Pete Rafferty of Edgewood Custom Cabinetry was instrumental in giving us an amazing kitchen. We spent a long time thinking about what we wanted and it required custom cabinets, and Pete made us the most beautiful cabinets we could imagine, well exceeding our expectations. Before choosing Edgewood Cabinetry , we talked to a large cabinet shop that also made fully custom cabinets. We were impressed by their large size and highly automated production with sophisticated design software running a large CNC router to make the cabinets. However, when it came down to the details, it became clear that they could not give us what we wanted because their methods only allowed them to make frameless cabinets, and since we wanted full-grain wood, we could not bear the thought of iron-on edge banding instead of solid oak face frames. We wanted premium quarter-sawn white oak with beaded-inset doors, and we wanted a glaze on the oak to highlight the grain, and that shop could not do that. For Pete it was no problem to produce cabinets with these premium options, and his upcharge for them was very reasonable. In fact, his price was well below that of the other shop and comparable to that of high-end semi-custom cabinets from a big-box store.
Edgewood is often a one-man or two-man shop, depending on how busy they are, but that was an advantage, because we got Pete’s personal attention on every detail, from planning to installation. He is very thoughtful and patient, discussing our ideas and making excellent suggestions for improvement. We had a rough idea for the design of the doors, but he implemented the details to make very elegant cabinets that look on the outside like beautiful furniture. We also had some rough ideas on location of convenience features, which he helped us firm up and combine with his suggestions to make a very functional kitchen with loads of pull-outs and storage accessories. The pull-out coffee/toaster station in the middle of the pantry was entirely his suggestion and we absolutely love it for its convenience and neatness.
I am an inveterate do-it-yourselfer, so in addition to Pete, we only had a flooring contractor and a granite contractor, and we did the tear-out, plumbing, electrical and appliance installation ourselves. We wanted to place the wet bar in front of a window, but we needed a shelf above it, so we decided to automate it so it could be down during the day and be raised when the bar was open. Pete made the shelf unit for this and I automated it. We were both very pleased with the result and it is a wow-feature of the kitchen (see the up and down photos). In fact, the whole kitchen is breathtaking. We have had it for a year and a half already as we write this review, and it is still a joy to walk into.
The cabinets are by far the most complex part of the whole kitchen , and you spend a lot of time working with the cabinet contractor. Pete is a heck of a nice guy and a pleasure to work with all around. He is very trustworthy and dependable, and dedicated to making great cabinets for a fair price.