Blog | Green Bay Custom Cabinets

Kitchen Islands

Elegant Cabinets | February 7, 2017

Recently we started a job known as the Longlais Project, which contains forty custom cabinetry pieces all made from paint grade maple. It’s a massive project but we’re well aquainted with larger jobs. We meticulously create each component of the project with great care as we only want perfect pieces leaving our shop. One such meticulously crafted part of the project is the kitchen island. It’s approximately ten feet long and when complete with it’s chosen granite counter top, will weigh around twelve hundred pounds.

This got me thinking about the history of kitchen islands so I started doing some research about where the trend came from and how it’s evolved over the years.
There was an article written about how they were popular among prominent homeowners during the Colonial era. The article read that a family’s wealth could be determined by the size of their kitchen island. I can’t speculate too much into that but I can say there is probably some truth to it. When it comes to more modern times, it’s much easier to find historic content about kitchen islands.
A kitchen island isn’t actually part of the cabinetry as it’s technically considered furniture but homeowners who enjoy cooking together may see it more as a social hub for catching up while they cook. Over the years they’ve gone from being simple tabletops to having sinks, drawers, and oven inserts. With the way technology is advancing, it won’t be hard to image digital surfaces that’ll help us cook our meals. Technology that will weigh our food, know the proper cooking temps, and even give us a step by step assist for cooking anything. However, many homeowners will remain traditional by sticking with granite tops, stainless steel, or any variety of wood.

How a homeowner chooses the style of their island is mostly based on the interior of the kitchen itself. Sometimes it’s ideal to match the cabinetry and sometimes it’s best to completely offset the look. Before you start a kitchen renovation or plan for a new build, it’s important to keep the end result in mind at all times. Ask yourself, is the island the focal point of the kitchen or is the cabinetry? Of course, if the island is the focal point then this may be where you focus your resources giving the rest of the room the second spot on your list of priorities.

We are virtually unlimited in the things we can do for kitchen islands. We’d love to help you with your kitchen island. Give us a call 920-499-4444 and let’s discuss the vision for your kitchen island.

New Vlog Format Coming Next Week!

Elegant Cabinets | February 3, 2017

We’re bummed that it wasn’t possible to release a new vlog last week and a fresh one this week but alas, we will be back next week. Last week was riddled with prep for the tradeshow and technical difficulties with our sound equipment. This week was omitted because of illness but we will be back next week with a slightly new format. Part of that new format is taking your questions about custom cabinets and home renovations. Please email those questions to marketing@elegantcabinets.com and we’ll pick the best ones for our upcoming episodes. If we choose to use your question on our video blog (vlog) we’ll send you a $10 Starbucks gift card.

The soft close drawers video was the second one that we produced to feature one of our products. You may notice that it’s different than our typical vlog format and that’s because it’s not a vlog but a product demo video. We have two types of video streams on our channel to keep things better organized.

We look forward to bringing you educational and funny vlogs again next week.

Pilot vlog – We’re Making Cabinets

Elegant Cabinets | January 31, 2017

“We’re making cabinets!” has become something of a sticky phrase around here. It was a spontaneous suggestion by our video producer which AJ has sort of made famous, sort of. You can probably expect to see it in every vlog moving forward as well as a couple t-shirts here and there.

In this pilot vlog, AJ takes us through the details of a bathroom vanity and linen cabinet for the Gatz Project.

This is the video that’s kicked it off for us. We’re currently restructuring our format thanks to all of our viewers who have been filling out our survey. If you haven’t had a chance to do so yet, please take a moment to do so. Every survey helps us to create better content for you, our appreciated viewer.

As always, thank you for watching and sharing our content. And to all of our troops and veterans, thank you for your service!

No Vlog Last Week!

Elegant Cabinets | January 30, 2017

You may or may not have noticed that last week we didn’t post a vlog and that’s because we were working our tails off to get ready for the trade show at the KI Convention Center. On top of that, we had several projects to get out the door and we don’t like to rush our process. As a matter of fact, our product is our number one priority and nothing leaves our shop unless it’s perfect. As we move forward with our videos we have a lot of great plans but there is one person we want to hear from before we put any plans in stone and that person is you. Below you’ll find a short survey which will help us with the direction of our future vlogs.

If you filled out the survey, thank you. If you have not, please consider it. Each received survey helps us refine our video process so that we may bring you even more entertaining and informative videos blogs (vlogs).

Home Expo Show 2017

Elegant Cabinets | January 25, 2017

While we’re working on the next vlog we felt it would be a great time to tell you about the Home Expo at the KI Convention Center this weekend. It starts on Thursday afternoon and continues through Sunday afternoon. Click on the link in the Facebook post below.

