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In Atlanta there are some real estate signs with a glowing digital readout of how many homes are on the market “110,000 Homes for Sale Today!”.  They finally wizened up and instead of depressing everyone with a 6 figure number of what is not selling, it now reads a 4 digit number of how many homes sold last month.

If you are one of those 6 digit homeowners and want to become one of the 4 digits… this Vanity Sale is for you!  Everyone’s budget is tight and while you may not have enough spare change sitting around for an all out kitchen redo, a bathroom remodel can also be an effective way to freshen up your home and make your neighbors jealous of the “Under Contract” sign in your yard!

While our readers in Phoenix could also benefit from Bathroom V2.0, they will not be quite as fortunate as our Atlanta area folks who can check out THIS LINK to see an every growing and ever changing list of overstock vanities starting at just $123.

With the home construction market DOA, there are a LOT of cabinet companies going out of business and others selling off excess inventory. I’m working with these folks to get overstock inventory out of their warehouse and into your home!  Stay tuned over the next few weeks for other sales and promotions I am putting together.

In the mean time, and for all of you outside the Atlanta area looking for a great deal on cabinets. EMAIL ME , I have connections with cabinet companies all over the U.S. and believe me they all have a MOUNTAINOUS pile of overstock inventory they would be to get rid of!

From The Cabinet Guy

From The Cabinet Guy

Sorry to all the aspiring Cabinet Gal’s out there! I just got married to my beautiful new bride Elizabeth on 09-06-08! If you want to check out the pictures goto www.kellyisnice.com/whiddon
Kelly is an AMAZINGLY creative photographer so if your in the Atlanta area and have a wedding, baby, or just want some unbelievably great photos of yourself, give her a call and say Todd and Elizabeth sent you!

We went to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for our honeymoon and had an AWESOME time!! “I will keep those pictures to myself :)”  Soon as I get settled back into reality I will be back bringing you the best in Kitchen design and Cabinet Coolness!

I design kitchens for a living, but what about the kitchen design where I live?? A few years ago I bought a loft in Downtown Atlanta in an area known as Castleberry Hill. It is the art mecca of Atlanta with an Art Gallery around every corner! I let the art theme of the neighborhood be my inspiration for this contemporary kitchen creation.

The kitchen my loft came with needed some SERIOUS work!

This is NOT the NKBA recommended method for removing cabinets. But since this is my kitchen, I wanted to experience how kitchens were remodeled before power tools were invented…

Kitchen remodeling isn’t quite like an artist having a blank canvas, it more like someone else dripping paint on your canvas and then you having to finish the painting and make it a masterpiece. When designing a kitchen remodel, you often have to measure around appliances and plan designs without knowing exactly what’s inside your walls. If you are changing the structure of your kitchen it is not only a good idea to hire experienced professionals, but you should also at least pull off the sheetrock and see what surprises are lurking in your walls that may affect the final outcome.

I found some unexpected water pipes for the loft above mine that I had to incorporate into my design.

My vision of a bigger, better, brighter kitchen begins to take shape…

And Here it is! Bold Colors, Exquisite Materials, Open Contemporary Design

I actually designed and installed this backsplash myself by out of 1″ travertine tiles with 1″ glass tile accents

These countertops ROCK! Literally! I used Stellar Night from Silestone which is engineered quartz with little chips of mirror in them. It is harder than granite, NEVER has to be sealed, and has micro-ban built right in! You should see the way all TWENTY TWO lights in the kitchen reflect off them at night!

Remember that laundry room door from the before Pics?

This kitchen design move is REALLY popular in high end designs these days, secret cabinet doors into pantries and other rooms in the house is a great way to impress your friends and potential home buyers! From the looks of my laundry basket…perhaps I forget I have a laundry room a little too often

Knocking out these walls made such a big difference in this space! And who couldn’t justify a NEW TV to go with their NEW kitchen view!

The accessories available in today’s cabinetry are great! I couldn’t live without my integrated trash cans! This is a 9″ spice pullout, DO NOT buy a 3″ spice pullout! Everyone and their brother comes to me wanting to buy the 3″ versions they see in magazines but those are pretty much the most useless things every invented because you can’t really fit anything on them…not all spice bottles are created equal!

Does your kitchen need an extreme cabinet makeover like this one?

