Custom Cabinetry

Cabinets Built for the Room and the Climate

Custom cabinetry means the boxes are built to your walls rather than picked from a catalog of three inch increments and padded out with filler strips. In a Bellevue kitchen that matters for two reasons. Older ramblers and split-levels rarely have square corners or level floors, and a cabinet built to the room hides that far better than a stock box shimmed into place. And because every choice is open, you can choose the species, construction and finish around how this climate treats wood, rather than taking whatever the line offers.

Box Construction

We build boxes in furniture grade plywood. Particleboard is flat and cheap, and it is fine in a dry room, but it swells permanently when it gets wet and it holds screws poorly once it has. A sink base in a kitchen that sees a slow drip or a dishwasher leak is exactly where that shows up. Plywood tolerates an occasional soaking far better and holds hinge screws through years of use.

You also choose between framed and frameless boxes. A face frame adds a solid wood border to the front of each box, which stiffens it and gives inset doors something to sit inside. Frameless boxes, sometimes called European style, give you slightly more interior width and a clean modern look. Both work in our climate. Inset doors, where the door sits flush inside the frame, look beautiful but have the tightest reveals, so they show seasonal wood movement first. If you love inset, we build the doors from the most stable stock available and set the gaps for the damp season, not the dry one.

Choosing a Wood Species

Each species behaves differently, and the right one depends on whether you plan to paint or stain.

For painted cabinets

Hard maple is the usual pick. It is dense, closed grained and smooth, so paint lies flat without the grain telegraphing through. Poplar and birch paint well too. MDF center panels inside a solid maple frame are a sensible choice for painted doors, because MDF moves far less with humidity than a solid panel and the joint stays tighter.

For stained or natural cabinets

White oak is a strong Northwest choice, especially rift or quarter sawn, which is cut so the growth rings run nearly vertical through the board. Those boards move less across their width and show a straight, calm grain. Cherry starts pale pink and deepens to a warm red brown over several years of light, so a kitchen with a big south window will change color unevenly if some doors are shaded. Walnut is rich and soft, and it shows dings. Alder takes stain beautifully and dents easily. None of these are wrong. They each come with a trade you should hear about before ordering.

Finishes That Survive Steam

The finish seals the wood against moisture swings and daily cleaning. We recommend sprayed catalyzed lacquer or conversion varnish applied in a controlled shop rather than a brushed finish applied in your kitchen. These cure harder, resist the water and grease that land near the sink and range, and seal all faces of a door, including the back and edges, which slows moisture getting in unevenly.

Ventilation matters as much as finish. Upper cabinets beside a range take the steam from every pot of pasta. A hood that vents outdoors and is sized to cover the cooking surface protects those boxes more than any coating. Larger hoods above a certain airflow need make-up air under energy code rules, so we size that in the plan instead of discovering it at inspection.

What the Process Looks Like

1. A site visit with physical samples and a moisture reading of the room and any existing cabinets.
2. A measured drawing with elevations and a written quote.
3. Shop drawings for your approval, then a build time that typically runs eight to twelve weeks.
4. Demolition, any rough-in electrical or plumbing, and City of Bellevue inspections where permits are required.
5. Delivery, a few days of acclimation in the house, installation, and adjustment of every door and drawer.

Doors get a second adjustment visit after the first change of season, because that is when wood tells you where it wants to sit. Call (425) 461-1454 to set up a sample visit.