AMN Construction · Finish carpentry · Custom cabinetry

Custom cabinetry, built to the room, not a catalog.

Custom cabinets are made to the exact size of your room instead of chosen from stock widths. Any custom cabinetry you need, we will build: Tom has been making it for fifty years. Each piece is built in our small boutique shop in Carpinteria, then scribed to your walls and fitted on site.

Email photographs and measurements 805 886 0988

In short

Custom means every cabinet is sized to the room, so no filler strips make up the difference.
The box matters more than the door. Plywood boxes and solid drawers outlast the finish.
Appliances, sinks and hardware are chosen before building starts, because the cabinets are sized around them.

Cabinet boxThe carcass. Plywood holds screws and shrugs off moisture better than particleboard.
DoorsHung with even gaps. Inset doors sit inside the frame and show every error.
DrawersJoined at the corners and run on slides that close softly and carry real weight.
Scribed fillerA strip cut to the exact shape of the wall, so no gap shows where cabinet meets plaster.
Toe kickThe recess at the floor. Cabinets are leveled from the floor’s highest point.

A run of cabinets in elevation: where a custom cabinet differs from a boxed one.

Step by step

How a cabinet is built, frame by frame.

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How a cabinet is built

Cut the partsSides, bottom, top and back are cut from one sheet of cabinet-grade plywood, so the grain and color match.
Assemble the boxThe parts are glued and screwed into a box, then checked corner to corner so it is square.
Face frame or edgeSolid wood is fixed to the front edges. It is what the eye reads, and where the doors will hang.
Doors and drawersDoors and drawer fronts are made and hung with an even gap all round, the same width everywhere.
Finish in the shopPaint or stain goes on in the shop, sanded between coats, and cures before the piece leaves.
Level, fasten, scribeOn site the cabinet is leveled from the floor’s high point, fastened to the wall, and a filler is cut to the wall’s real shape.

Built by Tom. Fifty years of custom cabinets and finish carpentry, from Oregon and Hawaii to Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Westlake Village, and now from Goleta to Carpinteria. Meet the carpenter

What we do

What is included.

Cabinets for kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms and garages, built to your measurements.
Plywood boxes with doors and drawer fronts in the wood or painted finish you choose.
Drawer boxes with dovetailed corners, an interlocking joint that holds without relying on glue alone.
Soft-close hinges and full-extension drawer slides, so drawers open all the way and shut quietly.
Delivery, leveling and scribing on site: trimming edges to follow walls that are not straight.
End panels, toe kicks, fillers and trim that finish the run against walls and ceilings.

How it goes

Step 1
You email photographs of the room and rough measurements, along with any drawings from your designer.
Step 2
We measure the room on site, check the walls and floor for level and square, and confirm appliance and sink sizes.
Step 3
The cabinets are built and finished in our small boutique shop in Carpinteria.
Step 4
We deliver and set the boxes level, scribe them to the walls, and fasten them to the framing.
Step 5
Doors, drawers and hardware go on last and are adjusted until the gaps are even.

Yours to decide

Decide these first.

Face-frame or frameless. A face frame is a solid wood border on the front of the box and looks traditional. Frameless has none, looks cleaner and gives slightly more room inside.
Inset or overlay doors. Inset doors sit flush inside the frame with a thin, even gap all around. Overlay doors sit on top. Inset takes more fitting and shows it when it is done well.
Paint or stain. Paint hides the wood and suits MDF door panels. Stain shows the grain, so the wood has to be chosen and matched.
Drawers or doors below the counter. Deep drawers are easier to reach into than shelves behind doors, and cost more to build.
How the cabinets meet the ceiling. Run them to the top, stop short, or close the gap with a molding. Each changes the look and the storage.

How to tell good work

Gaps between doors and drawer fronts that are even from one end of the run to the other.
Doors that hang flat and line up, with none twisted or sitting proud of its neighbor.
Drawers that slide without rubbing and close fully on their own in the last inch.
Cabinet edges that follow the wall with no wide bead of caulk hiding a gap.
A finish that is smooth inside the door edges and on the backs, not only on the faces.

What moves the price

The number of cabinets, and how many of them are drawers instead of doors.
Construction: inset doors and face frames take more fitting than frameless boxes with overlay doors.
Wood and finish. A stained hardwood costs more than a painted finish, and matched grain costs more again.
What goes inside: pull-outs, dividers, tray slots and built-in lighting all add labor and parts.

Prices vary with the materials and the hours a job takes. Each job is custom and unique, so we price it once we have seen the room.

Our work

Custom cabinetry, built and fitted.

Santa Barbara South Coast

Woodwork through a Spanish-style house

Tom built the woodwork through this house above the ocean: beams and plank ceilings, arched doors and windows, the kitchen cabinets, the mantels and the bath vanity. One hand in every room, which is why it reads as one house.

