Custom-Built Furniture for a Kitchen Remodel

Any full kitchen remodel usually begins with the major installations, floors, countertops, walls, and plumbing fixtures, but the end result of your kitchen remodel can often depend just as much on the less substantial, final touches. Part of good kitchen design is exploring the possibilities for kitchen furniture, often custom-built furniture. Whether you're just starting to plan out your kitchen remodel or are already under way, consider how custom-built furniture might enhance your new kitchen.

Generate Kitchen Ideas Now
Start looking early, especially during the design phase of your kitchen remodel. If you have an idea of the theme or style that you want to do in the room, finding the right piece should be fairly easy. You'll also want to have an idea of the size of the furniture piece. It's a good idea to take measurements of the width, height, depths and any door swings or pull-out drawers that may need clearances to open.

Kitchen Design and Furniture
When possible, include free-standing or unfitted piece of furniture into your kitchen design no matter what theme you are trying to create. It adds character to the room and also gives the design an open and airy effect because every cabinet is not built-in and mounted to every wall in the room. Before you commit to a piece of furniture, make sure you know how that piece works within your kitchen design, whether it's an accent piece, a functional aspect of the design, or both. If you have the resources to hire a kitchen designer, have that designer go and visually inspect the furniture so that they also have a vision of how you would like that furniture to fit into your design.

Custom-Built Furniture
Custom-built furniture has three distinct advantages and one obvious drawback.

Custom-built furniture is one of a kind. When a guest asks where you got the furniture, you'll be able to say you had someone build it for you, instead of giving them directions to the nearest strip mall and chain furniture store.
You may not be able to find the right piece of furniture, in the right size and decorating scheme.
If you have a few extra bucks to spend, an artisan will also be able to construct a quality piece of furniture from exotic materials that will last for many decades.

Naturally, all these qualities come at an extra cost and you may want to use your money for other areas of your kitchen remodel.

Talk to Local Furniture Builders and Furniture Manufacturers
Have a design idea ready with exact specifications about the piece that you want. Get competitive bids from both local shops and from the manufactured cabinet company. The local shop may be more flexible in providing you with a "real furniture piece" to match your cabinets or as an accent piece, but the price may be higher due to the craftsmanship. Manufactured cabinets, on the other hand, offer furniture pieces designed to match their cabinet lines. This can be quite a savings if you decide to purchase both from the same manufacturer. You may also consider mixing both custom and manufactured cabinets that complement each other's style. This will help allay the costs of the custom pieces.