July 26, 2016 Heart of the Home

Volume 5 | Issue 2

Custom is key and the customer is king for Crystal Cabinet Works, manufacturer of fine kitchen and bath cabinetry that make up a dream home.

Next time you spot an eye-catching home magazine with fine cabinetry gracing the cover, don’t be surprised if the photo spotlights Crystal Cabinet Works, Inc. Frequently featured in interior design publications, Crystal Cabinet Works is a top independent custom cabinet manufacturer.

What started as one person, Tom Hammer, making cabinets in his garage in 1947 has become one of the largest custom cabinet producers in the country, with annual sales of more than $50 million. The business — named for the town of Crystal, Minn., where the company once set up shop — is still owned by the Hammer family, who continues to put customers first.

Flexibility is Crystal Cabinet Works’ watchword. The company gives the homeowner the freedom to create a personal expression. Crystal Cabinet Works’ people pride themselves on being good listeners and on truly building relationships with customers. In fact, Crystal Cabinet Works is known in the industry for its customer service department. The company’s service is key to carrying out unique and complex custom projects, and in creating spectacular kitchens and baths for both new and remodeled homes.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to offer 100 percent customized, exceptional cabinetry designed to enhance the investment in a home with timeless elegance in any number of styles, accents and details. Crystal Cabinet Works specializes in authentic looks in cabinetry, wood design elements and finishes. The company purchases only premium woods such as birch, cherry, alder, quarter-sawn white oak, heartwood, hickory, maple, oak and pine.

Décor Galore
Crystal Cabinet Works offers more than 325,000 combinations of wood species, door styles and finishes for individual styles and looks ranging from country charm to traditional and ultracontemporary. Imagine a country French door décor in antique white on closed-grain hardwood. Or, picture Craftsman doors finished in stained oak with furniture-quality cabinetry to create an authentic arts-and-crafts style kitchen. Or, perhaps, a grand impression — a Burlington Roman door style in maple with custom moldings and corbels. How about a rustic retreat, with Country Classic door styles, and stain and design touches inspired by nature to create a cozy lodge? If you like the traditional but not the conventional, Crystal Cabinet Works could combine a pristine dark finish in cherry, adding ceiling height cabinetry and spindle railings for an authentic, turn-of-the-century, period-style kitchen. Of course, Crystal Cabinet Works can create a simple, casual atmosphere in pine or knotty alder for a natural look, too. And it doesn’t end there. Crystal Cabinet Works is always on the lookout for new wood species and finishing, including exotic veneers.

Crystal Cabinet Works offers two custom lines of cabinetry: a face-frame line, Crystal; and a frameless line, Quest. Crystal’s doors are 3/4-inch solid wood frames and the door panels are either 3/4-inch solid wood raised panels or 1/2-inch solid wood flat panels built with miter or mortise and tenon joints, depending on the door selected. Several different looks are achievable with Crystal Cabinet Works’ wood doors, which can be constructed in lipped, overlay, full overlay or inset styling. Additional door selections include veneered, laminate or MDF (engineered wood). Crystal Cabinets also lends its magic to bathrooms and other special cabinetry.

Built to the Hilt
Today, Crystal Cabinet Works has grown to more than 392,000 square feet of manufacturing facilities in Princeton and Sauk Rapids, Minn. The Sauk Rapids facility was recently purchased to give the company the opportunity to broaden its custom product line with several additional wood species and finish treatments, along with increased production capacity. The facilities use today’s manufacturing technologies to make the company’s business processes as efficient and effective as possible. This, coupled with a hands-on approach to each individual order, allows Crystal Cabinet Works to create unique, one-of-a kind cabinetry.

Company personnel begin the custom building process by milling Crystal Cabinet Works’ own component parts from dimensional lumber. The company produces and manufactures cabinet boxes, frames, moldings, doors and drawers, making each piece of the cabinet one at a time to precise specifications from each order. Crystal Cabinet Works has a custom department made up of highly skilled master craftspeople. Using their expertise and ability, they construct unique and complex custom cabinets, perfecting every detail. Crystal Cabinet Works also sets the standard for finish quality in the kitchen and bath industry with premier finishing capabilities executed by its expert staff. They use a multistep process to apply stains and enamels, producing a strong, durable product. Not to be taken for granted, Crystal Cabinet Works exercises great care in packaging and shipping its cabinetry, too. All packaging and loading is done manually, and pieces are prepared for shipment and handling using special care to protect the customers’ investment.

Crystal Cabinet Works’ products are sold through a network of more than 600 independent kitchen and bath dealers in the United States. The company’s 700 employees include skilled craftspeople, custom cabinet builders and finishers, and top-flight customer service and order-processing personnel. The employees are trained and updated to stay current in their specialties. And it shows. Education and communication are an essential part of Crystal Cabinet Works’ success. It’s how the company ensures an efficient company and the highest-quality product.

Crystal Cabinet Works feels a strong sense of responsibility to its customers, employees, community and business partners. The company fulfills that responsibility by providing exquisite custom cabinets and the finest personal service through a network of dealers whose values are consistent with those of the company.

As Crystal Cabinet Works continues its extraordinary business, it’s introducing a few new things to expand its offerings even further. Crystal Color Concepts is a fresh new collection of some of the hottest color trends in cabinet finishes. The Crystal Color Concepts palate includes a spectrum of stains and solids/enamels in shades of blue, green, yellow, brown, gray, red and black. These new colors are available on a variety of woods: birch, cherry, distressed pine, hickory, maple, red oak, MDF and enamel-grade material.

Also, Crystal Cabinet Works recently introduced fresh architectural looks including eight classic door styles; new wood species such as knotty and premium alder and quarter-sawn white oak; and new highlight colors. The thick, chunky drawer fronts, with carved rails and chamfered stiles on the doors, resemble handcrafted wood from Colonial days, creating a distinct, vintage look for the kitchen or bath.

It seems that the more things change, the more Crystal Cabinet Works gets back to the old styles. That includes a style of business that’s based on good old-fashioned customer service.

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