandates that whiskey distillers use new Oak barrels for every new batch of bourbon, further putting a strain on White Oak for other industries.
Looking forward
It’s important to note that the shortages of White Oak make it more difficult for lumber mills, plywood mills and cabinet and component manufacturers to sort available wood for consistent color. Cabinet doors, center panels, face frames and finished plywood will have more color variation than those produced before 2018. In the past, White Oak was heavily sorted for color, keeping the range in a blonde to wheat color. Currently the industry is seeing either pink or darker brown tones.
With sorting for color a main issue, full sample doors should be used in the design sales process to properly educate customers on the range of color expected with current lumber and veneer availability.
Experts in the custom cabinet industry predict White Oak availability and price should stabilize in late 2027. Until then, we must all contend with the shortages and make the restricted supply of White Oak part of our design, sales and manufacturing process.
Read My Article “Fortify Yourself to Successfully Sell Domestic Semi-Custom Cabinets in the 2020’s”.
In the 90’s I sold Homecrest as a builder sales rep for a large distributor. This was back when cycle ship programs were just emerging, and truckload-only stocking distributor sales were starting to go away. Many of the truckload-only stock manufacturers of yesterday slowly became the semi-custom manufacturers of today.
They achieved this conversion by adding wood species, finish colors, door styles and custom modifications. Homecrest, in particular, stopped being a price-point line sold to builders and became a designer line sold to the retail public. Without necessarily raising their quality.
And this conversion happened with essentially all larger mid-western and southern companies that started out as stock cabinet manufacturers. Virtually all of today’s semi-custom manufacturers were yesterday’s stock manufacturers. In other words, it is a price niche that evolved out of an efficient manufacturing environment vs. a let’s-make-something-better-than-stock environment.
Watch the video (above) of an Integrity Cabinets’ kitchen to see the beauty and versatility of this all-American-made semi-custom cabinet line.
