You might think this is just a simple cost-driven budgetary choice. And it’s true that there are some good, budget-friendly alternatives at a number of price points, most of which involve a stock or “pre-fab” cabinet purchase at some big-box home store.

But for our money, the kitchen cabinets that result in the happiest homeowners are custom cabinets. We’ll tell you why, but first, let’s make sure we define some key terms:

• Stock (pre-fab, etc.) cabinet are just that – pre-made in assorted standardized configurations and sizes usually in 2” – 3” increments. If you find an acceptable color and material combination in your local home store, you can take them home and install them usually within a few days of purchase, if not the same day. Many homeowners choose them for remodeling because — usually — they’re the least expensive option.
  
• Custom cabinets at the other end of the spectrum are hand-made to your specifications in almost every respect, including color, hardware, materials, sizes, and shapes. If you have an oddly-shaped space in your kitchen, a stock cabinet might not work in it. Time to installation from the date of your order will vary, as will your cost.
  
• Semi-custom cabinets are something of a hybrid. You order them, and then they’re built, but you’ll choose from a predetermined list of sizes and styles. Price, lead time, and customization vary just as they do with custom cabinetry.

For you as the homeowner, the major practical differences between these three options come down to two key factors: cost and degree of customization/control.

In other words, you get what you want more precisely, but you may have to pay extra for that delight.

Why choose custom kitchen cabinets

First, though, let’s put one myth to rest: You won’t get a “handmade look” with custom cabinets. Just because they’re crafted by hand, that doesn’t mean the people making them aren’t highly skilled professionals, using sophisticated equipment and techniques.

Custom cabinets won’t require you to sacrifice consistency of finish or feel, either. Your cabinets should look “of a set” with each other, no matter what type you select.

Another advantage of custom cabinetry over stock or semi-custom options is the maximization of your available space. Professional cabinet makers can craft your cabinets to fit the available space precisely, so your kitchen benefits from greater efficiency and a cleaner aesthetic.

For example, if you need a deeper shelf on one wall, or a slightly wider fit for a specific corner, you might not find what you need in a limited supply of pre-fab cabinets. If you do, you might have to settle for your second or third choice in color and materials.

By far, however, the biggest advantage a custom cabinetry job will yield for your home kitchen project is the degree of control and customization. With stock cabinets, you’re limited to what’s literally “in stock.”

But with custom cabinets you’re in the driver’s seat all the way. You get the exact color and “look” you want, in the material and hardware combination you want, with the specific sizes you need. Your options are much more extensive.

True, you’ll probably pay a little more for that much choice, at least when compared to stock and semi-custom options — but maybe not nearly as much as you’d think. 

Depending on the size, number, and materials used, you could be looking at a relatively small increase in price for that custom cabinetry. The increase could be a few percentage points, perhaps ten percent or less.

In some cases, though, you might even wind up paying around the same amount as you would for a stock cabinet purchase, depending on the details.

So while you may luck out and find just what you’re looking for in a stock, pre-fab cabinet purchase, if you really want to get the best possible fit, with the look you want and sizing that’s tailored to your home specifically, it’s hard to beat well-made, high-quality custom cabinetry.

Feng Shui Basics for Your Home

In an earlier post, we discussed the basics of feng shui for your entrance area and front door. Let’s briefly summarize that information here before we turn to specific tips for your kitchen:

• Feng shui is a Chinese system or philosophy of design centered around creating balance and harmony between five basic elements: water, fire, wood, metal and earth.
• Practitioners place furnishings, art, and other items in a specific room or area of a home using a compass or bagua, based on those five elements.
• The feng shui elements can be seen in both constructive and destructive modes. Water puts out fire (destructive) but helps wood grow (constructive).
• The overarching principle or goal in feng shui is balance and the clear flow of energy throughout your home. So a lot of feng shui work is about removing obstacles to the natural flow of your home’s “chi,” or life energy.

As Inês Martins, a highly-respected Miami-based designer, puts it: “We always start from the client’s own essence … to know them thoroughly, to ensure that every detail, every element, every space, finds a perfect harmony with what they really are or [where] they really want to find themselves.”

That’s also the essence of feng shui.

Why the Kitchen Is Important in Feng Shui

Every room in your home governs a certain area of your life, according to feng shui. For the kitchen, that area is prosperity and wealth.

The kitchen is associated primarily with the energy, sustenance, and abundance we take from food. In feng shui, that literal energy (food into calories consumed to fuel our bodies) also symbolizes the more esoteric energy of financial wealth and abundance.

So the key to good feng shui in your kitchen is protecting the unobstructed flow of that energy of abundance.

In fact, the kitchen is so important in feng shui that it’s considered part of the “feng shui trinity” — the bathroom, the bedroom, and the kitchen. Together, these three rooms form a crucial framework for the health and harmony of the home.

Feng Shui Tips for Your Kitchen

You can ensure a free flow of prosperity through your home by ensuring a more open floor plan for your kitchen and immediately adjacent areas, such as breakfast nooks and dining rooms. Generally speaking, if a person can move easily from one area into another, so can the energy.

Also, if at all possible, avoid having your kitchen open directly into a main point of egress (i.e., front or back door), if you want to keep that energy from flowing out of your home altogether.

Install the best lighting possible. Dark, shadowy corners and harsh, glaring fluorescent lighting are equally damaging to good feng shui and balanced energy flow. Aim for building layers and levels of lighting, depending on the appliances and functions of specific parts of your kitchen.

Although the kitchen is often a place that collects “stuff” — gadgets, electronics, utensils, and lots of cookware — it’s always better from a feng shui perspective to drastically reduce clutter.

There’s no need to go minimalist in your kitchen style, though. Instead, adopt a rigorous approach to organization and storage in this all-important room.

Use smaller containers to organize small items in drawers and cupboards. Invest in beautiful, well-made containers for items that will be visible (i.e., on counter tops, etc.). And avoid the trap of the “clutter drawer”!

Colors should be carefully chosen. Yellow is considered an auspicious choice for kitchens in feng shui, whether that’s the pale, soft shades of butter or a stronger, more vivacious butternut squash.

To more fully invoke the feng shui “abundance and prosperity” energy in your kitchen, add lovely fresh cut flowers in sparkling glass or crystal vases; a vibrant, healthy potted plant on a table or passthrough surface; or a bowl piled high with succulent, fresh fruit on your dining table.

And finally, no matter how large or small it may be, one of the most effective ways to enhance the feng shui of your kitchen is to keep it clean and tidy. Neglected spaces tend to accumulate dead, stagnant energy, whereas well-tended spaces keep that energy flowing smoothly.