We hope to see you there!

The Gatz Project – Part Two

Elegant Cabinets | January 19, 2017

Our videos might be fun and silly but we take our work very seriously. We are both honored and humbled to have all of the amazing clients we’ve had. We are especially excited to work for the Gatz Family!

Dustin intros the video, “Welcome back to the Gatz Project. The doors are shaker…” Just then AJ appears in the shot and shouts, “We’re making cabinets!”

At this point in the game, we basically have the cabinet ready for pre-install. Meaning, put the hinges, doors stuff like that put together before we bring it on sight just to make sure things are adjusted and fits tight. Since the last time you’d seen it we went ahead and stained the cabinet (vanity). We seal the cabinet then top coat it to medium rub. What we use is Sherwin Williams. At this point, we’re ready to bring it to pre-install and bring it out to the house.”

At this point, AJ proceeds to show us a little magic by turning invisible as he walks behind the open vanity.
“At Elegant Cabinets, we don’t just make cabinets. We make magic cabinets!”

Have an awesome day!

Custom Cabinets – Elegant Cabinets, Green Bay

Elegant Cabinets | January 18, 2017

The process of each project is very simple. A client will visit us with an idea for some custom cabinets they’d like in their home, cabin, or business and we begin a conversation about those ideas. Once we have a clear idea of what we’re building for the client we start our shop drawings and that’s where the construction process begins. The video below breaks down the step by step process up to the point where the cabinetry gets on the trailer to be installed.

“Before we start I usually have drawings made up for our customers. You can see some scratch work I go through with the customer to decide what kind of changes we want to make and once we come to a final drawing we start making shop drawings. We lay everything out which deciphers all the opening sizes, where we want the drawers and doors and anything else that we might want inside the cabinets. From here we make out cut lists. These are particularly for cabinet parts and we make our door parts, drawer lists, drawer boxes, and so on. Here we have a set of drawings and if you look at this cabinet it mimics what we have here on our shop drawings. Once it comes to this point we sand everything, putty it, get it ready for the finishing room.
We stain our cabinets, paint them, varnish them, prime them. Here we have some pre-primed cabinets that still need a good sanding. This is where we put on all of our hinges and drawer tracks on our product before we bring them out to the customer it’s one of our last phases to the process. This particular rustic job has soft close door hinges and soft close drawer tracks on them. And now we’re ready to load them up on the trailer and take ’em out for the final install.” Dustin Devroy | President @ Elegant Cabinets

Have an awesome day!

The Challenges & Benefits of Video Production

Elegant Cabinets | January 13, 2017

Running a business and producing video can be a huge challenge but it’s really worth every pang. Video accounts for nearly 65% (or more) of web searches by customers looking for a product. Facebook is pushing to be a video based platform by this time next year. Video is a dominating factor when it comes to being a business these days. When I look online to learn something new I go straight to YouTube. It’s perfect for visual learners because it’s, well, visual. As consumers, you and I will spend time doing research online before we leave the house to spend money. By creating videos that we share on social media what we’re doing is casting a wide net. This net makes it easier for our potential customers to find us on the web. Question, do people still call it the web?

When you have to get #creative to get the #shot. #gopro #selfie #selfiestick #cabinet #cabinetshop #video #production #instagram #instagramers #like #followme #followus #camo #camouflage #socialmedia #marketing #greenbay

A photo posted by Dustin Devroy (@elegant_cabinets_inc) on Jan 13, 2017 at 6:39am PST

The wider I can make my net the easier it’s going to be to get discovered. That’s a very big deal these days; creating an online presence that’s highly discoverable.
Think about it, why do bands put out music videos?
Why do big brands create commercials?
Why do motivational speakers share quick snippet videos about their philosophy?
The answer to these questions (and many like them) is to inform, educate, inspire, or entertain you in a way that makes you want more of what they have.

What we try to do is educate our customers as to what we have and sometimes we create video just to make them like us.
Is it important for your potential customers to like you? You bet it is! When someone starts to like your video content what you are doing is making an emotional connection with them. People naturally love to be connected! The best way to develop that likability component is to have a personality that’s likable. There are three foundational parts to a likable personality.

Get off your high horse and connect with people on their level. If you approach the situation with an arrogant personality you’ll push people away. But, if you approach the situation as though you were a member of your audience and you care about how your product makes people feel, then you’ll get it.
Make people laugh! This should honestly be number one. Making people laugh creates a happy sense of being. People gravitate towards people that make them laugh. That’s something you want to do for your customers and video is the perfect vehicle for that.
Share your process via video. Show your potential clients how easy it is to do business with you. Share with them what the entire process looks like in a short edutaining video. If you’re not familiar with edutaining that’s educating and entertaining.

