henrybuilt kitchen anyone?

I am wondering if anyone has seen an actual henrybuilt kitchen installation?  or better yet, does anyone have one?

Their website shows gorgeous cabinets. http://www.henrybuilt.com/

Does anyone know about costs/ durability?

We have a quote from Valcucine, both the Riciclantica and Demode lines- but I'm wondering if we can achieve a similar look and quality for less $$$?

Roxanne

They have a showroom in Seattle that we went into this past summer because this was one of the lines we were considering. We were not impressed. They had some interesting designs, but the use of materials and implementation to us seemed a bit crude -- sort of the "modern cabin" look (what you might install in a cabin, but you wouldn't install at home.)

 

I had tried to work with their sales people long before the trip to Seattle, and I was at first told that they'll work with any price range.  When we finally started talking details, they said that they won't touch anything below $35k.

Thanks for the information Diane.  We're looking for something at about $25, so clearly henrybuilt is not for us.

Roxanne,

I am in the same boat as you - trying to find a solution between high end German/Italian kitchen cabinets and Ikea. Something in the $20k-$25k range.

I am working with a local cabinet dealer on a line he is putting together that will be the solution to this. I will post pictures when it is complete. We are knocking off Alno kitchen doors with aluminum edging.

There is a serious gap in the modern kitchen market. Everyone is chasing the $45,000 kitchen but it seems no one is going after the mid market.

Here is another thread you might be interested in.

 

http://livemodern.com/forums/materialsmethods/744247117?b_start:int=0

 

 

Roxanne, I must say that our experience with Henrybuilt has been very good. It took us two years to start construction on our house, and throughout, Henrybuilt provided us with quotes, advice, and support. When we took a trip to New York to their showroom, we were very pleased with the quality and esthetics. They use solid wood laminates throughout and high quality hardware. You get none of the wobbly feel associated with mid-range european kitchens. I am sure that we will enjoy our kitchen for a very long time. I would say that the quality is far superior to anything in our price range, and this is for a semi-custom kitchen, unlike most others. Our final price: around 25K. We chose their M series because ofour budget constrains, and then the designer worked with us to help us achieve the look we wanted. They were very flexible and charged us reasonable fees for all of our upgrades. We have not received the kitchen yet as we are not scheduled to finish construction until May, but I am sure it will be the centerpiece of our new home. I suggest you talk to them about your project and budget. I believe you cannot get better service from anyone in the industry. Feel free to mail me with any questions. luca

I went with HenriBuilt for my kitchen on a gut remodel of my loft in Chicago after hearing about them in this forum. They were absolutely fabulous to work with! Communication was terrific across the board. Everything they promised, they delivered.

After the install, a plumber managed to put a burn mark in one of the doors, and Henri Built was even able to match the door we sent for replacement. Not easy with bamboo.

The cabinets look fabulous, the quality is wonderful, and the cabinets look far pricier than the 22k or so I spent, which included a stainless backsplash.

 

Working with HB was one of the easiest parts of the remodel and I love the final result. Couldn't be happier with the experience or the final result.

Happy to answer any specific questions you have.

Dana

 

Previously Roxanne Nelson wrote:

I am wondering if anyone has seen an actual henrybuilt kitchen installation?  or better yet, does anyone have one?

Their website shows gorgeous cabinets. http://www.henrybuilt.com/

Does anyone know about costs/ durability?

We have a quote from Valcucine, both the Riciclantica and Demode lines- but I'm wondering if we can achieve a similar look and quality for less $$$?

Roxanne

 

Thanks for the great feedback.  I will contact henrybuilt and see what they can do for us.  One last question on them... do they arrange a local installer and do the numbers quoted include installation & countertops?

I'm also getting a quote from a local cabinet shop that does a lot of modern work.  Just got a quote from Scavolini and they were at $35-42K. That number only gets the cabinets to Chicago- not to Minnesota and probably not installed.  That's higher than the Valcucine quote we got.  We're also looking at Berloni and Neal Kelly.  Our project has a strong emphasis on sustainability, so we have to factor in those considerations as we look at the numbers.

