July 20, 2020

Highly functional – and beautiful – storage is more important than ever today. Clients are looking for cabinetry that caters exactly to their needs, whether that’s more pantry space, versatile storage for homeschooling materials or an organized place to put new cooking gear. KBB spoke with four cabinet specialists to find out more about their roles and how they create the cabinetry that makes up our homes.

“After 34 years of making products solely out of wood, we ventured into metal and it’s been quite a journey. I really enjoy combining solid brass, cold-rolled steel and all the different wood finishes we’ve used over the years to create a fresh, authentic, original look.” – Hib Johnson, The Furniture Guild

The Job

“My primary role is to quote cabinetry projects along with all the necessary components. I work closely with many cabinet makers, designers, contractors, developers and other industry professionals. They will often send me information in the form of an organized list down to a simple sketch, and I will try to visualize how everything will fit together so that we can anticipate details and missing parts relevant to the project. I help plan their project, occasionally providing plans and elevation drawings for them. Once the customer signs off on a project, we run the cabinets through our program, where we can then manually make adjustments and customizations as needed and watch out for any machining anomalies or incorrect formulas that may cause problems for production or assembly.”

– Darren Fehr, cabinet specialist, Elias Woodwork

“I’m constantly innovating to produce furniture pieces that have a style all their own. I’ll typically start out with rough drawings by hand of a piece or an element I want to incorporate into a new or existing design. Depending on the complexity, I’ll make physical mockups in the factory or have one of my engineers put it into 3D so I can get a better feel for what it will look like. I usually go through several versions of a design before I’m able to dial it into a final product line.”

–Hib Johnson, owner, The Furniture Guild

“My role is to collect and analyze consumer and industry trends to understand the everchanging needs associated with creating a stylish and functional space. I then use those insights to lead a team of designers to develop new or improved solutions, finishes, materials and enhancements that keep fashionable and relevant products available to our customers. It is a dynamic and exciting process of constant learning and creating.”

-Stephanie Pierce, director of design and trends, MasterBrand Cabinets

Getting into the Industry

“I previously worked for a few different cabinet manufacturers in various capacities and have had many years’ experience working in the construction industry. I started working for Elias Woodwork when its AOS Elite Cabinet Department was still in its infancy. I faced many challenges helping evolve the cabinet department to be functional and profitable. My efforts were noticed and appreciated, which is why I was given the opportunity to take on a leadership role in my department.”

– Fehr, Elias Woodwork

“I worked for a family-owned building materials company for about five years, doing specialty millwork, windows and doors and found myself getting bored. They had a small kitchen business, which I started to become interested in, and within a few years, kitchen sales became my primary job. After 25 years with them, I left to open a business with a local contractor. Two years into the venture, I found myself pregnant with my first child and decided I wanted to have more control of my hours and clientele, so I left and opened my own retail store. Best move ever!”

– Andrea Campbell, owner, Distinctive Design LLC

“I’m a generational furniture maker, so my involvement actually started in grade school. I used to come home from school and stamp finish samples and glue photographs to catalog pages. This company was started by my father, Chuck Johnson, more than 36 years ago, so I basically grew into it. For years, my father always designed our new products for the furniture shows in High Point. Over the years I began contributing design ideas, and eventually I found myself designing most of what we are making today.”

– Johnson, The Furniture Guild

“One of my favorite products to help create was the award-winning MasterBrand Wall Message Center. It is not overly complex or entirely luxurious, but at the time it launched, it was simply a convenient use of often wasted space that was at times an empty boxed filler at the end of the run. As a prior kitchen designer, I knew the value of every 3-in. increment in the kitchen, and this slim, yet highly functional cabinet solution had storage and design benefits.” – Stephanie Pierce, Masterbrand Cabinets

Challenges Faced

“One of the biggest challenges is maintaining quality control and accurate programming when another team assembles the physical cabinets. Fortunately, we have an amazing team here at Elias Woodwork that makes the process highly successful.”

– Fehr, Elias Woodwork

“The challenging part of adding a new design is building it into a product line that fits into our model. Everything we produce is made to order, which is how we’re able to offer all the choices that we do. The product must be designed so that it can be configured to fit the customer’s space and work within our menu of finish materials, countertop programs and interior options.”

– Johnson, The Furniture Guild

“If you are not working in product design, you may not realize a large portion of the effort in getting a new product to market is the internal sales pitch. The “wow factor” isn’t always what is needed or even desired, so just having a unique idea doesn’t mean that it will ever make it to the end user. Often times the research on sales potential, identifying a clear consumer need and ensuring consistent supply or manufacturability are the most difficult obstacles to overcome. The business aspects of creative design can often slow the project down, but ultimately also ensure its long-term success.”

– Pierce, Masterbrand Cabinets

“Sometimes projects require custom manipulation of cabinetry components to complete the design, which is often my favorite part of the job.” – Fehr, Elias Woodwork

Inspirations for Designs

“I look at the space I want to fill – as well the material that I want to use – and ideas will eventually coalesce in my mind on how I can achieve a beautiful finished product. The challenge of doing this inspires me to continue improving our line of cabinetry as we adapt to current trends.”

– Fehr, Elias Woodwork

“The best source of inspiration for me are my customers and their families. It’s important when designing to listen to the customer and figure out what you can do to make their life easier. We have to put aside our personal taste and come up with something both beautiful and functional the family can enjoy for years to come.”

– Campbell, Distinctive Design LLC

“Inspiration comes from the fact that I’m a furniture junkie. Put me in a new room, and you’ll find me scouring the furniture. From exterior form to the engineering, I’m constantly searching for different ways to build something or design elements that could work into one of my designs.”

– Johnson, The Furniture Guild

“I did a kitchen/family room remodel for a woman who has six children, two of her own and four she and her husband adopted. Being a military family, she home schooled all the kids and needed a space in which to do so off of her kitchen. We took the small peninsula kitchen out and created functional cabinetry that had all of the necessary elements she needed and was beautiful.” – Andrea Campbell, Distinctive Design LLC

Favorite Part of the Job

“I am by nature a very detail-oriented person, and I enjoy the challenge of having to keep multiple different jobs straight in my mind and still notice oddities or omissions in customers’ orders. I also enjoy forming a mental picture of a completed job just by looking at the material list and custom details. Visualizing the completed project and hearing about customer satisfaction keeps me wanting to improve our products and strive for excellency.”

– Fehr, Elias Woodwork

“Hands down my favorite part of my job is the satisfaction I feel when the customer is truly happy and appreciative. There is nothing better than having a customer thank you because their new space is exactly what they had hoped for.”

– Campbell, Distinctive Design LLC

“Working with my crew is the best part of my job. Our staff is made up of more than 50 uniquely creative individuals with a common thread of taking pride in the work they do. I’m super blessed to be surrounded by such an amazingly talented group of people. While me and my father are the final say on design, I’m finding that the more I let them be creative, the more fun everyone has and the better our products become.”

– Johnson, The Furniture Guild