All the while you’re doing this, be relaxed and ready to make it fun. When you start turning it into WORK you’ll stop enjoying it and that’ll show.
The hard part is making time for it but since it’s important it’s worth making time for it.

I have an employee whose job is to take care of all of my video, graphic design, and social media. He creates an idea based on what our customers will enjoy and directs the whole project from idea through being published and shared on social media. You may not think it’s worth hiring a full-time creative with marketing experience but it’s worth every penny. Let’s face it, as business owners, we don’t have time to manage projects outside of our daily duties. Having someone we can trust at the helm of our visual media is a great feeling.

One of our goals for the coming year is to get more video. We’re trying out a stream of videos that cover our products like soft close drawers and videos to educate and make people laugh like the ‘We’re Making Cabinets’ video. Stick around and watch what we come up with!

Have an awesome day!

Twenty-nine Custom Cabinets – Gatz Project Pt1

Elegant Cabinets | January 12, 2017

Part of the resolution we developed as a company for 2017 is to produce more videos. Here is the official start to our Vlog (video blog) and we look forward to creating a lot more over the coming weeks and months. The Gatz Project (pronounced like Gates) is the first large order of 2017. In fact, we’re building twenty-nine pieces to go into a kitchen, bar, and four bathrooms. It’s a great way to start off 2017.

In this vlog episode 001, We’re making cabinets! Actually, much of the wood has been measured, cut, and joined by the production crew. In this video, we’re in the staining process for some of the cabinets going into the Gatz home. AJ takes a little time to explain the varieties of wood used to create a vanity and how it joins a linen cabinet. We plan on vlogging about the installation of this project and can’t wait to show you what it looks like once installed.

Creating a Smart Kitchen on a Budget

Elegant Cabinets | January 11, 2017

Creating a smart space of any kind means you’re bringing in some modern technology to improve the functionality of that space. It doesn’t mean robots will be cooking our meals for us – yet – but close. Some smart devices will cost you thousands of dollars (and up) but it’s my mission to share some awesome gadgets with you that won’t break the bank.

The first device I’d like to share isn’t really a device in the sense of digital technology. In fact, it’s about creating a plastic smart space. Plastic, in the artistic sense means having a tangible object you can touch like clay or wood. What I’m getting at is creating a space with optimal functionality by using as many square inches as possible. To create a cabinet or drawer where you wouldn’t normally have one is, well, smart if done correctly.

Smart Kitchen Sink Rack

Designing your kitchen to stay clutter-free and well organized is one of the best design gifts you could ever give yourself. Although a smart kitchen may filled with all kinds of technology, it’s a functional design that really makes it feel intelligent.

You’re hear to read about affordable kitchen gadgets that will make your cooking space feel like Tony Stark’s development lab. So let’s get to it. Here are some affordable gadgets that I’m sure you’ll enjoy without having to give away your lifesavings.

This first gadget I think I need to mention is the Amazon Echo Dot. This amazing device is a hands-free, voice controlled device with a small built-in speaker. You can also connect it to your own speakers or headphones over Bluetooth or through a 3.5 mm audio cable. This device can hear you from across the room even if music is playing. The Echo Dot is really made for any room in the house but it really brings the kitchen to life. If you haven’t heard the audio quality of this little speak yet you’re going to be in for a surprise. It has amazing clarity and bass for it’s size.

A must have accessory for the Echo Dot is the Tenergy Propel LED Music Light Bulb with Bluetooth Speaker. Reasonably priced at $29.99 each, these little speakers put out a good amount of volume and light. It’s hard to believe that there’s a light bulb out there with this sort of functionality but here it is. The combination of the Echo and the Tenergy bulb would make any kitchen a desired place to eat and spend time.

When it comes to actually cooking, one thing I find to be sort of a burden is knowing how long to cook something like a salmon steak without over cooking it. There’s this high tech pan I found to help me cook that salmon to perfection. It’s called Pantelligent. It’s a pan that connects to your phone or other mobile device through an app. You tell the app what you’re cooking and it’ll guide you to a perfectly cooked meal.

This next device is perfect for anyone who wants to learn how to cook but is intimidated by actually measuring and mixing ingredients. It’s called the Drop Scale. It’s paired with a free app to help you cook like a pro. Not only will it help you measure and mix the right ingredients but it’ll show you how long to cook whatever it was you were making.

I could write about this stuff all day but I have to get back to making some amazing kitchen cabinets for a client. I hope you’ll come back to a part two of this blog in the near future. I’d really appreciate it if you’d follow me on social media.

Have an awesome day!