What need to prepare to start customizing cabinet?

What do you think you need to prepare before you discuss the details of customized cabinets with your custom cabinet supplier? A house that has been completely built, or a house floor plan only?

Maybe you will think a completed house is better, but we will prefer a floor plan drawing, even though the house is not built yet. We always suggest our clients to start customizing cabinets design in advance, right after the floor plan drawing is confirmed, rather to wait until all the walls and floor finishes are completed.

There are two advantages.

1. Time saving

Let's point out the steps of customizing cabinet: the discussion of design/style, the modification and confirmation of drawing, the production of cabinet, and the transportation. These steps all take time, and together at least 3 months will be spent to make the final product reach client's house. It's also common to spend half to one year on this. For those people who want to move in the new house soon, it's better to start customizing cabinet process just after the house layout drawing fixed, no matter the house is started to build or not. (Commonly, it will also take about half year to one year to complete the construction of a house, so these two time-schedules are matched.)

2. Better fault tolerance and flexibility

This is a more important reason why we suggest clients to discuss the customized cabinet with us (or their interior designer) in advance. Customizing cabinets is in the same ways as drawing a picture. It's easier and more flexible to draw on a white paper with less restrictions. The room where we are going to plan cabinet for is the "white paper" and the "restrictions" are the ceiling height, the locations of windows & doors, the columns & beams, the locations of water inlet & outlet, and the inconspicuous locations of switches & sockets.

The first three factors are fixed on the construction plan and cannot be changed easily. They limit the space for the cabinet, and the cabinet must be customized accordingly to be fitted in. But the others - the water & socket - will restrict the location of sink and appliances, which means the functions of the cabinets, especially for the kitchen cabinet.

For example, electricians will regularly plan a socket beside the water inlet & outlet. This socket is usually planned for dishwasher. But when client wants to add more appliances, such as disposer under sink, there is no socket left for it. Client need to ask the electrician come again to add more socket there.

Besides, apart from the socket for the range hood, electricians will not plan other sockets in the overhead area, cause few appliances will be placed in such a high position. But how about the sensor lights integrated inside the overhead cabinets? These lights also need sockets for power supply. The lack of socket will let client give up the idea of these lights, or he/she need to call electrician come again.

If the electricians and the plumbers can fix the sockets and water according to the kitchen cabinet design, the client can customize the cabinets they want, and don't have to compromise or pay for extra labor.

Please notice that, the water inlet & outlet and the switches & sockets should get settled before wall-painting. Once the wall-painting is finished, and if you need to add or change the sockets or water, you should make a groove on the wall, bury the cables or pipes, and repaint the wall. Asking an electrician or a plumber is not enough, you need to white wash the wall again also. This will waste time and labor.

To start customizing cabinet in advance, just send us your layout plan and tell us the style you prefer, no need to wait for the house get completed. More info, please contact us.