Remodel Experience + Design Creativity = The Cabinet Guy

Most of the kitchens I design are around Metro Atlanta. So when the call came in to head up to Ellijay to work some kitchen design magic and breathe some fresh mountain air…I coudn’t resist!!

Garrett Residence / Ellijay, GA
Kraftmaid / Mandolay Maple / Ginger Glaze

These homeowners love to cook and love to entertain for a LOT of people!! We designed this island with entertaining in mind. When it comes time to design your kitchen, remember not to get all caught up in only the “functional” aspects of kitchen design! There is also a “SOCIAL” aspect of kitchen design! A skilled kitchen designer can blend the functional and social aspects of kitchen design together and make them LOOK GREAT! Not only can you sit over 6 people at the island, but it works great to have this much counterspace accessible to the living and dining areas for serving food buffet style. This island SCREAMS come mingle by the spinach dip!!! As a side note…the homeowners made those stick stools themselves! How cool is that!?!

Notice on the other side of the island, the cabinetry was 12″ deep to allow more seating at the end of the bar, it then transitions to 24″ deep to allow for storage cabinets, an integrated trash can cabinet, and we capped of the end with an open display cabinet. These shadowboxes created with molding are a great alternative to standard raised end panels. While they are not quite as expensive as raised end panels, they still cost a pretty penny due to the amount of trim it takes to create them and the extra labor for your installer to craft them

Now You see the Dishwasher…

Now You Don’t!!

Integrating appliances into the cabinetry is a hot kitchen trend. Be prepared for multiple trips out from your installer though. After the cabinets are installed, your appliances will have to be installed before panel installation. While it is “possible” to sometimes install the panels before the appliances are installed, I don’t recomend it… these custom appliance panels are EXPENSIVE and a dent in one of them from the appliance guy’s handtruck is not easy to fix! When the installer comes back to install the custom panels and false cabinet fronts onto the appliances, I usually try and schedule any punch items from the original install to happen at the same time, with gas prices the way they are now the less trips for the installer the better!

The design work doesn’t always stop in the kitchen! Entertainment centers and offices are some of my favorite rooms to design. Here we designed a custom office complete with lots of open storage and a wood top that matches the cabinetry!

This bathroom is pretty simple cabinetry wise but for those of you looking for some ideas on trimming out your mirrors with molding I thought I would share this pic with you!

This is a MASSIVE remodel I am working on South of Atlanta. This is also a great kitchen to see how multi-piece crowns can really make a difference in how your kitchen looks. When you look at this house from the outside the first word that came to my mind was CLASS. So when the client requested a 2 tone color scheme, I had to come up with something that would not take away from that classy look in the rest of the house. I mixed Black Cherry Glaze with Ginger Glaze accents. A lot of times when multiple colors are used everything from the island to all the wall cabinets to you name it will be different colors… but not here…not this kitchen! Notice how just a subtle change of color on some strategic pieces can add the WOW without loosing that “classy” style.

5188 Flakes Mill Road / Ellenwood,GA

Kraftmaid / Rutherford Cherry / Black Glaze / Ginger Glaze Accents

The Blank Slate…

Cabinet Guy Kitchen Design Magic begins…

Unleash one of my Craftily Craftsman Installers…

Just wait until the Viking Appliances and Granite get installed!

2 Stain Colors + 4 piece crown make 1 Beautiful Kitchen!

Check out the 4 piece crown molding, staggered wall heights and matching wall end panels “a must for any high end design!”

I’m going to start a new segment here on The Cabinet Guy called Kitchen Highlights. I have been doing more and more design work here lately and everyone always wants to see examples of my mad designing skills… So I’m going to showcase some of my favorite design elements that I have done over the years for some of my clients… who know’s the next highlight may be yours! Need a professional kitchen design? Want your kitchen to be the envy of everyone who sees it? Email The Cabinet Guy and let’s get started!

Hill Residence / Lake Alatoona /Acworth, GA

Kraftmaid / Cherry Summit / Cabernet

Note the double stack wall cabinets, integrated cabinetry table, and wine rack area NIIIIIICE!

Here is a closeup of the table…

Something different for a kitchen or office desk…

Why install wire shelving when you can do something like this with your laundry room cabinets!