Roxanne

Roxanne, our quote included delivery but not installation. We too picked bamboo, but with a durat countertop, which may seem like we looked at sustainability, but did not, really. A discussion on sustainability (the real one thing, not the fantasies that companies like GM or BP concoct in their marketing departments to make themselves look relatively good), would require another very long thread. One last reflection is that there has never been a better time to buy american. With the Euro at these levels, Europeans just cannot deliver as good a price/quality ratio.

My numbers included deliver but not installation. My contractor worked with HB and installed the cabinets. i did not get my counters from HB although they do offer a few select products. I went with concrete.

Previously Roxanne Nelson wrote:

Thanks for the great feedback.  I will contact henrybuilt and see what they can do for us.  One last question on them... do they arrange a local installer and do the numbers quoted include installation & countertops?

I'm also getting a quote from a local cabinet shop that does a lot of modern work.  Just got a quote from Scavolini and they were at $35-42K. That number only gets the cabinets to Chicago- not to Minnesota and probably not installed.  That's higher than the Valcucine quote we got.  We're also looking at Berloni and Neal Kelly.  Our project has a strong emphasis on sustainability, so we have to factor in those considerations as we look at the numbers.

Roxanne

 

Luca-

Great comment on the euro. When I see how poorly the dollar is up against the euro, I tend to think how it impacts my ability to travel there- but I forget how it affects products.  For the most part, we are using as many local materials and manufacturers as possible.  But the allure of an Italian kitchen, I have to say is quite compelling!  It's right up there with Italian leather shoes and belts.  With a great name like yours, you can surely understand!

More seriously, this is a remodeling/addition to an existing home so we can't do LEED, but we're going to certify it through the Minnesota GreenStar program.  We will give preference to working with local manufacturers/ suppliers where we can. 

I did get a good quote from henrybuilt- but it doesn't factor in the increase that will occur at the beginning of the new year.  If we iniate the project prior to the 15th of this month, they will offer free shipping.  That's a great deal, but I'm just not sure if we're going to be ready to commit that soon.  We are running into that quite a bit on our project- many price increases at the beginning of the new year.  There will be many late nights in the days ahead, I'm afraid.

Ciao

Roxanne

 

Dana-

Thanks for the info.  Do you happen to have any pictures of your new kitchen?

Roxanne

 

Roxanne, The euro is only a piece of the puzzle. Oil is courting $100 a barrel, money is flowing into the commodity market and the chinese Yuan is going to be revalued very soon. I am afraid that the low price party is just about over and that we are going to have some inflation soon... The upside is that the higher prices of european goods may help the budding modern design industry in the states and give it the momentum it needs. Good luck with your HB kitchen. I suggest you hop over to New York and look at the product in their showroom. That is what sold my wife in the end. I will post pics here as soon as ours is installed, with any luck around March. luca

I'm not sure where you live, but we shied away from the custom builders because we though they were totally out of our price range only to find that we could get custom built cabinets for about the price of a lower high-end non-custom line.  We live in Ann Arbor, MI, so that may make a difference, but we got gorgeous cabinets to our exact specs made with honduran mahogany veneers.  We love it.  So, check that out if you have good recommendations in your area, you may be surprised.

Previously Fran Loosen wrote:

I'm not sure where you live, but we shied away from the custom builders because we though they were totally out of our price range only to find that we could get custom built cabinets for about the price of a lower high-end non-custom line.  We live in Ann Arbor, MI, so that may make a difference, but we got gorgeous cabinets to our exact specs made with honduran mahogany veneers.  We love it.  So, check that out if you have good recommendations in your area, you may be surprised.

 

Thanks for the suggestion Fran.  That's exactly the route we have been heading.  We just wanted to explore all the options out there first.  We started by looking at Valcucine, Berloni and Scavolini (love those Italians!).  We then started looking at US manufacturers and came across Henry Built and Neill Kelly.  We are looking for cabinets that meet our sustainable criteria, so that narrows the field a bit.  We are now looking at a couple of local cabinet shops.  We haven't finalized our choice yet, but it will likely be local. I like the idea of actually being able to see real kitchen installations- rather than just a showroom or internet pictures!

