Kitchen Enthusiast since 1984
Specializing in Kitchen design, Remodel and room additions, serving: Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, San Jose, Willow Glen, Almaden Valley,
Saratoga ca, Cupertino, Mountain View,Los Altos, Redwood City, Scotts Valley, Evergreen, Blossom Valley, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Campbell, Santa Clara
Saratoga ca, Cupertino, Mountain View,Los Altos, Redwood City, Scotts Valley, Evergreen, Blossom Valley, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Campbell, Santa Clara
322 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos 408 354-3507
Hi I’m Everett, owner of Kitchen Enthusiast in Los Gatos California. Here are a few of the questions I get everyday, and my answers.
I hope this will help you in your quest for a new kitchen.
Are your cabinets custom? We sell two brands of cabinets primarily; Columbia cabinets and Omega cabinets. Columbia
cabinets are built to 1/8” increments. That means that if you need a cabinet on the left side of your sink to be 36” and the right side
to be 35-7/8” to keep an exact balance, Columbia would happily build them and there would be no extra charge. Columbia cabinets
would also do similar sizing on height and depth too – with no extra charge. They will also build cabinets with a deeper drawer if
you needed to fit large spice bottles in them, which would cause the door face (if any) to be shorter by the same amount, in other
words, they will customize the face of the cabinet – with no extra charge. So is that custom? You tell me, but I think it is. The best
part of all this is that these are affordable cabinets. They are affordable because these cabinets are built with modern
computerized cutting tools; CNC routers that build highly precise parts with minimal waste and minimal hand processing.
Why are some cabinets so expensive while others are not? They don’t seem that much different. I have wondered this myself
for years. In fact I do not sell cabinets that are expensive, because I personally don’t see the value in most of them. But the short
answer is the cabinet makers cost. If their labor cost is high, their facility costs are high, and their proficiency is low (not using
computerized equipment) because of redundancy, they have to pass all of that on to you – but they have to do it someplace else,
because I don’t sell them! There are a few artisan cabinets out there that are very expensive, but they offer a highly detailed finish
process, usually an old world style finish that is art. They have to pay those artists what they are worth and those customers are
happy to pay it. But if you can’t see the “expensive”, then it’s inefficiency that’s for sale.
How much does a kitchen remodel cost? Surprisingly this is not that hard of a question to answer, not here anyway. You can bring in
your room dimensions and I’ll give you a free quote. It will be 95% accurate – sight unseen – because I have built an accurate estimating
tool using known historic costs from previous projects. My online remodeling estimator is a scaled down version of this same data.
Are you a kitchen designer? Yes. I design with several disciplines; Ergonomic, furniture style and cost. There are 40
kitchen design rules that will aid in making your kitchen “just work” when it is finished. Your kitchen needs to look like furniture,
regardless of your style, and since I am a general contractor I know what things cost, so I am can offer kitchen designs that will
keep you on budget and get you the best “finished product” vs “labor cost” ratio.
Where is your service area? Of course many of our projects are in Los Gatos, but we do remodeling in San Jose,
Willow Glen and Almaden Valley too. We also remodel kitchens in Campbell, Saratoga and Cupertino.
I have a galley kitchen remodel, is there anything you can do that is interesting? Certainly, most if the interesting elements of
a kitchen are seen in the vertical or in design speak the “elevation views”. This is where you find a beautiful tile backsplash
which should be like art in a galley kitchen. You may want to consider integrated appliances – “looks-like-cabinets-appliances” –
remember, every kitchen needs to look like furniture and that includes your galley kitchen. By the way, a galley kitchen is the most
efficient layout.
Do you have cabinets that will get any look, or just a few? I ask because I’d like to get the cabinets from the designer I like
so I want to know if you are limited. This is a question many people have and most don’t even know it a first. But they will as
soon as they determine they like their designer. This is how I can best answer that question; I have both framed and frameless
cabinets. Our framed cabinet like is Omega cabinets, frameless is Columbia. Omega cabinets offer the option of an inset door –
the door sits inside the frame – this is a very traditional look, and they do it for a very good price in Dynasty (Omega cabinet’s
value like). With Columbia cabinets, we can offer both very traditional kitchen, old world distressed finishes or sleek European styled
contemporary “Asian” style or an in-between “understated nature” look; like contemporary in that it has simple elements, but
using nature as the inspiration for materials and colors. Understated nature is the fastest growing design style and when combined
with a social kitchen design, you have your dream kitchen.
