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When there are so many national manufacturers out there, with every conceivable style and finish available, it might initially seem like a waste of time and money to try to source product locally. You can make more money and get more reliability from the bigger suppliers, right? And many of the larger cabinet companies are hurting for work right now. You can possibly get an even better deal these days.
But wait a minute: There are several good reasons you may want to consider the local option - if you can find the right shop.
First of all, while buying out a manufactured cabinet may be more predictable (in terms of a fixed price list and a defined schedule), you may run into more limitations on what you can design. That curved walnut island cabinet may not be available from your regular supplier. You may be restricted to particular dimensions, while a local shop will build whatever sizes you want - without fillers or scribe strips. You may want a particular paint color - with a hand-brushed look - and your mass-producing manufacturer will only give you pre-finished, sprayed-on lacquer.
Consider lead time, too - a local shop may be able to turn your project around quickly, especially if you’d like to get your final measurements from rough framing (rather than pre-ordering everything before the work starts). Things may end up being built more accurately this way.
Then there’s the problem of factory-generated mistakes - how long will it take you to get a part remade, or a replacement door sent out? Or how about something you mis-ordered yourself? You didn’t order enough crown molding, for example, or not enough kick facing.
While a small problem may be easily fixable and won’t affect the momentum of the project schedule, if you encounter a big problem - an oven cabinet is the wrong size, or the wall upper over the stove is too tall - you may be looking at stopping the job while the problem is being taken care of. A local shop may be able to take care of a fix a lot faster than a factory located a few states away - and probably much more quickly than a supplier in Europe. That means your job can keep moving along, rather than grinding to a halt, which can mess up your schedule and your client’s.
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