At Village Handcrafted Cabinetry, everything is custom. They design, build, finish and install all their cabinets.
“We work directly with designers, builders and architects and with homeowners to build a space,” said Joe Trave, company owner. “We do all drawings, handle walkthroughs, build cabinetry in our own shop, and have all our own installation.”
Trave said Village Handcrafted Cabinetry focuses on mid- to high-end residential cabinetry, working primarily (85 percent) with the trade, designers, builders, remodelers, and 15 percent to retail customers.
All construction is mortise and tenon. Village also does its own mouldings, has 1,200 profiles, and can create any kind of profile. Matching an existing appearance is a common assignment for them.
The Lansdale, Pennsylvania, company has full in-house finishing lab, and can do color matching so clients often bring in challenging finishing jobs.
“At Village Handcrafted Cabinetry, we have a simple goal: To help our clients build spaces that fuse comfort with class and convenience. Since our inception back in 2000, we’ve been obsessed with helping our clients find high-quality custom cabinets,” said Damian Hoffman, marketing manager.
“We do everything under one roof to save our partners time, money, and sanity, building and installing in our family-owned and operated factory.”
The cabinetmaker has 80 team members, 3,000 square feet of showroom space, and 40,000 square feet of manufacturing space which is being expanded.
Working with walnut veneer, they had to pay close attention to how all of the doors and drawer fronts matched up so that everything looked very cohesive.
Special surround
A recent cabinet project in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, included many challenges but was also an opportunity for the company to show its capabilities.
“The client wanted to have a surround around her oven and some small countertop ovens, but we couldn’t just put that in a cabinet for fire safety concerns, so we built the cabinets to be able to have the material she used on her countertops, Dekton, clad at the interior of a pocket door cabinet for her small ovens as well as on the surround around the range,” said Hoffman. “Also, working with a walnut veneer, we had to pay very close attention to how all of the doors and drawer fronts matched up so that everything looked very cohesive.
“The client wanted to have a modern kitchen that didn’t feel out of place in her Chestnut Hill home, which is an old stone house. We also built a door from the kitchen into the theatre room, but the door was built to look like a tall cabinet. The client chose to use a beautiful natural walnut with deep green accents on the islands and around the hood.”
Trave said the Chestnut Hill house had a lot of challenges, including the amount of grain matching required and high quality and consistency of veneer around the room. The job took six months to complete.
The Chestnut Hill house’s hidden passage door into the theater room was designed to look like a cabinet door. Appliances were hidden in appliance centers, and there were multiple high-tech ovens that had to be hidden. Village coordinated the use of multiple materials, included tile around enclosures, and integrated lighting, including LED lighting in shelves.
A recent cabinet project for Village Handcrafted Cabinetry included many challenges but was also an opportunity for the company to show its capabilities.
Two locations into one
Village Handcrafted Cabinetry now has 40,000 square feet in two separate shops a mile apart and is in the process of combining into one location with 50,000 square feet in Lansdale, where the company has been for 20 years.
Trave said the shop currently has two nested-based CNC routers, an Anderson and Omnitech. They are installing new Homag equipment, including a new beam saw, point-to-point, edgebander, dowel inserter and case clamp.
Other than the new equipment, the largest change has been in finishing. The new shop will have a 15,000 square foot finishing department with makeup air and curing oven. Trave said the goal is to have a completely dust-free environment.
All finishing is done in house, and they generally use conversion varnish. Most finishes today are either painted or glazed, along with a lot of high gloss two-part urethanes.
Overall, Trave said they are seeing more painted finishes requested from customers, including flat painted gray trim.
Village Handcrafted Cabinetry was shut down during the coronavirus pandemic, but business has remained good.
“We were shut down for eight weeks, but were strong going in, and we haven’t seen that let down,” Trave said. “The year is very strong. New inquiries are very strong. People are working at home, not traveling, and they’re looking to improve the home environment.”
Trave said the company has made a large investment in its combined location and new equipment, and expects that business is going to continue to grow for the next 18 months.
Goals for expansion include improved efficiency and output while maintaining current employment. Even in the current economy, it is still difficult to get people, so the company needs to develop technology and expand 15 percent while maintaining the current numbers of employees.
The Chestnut Hill house’s hidden passage door into the large theater room was designed to look like a cabinet door.
Facts
Village Handcrafted Cabinetry
Lansdale, Pennsylvania
Product: Custom residential cabinetry
Employees: 80
Shop size: 50,000 square feet
The company is combining two shops into one efficient location in Lansdale, Pennsylvania.
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