Like the Big Guys...

We give our workers colorful, custom monogrammed coffee mugs.

Just not ours.

Mugs cost money. Money we can use instead to keep our costs low and our work affordable. We stay away from the frills: company t-shirts, custom jackets, colorful logos on our trucks. They're just not us; not our style. Which is why around our very unfancy offices you will see scads of monogrammed coffee mugs — but none of them ours.

Maple cabinets complement original wide-plank pine floors, once covered in linoleum, that were cleaned, stripped, painstakingly repaired, then refinished. We prefer to put our money in our work. We build beautiful kitchens and baths, carefully crafted additions, the very finest custom cabinets, high-tech home offices, elegant decks and sunrooms, efficient closet and storage systems, even hand-made quality furniture.

And we do it for less money than the big guys — you know, the folks with the fancy mugs.

Our reputation for affordable high-quality workmanship and on-budget completion is second to none.

So, whatever your remodeling plans, we can help you afford them.

We are full-service design-builders. We do more than just build with a marriage of careful old-time craftsmanship and the most up-to-date techniques; we can also help you turn your ideas for your home into a plan that fits both your needs and your pocketbook.

Photo-realistic computer sketches like this let you see your finished project long before we actually start building. Our Design Service features the very latest architectural CAD software that allows us to plan your project and show you in full-color, photo-realistic images what it will look like when it is finished. You can view it from any angle, get a detailed look at any feature, and examine it from every imaginable perspective. Why guess? Make sure you love it before we build it.

Our construction services relieve you of the burden of supervising and managing a complex project and place the responsibility and the risk in the hands of trained and experienced professionals.

Independent studies have shown that the coordinated, comprehensive design-build process can save you from 6% to 40% over the conventional construction process.

Our skills have been honed by nearly thirty years of commercial and residential Just because your bathroom is small does not we cannot remake it into a functional, gracious and elegant room. building and remodeling experience. We keep up with the latest techniques, use the most advanced machine tools and the newest engineered materials. But we are also intimately familiar with fine hardwoods and the old hand-crafting tools: frame saws, scratch beads, spoke shaves, jack planes, and molders. We can produce any look from the most high-tech ultra-modern home office to an exact copy of great-grandma's armoire.

Our skills and experience ensure that when we're done, it will be precisely as you imagined it could be.

So please enjoy our web site. We have tried to make it as interesting and informative as possible.

It contains a growing number of original remodeling articles that we believe will help you get started visualizing and planning for your own remodeling project. We hope you find them worth reading.

Thank you for visiting with us today. If you are thinking about remodeling or just have some questions, contact us. We'd love to tell your more about our work over a cup of coffee.

Just don't expect a fancy mug.

Please visit these excellent sites for more fine craftsmanship and useful information.

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The Very Latest...
products appear in the remodeling trade journals long before they show up in Home Depot or Lowes. Of the number of new products recently introduced, here are our picks of the best, the different, and the unusual. We update this column regularly, so check back.

Karran Undermount Sinks

Undermount sinks are preferred by most homeowners because they seamlessly flow into the countertop, eliminating the grunge-collecting lip of drop-in sinks. Until now, however, such sinks could be installed only beneath pricey stone or solid surfacing countertops. There was no good way to undermount a sink in a laminate counter top that would last more than a few years.

That has now changed. Karran Products has introduced a light-weight acrylic undermount sink that bonds seamlessly to the underside of a laminated counter top.

The sink selection is still rather limited (and only in white or bisque), and there are just a few counter top fabricators familiar with the product, but the list of both is growing. At about $300, the Karran sink is no more expensive than a good composite sink, and comes with an incredible 50 year warranty against staining. For more information contact us or visit karranproducts.com.

Sharp Microwave Drawer

The Microwave has always been the red-headed step child of kitchen design.

There is just no good place to put one. On-counter models take up too much valuable countertop space. Under-cabinet units must be small to fit under wall cabinets, ending up too small to be fully useful. Over-range microwave-vent units are too high for safe use by all but the tallest.

Sharp has found the answer with its pull-out microwave drawer. The appliance provides superb access by placing the microwave right at the most convenient height. It can even be installed under a Sharp cooktop. It's not all roses. The microwave does not include a turntable — a rather astounding oversight, and because it is the first one, the price is ridiculous. But still, kudos to Sharp for a long-awaited and much-needed improvement in microwave placement — by a copier company?. GE where were you? For more information contact us or visit Sharp.

Valendrawers Flexible Drawer Organizers

Photo: Valendrawers, Inc. Rarely does a truly clever product hit the market.

Here's one: Valendrawers has come up with a good solution to the problem of customizing drawer interiors.

Their innovative idea: insert a Melamine-coated pegboard base in the drawer bottom. Movable wood dividers fit into the pegboard and can be re-arranged as often as required.

Every other system we know of requires dividers to be cut to fit into slots. Once cut, they can seldom be recut to fit a different configuration. The Valendrawer system overcomes this limitation and is a big step forward. For more information contact us or go to Valendrawers, Inc.

Up-Swinging Cabinet Doors

Photo Courtesy Häfele. We are big fans of up-swinging doors on kitchen wall cabinets. (See our article "Mise en Place...). They are more efficient and much less likely to get in the way of a busy cook. The problem with these doors in the past has been the lack of dependable hinges. The hinges not only have to allow the door to open effortlessly, but also hold it against gravity in any open position. Haefele ("hey-fel-LA"), the German hardware company is now offering swing-up hinges that solve both problems very neatly, making up-swinging doors more practical than ever. Still not perfect, but a big step forward. For more information contact us or visit Häfele.