Previously Fran Loosen wrote:

I'm not sure where you live, but we shied away from the custom builders because we though they were totally out of our price range only to find that we could get custom built cabinets for about the price of a lower high-end non-custom line.  We live in Ann Arbor, MI, so that may make a difference, but we got gorgeous cabinets to our exact specs made with honduran mahogany veneers.  We love it.  So, check that out if you have good recommendations in your area, you may be surprised.

 

Thanks for the suggestion Fran.  That's exactly the route we have been heading.  We just wanted to explore all the options out there first.  We started by looking at Valcucine, Berloni and Scavolini (love those Italians!).  We then started looking at US manufacturers and came across Henry Built and Neill Kelly.  We are looking for cabinets that meet our sustainable criteria, so that narrows the field a bit.  We are now looking at a couple of local cabinet shops.  We haven't finalized our choice yet, but it will likely be local. I like the idea of actually being able to see real kitchen installations- rather than just a showroom or internet pictures!

We did our house with Henrybuilt in 2006 before the NY showroom was open, pricing increases, and contraints imposed by the business going volume.  We are lucky to live in Kirkland which is close to the Seattle showroom.  Kitchen, Dining, Laundry, and 3 1/2 bathrooms.  Two years after and we could not be more pleased with the cabinets.  We did the quarter-sans walnut throughout with concrete counters in the Kitchen and Basaltina counters in the baths with Ann Sacks glass tile.  The Architect and designers were outstanding and helped pull all the materials/pallette together for our project.  You pay for what you get with Henrybuilt and that much more.  They arranged and recommended installers for their project.  Pay for good quality installers when installing high quality materials or you could be disappointed.  Like most things, there is certainly a "way" to install these cabinets and tolerences that need to be met.  It took us about 3 months of design iterations for our HB cabinets for all our rooms and in the end our HB architect was spot on with all our needs and her design recommendations. 

If I can help with any questions, please feel free to contact me or post.

Can some of you HB experienced folk try to classify HB prices for me? Where are they situated in a scale between these players?

Siematic, Poggenpohl, IKEA, etc. I thought they were well beyond even those high-end Euro companies, but some of the posts here seem to say otherwise. I've only seen their pics, so I cannot conclude any construction/material quality, but they seem to be the real deal craftsmanship that those Euro ones can't even touch.

If I'm going to pay Euro company prices, I'd at least want to get REAL quality. Otherwise IKEA is a pretty damn good value given their construction is not too far from those Euro ones. They just lack the diversity in style and features.

Previously uncleho wrote:

Can some of you HB experienced folk try to classify HB prices for me? Where are they situated in a scale between these players?

Siematic, Poggenpohl, IKEA, etc. I thought they were well beyond even those high-end Euro companies, but some of the posts here seem to say otherwise. I've only seen their pics, so I cannot conclude any construction/material quality, but they seem to be the real deal craftsmanship that those Euro ones can't even touch.

If I'm going to pay Euro company prices, I'd at least want to get REAL quality. Otherwise IKEA is a pretty damn good value given their construction is not too far from those Euro ones. They just lack the diversity in style and features.

 

uncleho,

HB prices, I am told have increased significantly since we did our project in 2006.  Our kitchen was considered large by HB standards.  Cabinet costs depend on materials.  At the bottom scales there is lamanate --> bamboo --> plain walnut --> quartersans walnut --> teak --> wenge.  Wenge was the most expensive in 2006 and am not sure where wood prices are these days so it may have changed.  We did quartersans walnut and our cabinet package alone was ~ $40,000.  This does not include installation, or countertops.  We looked at B&B Italia which was our second choice.  Although HB was less, we were not impressed with B&B which uses particle board boxes.  Also keep in mind HB uses Blum hardware with softclose for drawers and leaf doors.  Also with HB you get CAD drawings outlining specs within 1/8", an electical plan layout, and we got countertop layout for our concrete which was fabricated by dogpaw.  Also a local company which fabricated our concrete offsite.  www.dogpaw.com

I would differ that IKEA is close to high end Euro cabinets, and there is no comparison to HB. 

IMHO IKEA has some good style but significantly lacks construction quality when compared to B&B and further from HB. Best of luck.

Have you looked into Pedini? They are a good buy for what you get. 40 lineal feet runs about $20,000 to $25,000.