Ceiling beams and coffered ceilings · Door installation · Custom cabinetry

A living room with exposed wood beams, a plank ceiling, a wood mantel and arched wood-framed glass doors open to an ocean terrace — Beams, plank ceiling and arched doors to the terrace

A kitchen with stained wood frame-and-panel cabinets, wood-cased windows and a marble island — The kitchen

Tall wood-framed glass doors standing open between a beamed living room and a tiled terrace — Doors open to the terrace

A dining room with exposed beams, a wood mantel shelf and wood-framed glass doors facing the ocean — The dining room: beams, mantel and doors

Exposed wood beams and a plank ceiling above white plaster walls with arched openings — The beamed ceiling

A wood vanity with drawers and doors under a tiled counter with two basins, and wood-framed mirrors above — The bath vanity

Santa Barbara South Coast

Oak cabinetry through a new Spanish-style house

Cabinetry for a whole new house: a pale oak kitchen with a paneled hood, floor-to-ceiling storage in the hall and laundry, a dark wood bar with glass doors, a painted console cabinet, painted cubbies, and paneled wood doors.

Custom cabinetry · Built-ins · Door installation

A kitchen with pale oak frame-and-panel cabinets, a paneled hood, glass-fronted wall cabinets and a white stone island — The kitchen

A floor-to-ceiling pale oak cabinet with four tall doors and four upper doors, fitted into a hall alcove — Hall storage, floor to ceiling

Tall pale oak cabinet doors with long pulls, built to the ceiling — Tall cabinets in the laundry

Pale oak laundry cabinets around a stacked washer and dryer — The laundry

A dark wood bar cabinet with glass-fronted upper doors and drawers below, beside a stone fireplace — The bar: dark wood and glass doors

A low dark green painted cabinet with four paneled doors fitted into an alcove — A painted console cabinet

Santa Barbara South Coast

Painted cabinetry and closets through a remodeled house

Finish work through a whole remodel: a kitchen with sage-green base cabinets and white uppers, a pantry nook with open shelves over a wood counter, a painted bath vanity, closets fitted with shelves and hanging rods, and a stair with new wood treads.

Custom cabinetry · Custom closets · Custom shelving

A long kitchen run of sage-green Shaker base cabinets with brass pulls under a white counter, and white wall cabinets — The kitchen: sage base cabinets, white uppers

A nook with white open shelves above a wood counter and sage-green open base cabinets — The pantry nook

A cream painted Shaker vanity with brass pulls under a green stone top — The bath vanity

A painted white closet with shelves and hanging rods on three walls — A closet: shelves and hanging rods

A narrow walk-in closet fitted with white shelves and double hanging rods on both sides — A walk-in closet

A stair with new light wood treads, white risers and a wall-mounted handrail — New wood treads on the stair

Santa Barbara South Coast

Cabinetry in a log house

Tom built the knotty wood cabinetry and trim for this log house: a bookcase wall built between peeled log posts, a bar and desk with glass-fronted cabinets, bath vanities, a loft railing, mantels and wainscot.

Built-ins · Custom cabinetry · Bathroom vanities

A wall of knotty wood bookcases and base cabinets fitted between peeled log posts — The bookcase wall, built between log posts

Knotty wood cabinets with glass-fronted doors above a granite bar and a built-in desk — The bar and desk

A knotty wood bath vanity with drawers and a tall linen tower beside it — Bath vanity and linen tower

A log-walled living room with a plank ceiling, wood-cased doors and a kitchen of knotty wood cabinets beyond — The living room, toward the kitchen

A bedroom with a log mantel over a stone fireplace, wood wainscoting and a plank ceiling — A bedroom: log mantel and wainscot

A loft game room with a wood railing of square balusters and a plank ceiling — The loft and its railing

All finish carpentry projects

Questions

Custom cabinetry: what owners ask.

What is the difference between custom and semi-custom cabinets?

Custom cabinets are built to any size, so they fit the room exactly. Semi-custom cabinets come from a factory in set widths with a limited menu of changes, and the leftover space is covered with filler strips. Custom costs more and makes sense in odd rooms, older houses and kitchens where every inch counts.

Are plywood cabinet boxes better than particleboard?

In most kitchens and baths, yes. Plywood holds screws better, weighs less and tolerates a leak under the sink far better than particleboard, which swells and crumbles once water gets into it. Particleboard is flat and economical, and works in dry rooms where it will stay dry.

What is the difference between inset and overlay cabinet doors?

Inset doors sit inside the cabinet frame, flush with it, with a narrow gap all the way around. Overlay doors sit in front of the box and cover most or all of it. Inset looks more traditional and needs more careful fitting. Overlay is simpler to build and adjust.

Who builds custom cabinets in Carpinteria?

AMN Construction does. Our cabinets are built in our small boutique shop in Carpinteria and fitted on site by the same people, for homes from Goleta to Carpinteria. Email photographs of the room and rough measurements to purchasing@amnbuild.com, or call 805 886 0988, and we can talk through what the room needs.

Where we do this

Built in our small boutique shop in Carpinteria where the piece is custom, and fitted on site in:

Carpinteria Summerland Montecito Santa Barbara Hope Ranch Goleta

All finish carpentry · see the projects

Inquiries

Have a room in mind? Send us the photographs.

Email photographs of the room and rough measurements to purchasing@amnbuild.com. Matt reads it himself. No forms.

Email Matt the photographs Or call Matt · 805 886 0988