Make the most of your space, perhaps even under the stairs!

“My husband thinks I’m crazy, but I want to use the space under the stairs as part of our design for our remodel.”

Far be it from us to offer psychiatric evaluations, or to take sides, but! your idea has been accomplished before. As you can see in the image, it’s not impossible, and can work quite well. Your layout may (and probably does) differ, just discuss your idea with your builder, architect or remodeler.

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This specially-configured base cabinet combines the best of a drawer base cabinet with a door-fronted cabinet

“One of my needs for base cabinet storage doesn’t fit with the design of a standard drawer base, nor a base cabinet with full-height doors with rollouts behind? Have a suggestion?”

Perhaps a hybrid door and drawer base cabinet like the one pictured to the right of the stove. There could be two full-width drawers, one over the other, and doors down below. Behind the doors, you could have open storage, a shelf, or even a rollout. The look also fits especially well with a period styled kitchen.

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The four drawer bank consists of all slab style drawer fronts in this Shaker-influenced kitchen

“Large Shaker style drawer fronts: Should they be slab style or resemble a door with stiles and rails?”

If you are interested in coming as close as you can to an authentic Shaker design, then stay with the slab style drawer fronts. However, the wonderful thing about design is that it is all about you! If you prefer the look (and many, many clients do) then by all means, have your drawer fronts made with stiles (those are the vertical pieces), rails (the horizontal) and panel. And speaking of panels: Depending upon the size of the drawer front, you might prefer a raised panel in the frame, instead of a flat panel.

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Careful measuring will result in great fitting cabinetry!

“I’m measuring to see how much room I’ve got so I can design my layout. How close should I measure to the door and window casings?”

You  can measure tight up to the casings, but it doesn’t mean that you have to use every fraction of an inch. (Though you can if need be!) You will at least know how much space is available. However! Bear in mind that if you intend to change your casings, get the measurement of the new casing so that you can take that into account.

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Newton Project home

The recent Newton project completed by This Old House has now hit the newsstands with the Jan-Feb 2010 issue! A great project we are proud to be part of, and you can see the finished kitchen on pages 74 and 75. A lovely kitchen painted with Farrow & Ball’s Wimborne White, with our Newport door and Square Inset face frame construction.

Get your copy today!

(Image courtesy of This Old House)

Crown Point Cabinetry is proud to be a part of the latest This Old House Project in Newton Centre, MA!  Crown Point designers Tamara Raymond and Lois Horan worked directly with the homeowners to provide period style white Farrow & Ball painted cabinetry for their Dutch Colonial Revival Home.

The cabinetry installation is now being broadcast live via webcam on the This Old House site.  Take a look!

Episodes featuring the Newton Centre Project begin airing this month-watch for Crown Point Cabinetry later in the fall!    We’ll keep you posted!

Photographer Jeffrey Stowell peers through the camera, planning the next shot

About twice a month, we like to get out on the road to photograph installed Crown Point kitchens. Our photography team, Photographer/Crown Point Creative Director Jeffrey Stowell, Stylist Luciana Frigerio and PR Specialist/Photo Assistant Stacey Nachajski headed down to Boston yesterday to photograph an impressive kitchen that had been painstakingly finished on site by the homeowner.

After wrestling with city traffic our team began a busy day of taking shot after shot, adjusting the lighting, propping, and making sure everything was just so.  Believe it or not, it takes a full business day (about 7 or 8 hours) to get 8 or 9 great shots!

Our stylist, Luciana, arranges real blocks of cheese and cascading grapes as props in the foreground of the next shot

We always look forward to getting out there and seeing the finished product.  We especially enjoy meeting with the clients face to face, and seeing that they’re using and enjoying their Crown Point Cabinetry.

We’ll be posting the final shots of this unique kitchen in our custom cabinetry gallery next week, so be sure to check back!

Our friends at Yankee Barn Homes recently highlighted a Crown Point Kitchen on their blog, Post And Beam Living! In part two of a posting series they’ve dubbed Homes I’m Loving Right Now, the entry features a stunning timber frame New Hampshire home, with an overall shot of the gorgeous kitchen!

We thought now would be a great time to share our own detailed photos of the kitchen.  Here are a couple more shots for your viewing pleasure!

The range area is made even more beautiful with a New England style hand-painted mural.  The mural is by Christina Neuser, owner of the Urban Crayon, and a commissioned artist for clients throughout New England.

This is a handsome Yankee Barn model home, open for tours by appointment.  You can contact Yankee Barn Homes for a tour, or contact us to help design the cabinetry for your own dream home!

A great way to raise funds for charity is to organize a kitchen tour, opening up a handful of well-designed kitchens to the public for a small entry fee.  Several times a year, Crown Point kitchens are featured in tours like this around the country.   Most recently, the stunning kitchen above was featured in the 5th Annual Palace Theatre Kitchen Tour.  Proceeds from the tour benefited youth programs at the Historic Palace Theatre in Manchester, NH, and we were happy to be a sponsor!

Voted “Best Kitchen Tour in NH” in 2008 by NH Magazine, the tour just completed it’s 5th year of highlighting some of the finest kitchen designs in the area.  This year’s tour was a success, featuring seven homes and welcoming 350 visitors to check out the innovative kitchen designs.

The happy homeowner of this beautiful Bedford home was thrilled to have her kitchen in the tour.  And, our own Christine Dunleavy, designer of the featured kitchen, was on hand the day of the tour answering any questions and sharing kitchen design advice with attendees.

Kitchen cabinetry is Maple finished in Burnt Umber, with a painted island in Antique White for a nice contrast.  And just look at that view!

Charity kitchen tours are always a lot of fun, and this one was no exception.  It was a wonderful event, for a great cause!

This beautiful Cherry kitchen is the heart of a recently renovated 1901 Colonial Revival home in Wayne, Pennsylvania.  The homeowners looked far and wide, exploring options from many different cabinetmakers, before choosing Crown Point Cabinetry.  The family was kind enough to share photos, and to tell us in their own words why they enjoyed working with Crown Point Cabinetry:

“I have been admiring the photos of Crown Point Cabinetry in the pages of magazines like Old House Journal for 20 years.  But I never thought I would get to the point of actually having them in my own home!  I just thought they would be totally unaffordable. While custom cabinetry of the quality Crown Point offers is not inexpensive, it was more affordable than I had initially thought!  And, it’s a great value when you consider the added value it brings to my home once installed.”

“When you are working with a designer from a distance, it is all about communication.  I had a better sense communicating with my Crown Point Designer,  Mark Wirta over the phone and email, than with any of the other designers who I met in person.”

“From the warm and welcoming showroom to the clean, well organized shop, the employees were obviously proud of the work they were doing.  Crown Point will always get my strongest endorsement.”

Homeowners-Wayne, PA