Tuesday, March 10, 2015
A Peek Inside a Cabinet Factory
Tools of the Trade: I have no connection to Wood-Mode; I don’t own any of their cabinets and haven’t installed them either . But Brian Way, a friend and regular contributor to Tools of the Trade has, and he shared a video about Wood-Mode’s factory on Facebook and posted the following comment “I have installed Wood-Mode Cabinetry, it is top notch. If you are in the market for a new kitchen, and your wallet can handle it, I highly recommend it.” If Brian says so, then I believe it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Wow, very cool article and very cool video. Awesome to see that at the highest end of the market, there is still plenty of demand for custom cabinetry and furniture work. In an era of particleboard, MDF, and laminate, which is all manufactured with CNC equipment, it is pretty darn cool to see what is available to consumers who have the ability to pay for it. I always assumed that a carpentry or other fabrication job inside a furniture or cabinetry factory must be incredibly mind numbing since I assumed one was doing the same tasks all day long. I see now that if one is working on custom work and pieces, how your job could be much more interesting and satisfying. As far as commercials go, I thought they definitely did a good job of conveying the craft and "handmade quality" of their work though. I wonder how interesting the jobs are in other million square feet are though.
I think it is great that there are still craftsman and artists out there that produce hand made cabinets. We often see value in cheaper goods because we can buy more of them or buy something else entirely. I actually see the value and the quality of a craftsman's work. The video gave a nice peek into what the process was and how these craftsman made this great quality custom cabinetry. I also like that they were using real solid woods and not the common MDF/particleboard that we see today. I hate when I'm putting together a cabinet kit and the screws pull out of the wood because its not made well or its cheap. I also don't like when a surface gets scratched and its white underneath because there is a laminate around the particle board pieces. I think in regards to something like this you really do pay for what you get.
As someone who has worked in a cabinet shop...WOW! what a shop...or should I say factory. I can't write any further without addressing that edge sander! that things was massive...it could fit a front door (but maybe not one from 3 sisters). and the electrostatic duster? what is that thing and why have i never heard of it before? the biggest pain is sanding something with 300+ grit sandpaper then having to remove all the insanely fine dust particles before it goes to the finish room. They definitely made this promo video to feel as though the pieces are all hand crafted (i especially liked the featured hand plane). I am sure some aspects of their cabinets are hand made but I didn't see anyone on a table saw working on raised panels or cutting some slot mortises, there are probably designated tools for that in a shop of that size...which is fine, but I don't completely buy that all those cabinets are as hand made as shown. But going back to the shop. They dry their own wood! thats awesome. and that humidifier in the shop...but doesn't that just prolong the drying process until its in the customers home? and that testing lab! that is so cool and such a good idea, you usually don't think about fine cabinets as something that need testing but in different climates and stuff thats totally necessary
That was a really cool commercial, and it did a pretty good job on conveying the feel of how the company does what it does. I think it was maybe the way that it was lit, if that makes sense, but it didn’t feel like a heartless corporate factory, even though something that scale easily could be. It didn’t have that ma and pa feel either, but it kind of felt like something close to that. The work that they are doing there is really impressive, and I think it’s really cool how much of it they’re making by hand. I feel like they’re probably using a lot of CNC stuff for the actual cabinet making though, and that all of the high level craftsmanship work that this video showcases is just for the doors of the cabinets. I found it interesting that they kept the space so climate controlled. It makes sense that they do it, but I think it’s also one of those things that wouldn’t be totally necessary so it shows another level of the detail and care that they put into what they’re making. It could be really cool to see a floor plan of the warehouse, just to get an idea of how the million square feet are used and divided up.
Post a Comment