Wood Hollow Cabinets, Inc. isn’t afraid to show off its cabinets – or how they are made.

The Dalton, Ga., cabinet manufacturer makes custom cabinets, vanities and islands, and draws customers with a large showroom.

The northwest Georgia city is known as the carpet capitol of the world because of more than 100 carpet factories in the area, but at least some visitors are coming for the cabinets.

Wood Hollow’s Rhonda Mathis describes the company’s niche as completely custom cabinets with both a showroom and production facility on site.

Wood Hollow Cabinets was established in 1989 and makes custom kitchen cabinets, cabinetry for the bathroom, entertainment centers, mantels, office furniture, and bookshelves. They also offer many door styles, decorative and functional storage features, counter tops and accents, along with dozens of hardware options and cabinet accessories.

Customers include more than 100 builders and contractors, along with individual homeowners.
About 75 percent of customers visit the 10,000-square-foot showroom. Another 25 percent correspond via email or fax. There is a full design staff on site.

Three full-time computer designers work at no charge to customers and that allows the company to help design a complete custom kitchen. The company can also provide a decorator on site at the customer’s request for an additional fee. Wood Hollow installs an average of 80 kitchens monthly while operating two shifts, and runs six install crews daily.

The company also offers design and construction of bathroom vanity and closets, and specializes in the design and creation of custom kitchen islands that add storage and design to a kitchen along with additional work surface space.

“(Most important) is our ability to build custom cabinetry at wholesale prices,” Mathis says. “Our number one goal is to ensure that (the kitchen) is built and installed to customer satisfaction.”

Visitors to the company can not only see the showroom, they can see how their cabinets are made.

“With everything under one roof we can easily track progress through the manufacturing phase and potential clients can tour the manufacturing area and see the process from beginning to end,” Mathis says.

“We manufacture everything in house, eliminating the middleman. This keeps cost of production low and we can pass the savings on to customers,” Mathis told CabinetMaker+FDM.

The company uses all wood with birch interiors and dado construction. The wood is stained, glazed or painted with a pre-catalyzed topcoat.

Popular options with customers include mitered doors with raised panels, and painted and glazed finishes. Mathis says that glazed finishes are especially popular now.

In the plant itself, Mathis says plywood is cut to size, then the dadoes are cut and adjustable holes for shelves are bored. Lumber is ripped and cut for doors, door panels and face frames. Then everything is sanded. After sanding, parts are either stained or painted and the topcoat is applied.

Cabinet boxes are assembled and built. Door and drawers get hardware, hinges and guides applied. Mathis says that the most important machines include a Weinig optimizing saw and Cattanair flat spray lines.

Wood Hollow’s lean, just-in-time manufacturing process is designed to keep waste to a minimum. Many of the projects use non-toxic, sustainable building materials. Products include non-formaldehyde added plywood and low VOC paints and stains, Their coating waste is run in a reclaim machine and reused to eliminate hazardous waste.

Overall, Wood Hollow’s showroom and manufacturing operation are designed to be seen.