Well this years KBIS show was…..well pretty boring!! Not only did the Camera Police threaten to kick me out for taking pictures… but there were really no new earth shattering products, “except for the Flushmaster 5000 toilet that could suck a small child down the drain” and many of the exhibitors scaled back their displays from years past. Some highlights are Quality Cabinets new Rustic Maple Door,

“awesome for mountain cabins, basement bars, or custom desks” Kraftmaid’s new Burnished and Painted finishes “about time Kraftmaid came out with a black finish!” and what could soon be a HUGE new addition to the Cabinet Guy’s product lineup! Bonus Points to anyone who can guess which brand of cabinets it is….

Kraftmaid has announced their Spring promotion! They tested this out earlier this year with a huge response so they have brought it back for their Spring Promotion! For what works out to about a 10% upgrade you get about 25-30% worth of some awesome upgrades! With this sale if you get buy the standard plywood ends “PE” you get upgraded to FREE ALL WOOD CONSTRUCTION and Kraftmaid’s Ultimate Drawer runner system! If you have been on the fence about whether or not to buy a Kraftmaid kitchen NOW is definitely the time to DO IT! The promotion is good through all orders placed by April 28th so Email me for a quote TODAY!

There is a lot of buzz going on about Chinese cabinets. Some of it is really great stuff, and for the most part you can get ALL WOOD cabinets with a nice glaze finish for an excellent price, but there definitely needs to be a HUGE “BUYER BEWARE” sticker on them!

A few points to consider:

If you are buying cabinets from someone, either on the internet or from a local shop and they are offering you ALL WOOD cabinets at a ridiculously great deal, most likely there are Chinese cabinets..even if they say they are not

Warranties on these cabinets should be taken with a grain of salt… Little known to the consumer, say you scratch a door 3 months after your beautiful new kitchen is installed, with most domestic manufactures you can call up your cabinet supplier and order just the replacement door you need. With most Chinese suppliers you have to reorder THE ENTIRE CABINET!! Make sure you ask your supplier about this and if they say you can actually get the part you need without ordering THE ENTIRE CABINET be sure to get that fact in writing!

Another warranty item to consider is that with all the regulatory issues and other nonsense going on with Chinese wood, many of the manufactures are looking to move their operations to other countries, this presents two big warranty problems #1 there is a high probability that the manufacture will not be around in a year or two when you need the replacement part, and #2 changing wood and manufacturing plants will cause consistency issues with the finish, so your Mocha Java Glaze might look more like a Mochafrapuchino Java Glaze when the replacement part comes in!

For those who want a little more of a proven track record with their manufacture then check out the BRANDS I CAN GET MY HANDS ON link and check out Wellborn, Quality, Kraftmaid, Saco, and Door Components.

Our main warehouse has a LOT of what we call “Boneyard” cabinets. For many different reasons (none of them my fault), these cabinet just sit around taking up space until someone comes along and buys them for their garage, laundry, hobbyroom, workshop, etc. From time to time we will have a huge cabinet sale, and you really can’t beat the deal you can get on these cabinets!

But most people don’t realize the cool stuff you can do with cabinets. They see a cabinet and think “kitchen” I see a cabinet and think “furniture”!

Here is a project I worked on over the weekend to jazz up my entryway for a superbowl party!

Step 1: Buy some cabinets from The Cabinet Guy for a ridiculously good deal…

Step 2: Relieve your 401k looking more like a 201k frustrations by abusing new cabinets with sandpaper. Breathe deeply. Now close your eyes and imagine you are that guy on PBS with the Fro that paints the “Happy Trees” pictures. While keeping your eyes closed, dip your your brush into the paint and make some magic happen.
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Step3:Attach cabinets together with the fastening device of your choice (preferably screws), build countertop with MDF shelf from Big Box store of your choice (preferably Lowes), and finish your painting (preferably with eyes open)

Step4: ( Note: many items in step 4 can be avoided if you think ahead) Level cabinets on wall, yell to your beautiful Fiance’ to bring drill in from outside, ask beautiful Fiance’ to hold cabinets in place while you run around looking for your masonry drill bits, assure beautiful Fiance’ you have almost found them as she yells “These things are getting heavy!”, wonder if beautiful Fiance’ is having second thoughts about her future unorganized husband, find drill bits, attach to wall, kiss beautiful Fiance’.

Step 5: Have Beautiful Fiance’ decorate your new work of cabinet art!

Step 6: Have friends OOOOOhhh and AAAAhhhh at the sweet creation that YOU made!