I hope this will help you in your quest for a new kitchen.
Are your cabinets custom? We sell two brands of cabinets primarily; Columbia cabinets and Omega cabinets. Columbia
cabinets are built to 1/8” increments. That means that if you need a cabinet on the left side of your sink to be 36” and the right side
to be 35-7/8” to keep an exact balance, Columbia would happily build them and there would be no extra charge. Columbia cabinets
would also do similar sizing on height and depth too – with no extra charge. They will also build cabinets with a deeper drawer if
you needed to fit large spice bottles in them, which would cause the door face (if any) to be shorter by the same amount, in other
words, they will customize the face of the cabinet – with no extra charge. So is that custom? You tell me, but I think it is. The best
part of all this is that these are affordable cabinets. They are affordable because these cabinets are built with modern
computerized cutting tools; CNC routers that build highly precise parts with minimal waste and minimal hand processing.
Why are some cabinets so expensive while others are not? They don’t seem that much different. I have wondered this myself
for years. In fact I do not sell cabinets that are expensive, because I personally don’t see the value in most of them. But the short
answer is the cabinet makers cost. If their labor cost is high, their facility costs are high, and their proficiency is low (not using
computerized equipment) because of redundancy, they have to pass all of that on to you – but they have to do it someplace else,
because I don’t sell them! There are a few artisan cabinets out there that are very expensive, but they offer a highly detailed finish
process, usually an old world style finish that is art. They have to pay those artists what they are worth and those customers are
happy to pay it. But if you can’t see the “expensive”, then it’s inefficiency that’s for sale.
How much does a kitchen remodel cost? Surprisingly this is not that hard of a question to answer, not here anyway. You can bring in
your room dimensions and I’ll give you a free quote. It will be 95% accurate – sight unseen – because I have built an accurate estimating
tool using known historic costs from previous projects. My online remodeling estimator is a scaled down version of this same data.
Are you a kitchen designer? Yes. I design with several disciplines; Ergonomic, furniture style and cost. There are 40
kitchen design rules that will aid in making your kitchen “just work” when it is finished. Your kitchen needs to look like furniture,
regardless of your style, and since I am a general contractor I know what things cost, so I am can offer kitchen designs that will
keep you on budget and get you the best “finished product” vs “labor cost” ratio.
Where is your service area? Of course many of our projects are in Los Gatos, but we do remodeling in San Jose,
Willow Glen and Almaden Valley too. We also remodel kitchens in Campbell, Saratoga and Cupertino.
I have a galley kitchen remodel, is there anything you can do that is interesting? Certainly, most if the interesting elements of
a kitchen are seen in the vertical or in design speak the “elevation views”. This is where you find a beautiful tile backsplash
which should be like art in a galley kitchen. You may want to consider integrated appliances – “looks-like-cabinets-appliances” –
remember, every kitchen needs to look like furniture and that includes your galley kitchen. By the way, a galley kitchen is the most
efficient layout.
Do you have cabinets that will get any look, or just a few? I ask because I’d like to get the cabinets from the designer I like
so I want to know if you are limited. This is a question many people have and most don’t even know it a first. But they will as
soon as they determine they like their designer. This is how I can best answer that question; I have both framed and frameless
cabinets. Our framed cabinet like is Omega cabinets, frameless is Columbia. Omega cabinets offer the option of an inset door –
the door sits inside the frame – this is a very traditional look, and they do it for a very good price in Dynasty (Omega cabinet’s
value like). With Columbia cabinets, we can offer both very traditional kitchen, old world distressed finishes or sleek European styled
contemporary “Asian” style or an in-between “understated nature” look; like contemporary in that it has simple elements, but
using nature as the inspiration for materials and colors. Understated nature is the fastest growing design style and when combined
with a social kitchen design, you have your dream kitchen.
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