Steve Ames, co-owner of Crowne Cabinetry in Boylston, MA, says building cabinetry as if it were furniture is the way to compete against large home improvement centers.

Steve Ames, owner of Crowne Cabinetry in Boylston, MA, believes there is a market for a three-man shop’s product — despite the competition from large home improvement centers. “Competing with home improvement centers is all about quality and creativity,” he says of his high-end residential cabinetry business. Ames credits a switch to new tooling for providing those two advantages.

“We’re never going to keep up with a production company,” explains Ames. “So our strategy is to build cabinetry as if it were furniture. We use lock-mitered corners — the best construction of a frame cabinet you can build. Dovetail drawers are standard. We use Blum tandem undermount hardware, which is full extension hardware. We also use extended stiles on finished ends, which allow the cabinets to be scribed to the walls and floor. We work very closely with customers. We make templates and often have them look at full-scale models.”
Typical turnaround time at Crowne Cabinetry is five weeks from order to completion. An average cost is between $18,000 and $25,000 for cabinetry, although some projects have run up to more than $50,000.
Tooling became an important issue when the company purchased a door machine from Unique Machinery. “I had some profiles designed for custom panels, so I contacted DeHart tooling for fabrication,” says Ames. “They were able to make the tooling for me. I was very impressed with the way the tooling cut. It’s a clean cut. There doesn’t seem to be any chatter. The Unique door machine is a stackable spindle so I have the rail, stile and panel all on one machine. It’s run pneumatically and powered with a three-phase motor. I’m able to take the inserts out and change profiles very easily — I can change all three in less than 15 minutes.”

Additionally, DeHart has fabricated several other profiles that Ames has requested. “I’m looking forward to being more creative with my cabinetry, and I know that DeHart will be able to back me,” says Ames. “Whatever I come up with as far as a design, DeHart will be able to produce it, and I’m happy to know that I can depend on them.”

In addition to the Unique door machine, Crowne Cabinetry is armed with a SAC sliding table saw, SAC jointer, SAC widebelt sander, Casadei planer, Hoffmann lipping planer, Blum door hinge machine, JLT door clamp, JLT panel clamp, and a Dust Technology vacuum system.

“I have other shapers in the shop, and it just took too much time to change tooling,” notes Ames. “Throughout the job, there would be hours involved. My process is to first fabricate the base cabinets and then install them so the granite top templates can be made. Therefore, I had already gone through a phase on the old machine where I would have put in the rail and stile cutters. I would have to take them out and change back to the panel cutters. Then I would have to put the rail and stile cutters back in and start building wall cabinets, etc. There was constant changing going on. Additionally, if I were doing any crown molding, I would have to change out again. Now, I consider these shapers dedicated shapers so I have different cutters set up in them, and that’s all they do. The Unique door machine with the DeHart tooling has enabled me to leave in the cutters and just switch them for different jobs — rail, stiles, profiles and different panels. It’s very helpful and a big timesaver. The Unique machine with the restackable spindles is huge, too. It’s certainly efficient for what we have to do.”

Ames uses all hardwood for his high-end cabinetry, mahogany, cherry, birch and maple being the most popular. “I design all the kitchens — there’s no piracy involved,” he says. “I use KCDw software. After the design phase, we fabricate and install.”

As for the future, Ames says Crowne Cabinetry is always in search of new avenues for improvement. “Our plans are to be more efficient time wise in the shop fabrication,” he says. “Kitchens vary. We just did a very complex kitchen, and I went over the time allowed — so the efficiency of fabrication is a challenge.”

Ames, along with his partner Alan Cosimini, wants to take on a few more employees, but stay small for quality issues. “It’s a family atmosphere here,” he says. “Our idea is to have real quality control of what we are doing. Our success is all due to word-of-mouth and people knowing about the quality of our cabinets. We want to continue to enjoy working with the customers — one on one. There is a market for a company like this that really cares about quality and realizes that the customer does as well. That’s where our niche is. We like the customer to be involved.”