How to get DeVOL style, solid wood semi-custom INSET Kitchen Cabinets for a fraction of the cost

Preface

Growing up, I spent summers at my grandparents cottage on the shores of Lake George in the Adirondacks. I’ve often cited this old house (and he things it contained) as the harbinger of my design roots and the kitchen there is no exception. Something about the butler’s pantry cabinets always looked special to me – although I couldn’t put my finger on what, exactly, it was.

In fact, it wasn’t until about a decade ago when I was first introduced to the British companies DeVol Kitchens and Plain English Kitchens, through Instagram, that I had a name to assign to the Lake George cabinets- Inset. Also called “full Face frame cabinetry” this style of cabinet is constructed so that the drawers and doors fit perfectly into the frame, like a fine piece of furniture. This is the original way that kitchen cabinets were constructed and, because of that, it evokes feelings of historic old world charm.

Is it possible to get inset cabinets on a budget?

I knew that inset cabinets were my dream for the cottage (they went so well with the scaled down early New England vibe of it) but I wasn’t sure it would happen. I didn’t have the budget for a DeVol kitchen, or a custom kitchen and inset style are not yet offered in any of the lines available at the big box stores ….so I started searching online.

In doing so, I stumbled on to a site called icabnetrydirect.com and it was there that I discovered that for the same price as base model big box store cabinets. I could, not only, get inset, solid maple, semi custom Starmark brand cabinets but i could get them in any color from any paint brand! Because I was ordering them from this site they came out to be the same price as particle board, baseline Home Depot cabinets! They were delivered pre assembled which meant less cost in labor for the install!

35% off inset cabinetry with code leah35

I was so thrilled with my experience with this company that I have partnered with icabnetry and am excited to announce that they’re offering a 35% discount for any of my readers. Mention the coupon code leah35 to your designer on your first call and that discount will be applied to your future kitchen!

How does it work?

I immediately called the number provided on the website and was assigned a kitchen designer that answered all my questions about the process and everything else I wondered about. One of the first things I asked was how they could offer the cabinets for such a great price. The answer is simple-they cut out the middle man. A lot of kitchen stores sell Starmark brand cabinets, Starmark is a long-established and trusted high quality American cabinet maker. However, in order to exist- to pay their rent, to pay the employees on the floor, to pay the people who come to your home to measure- these companies need to bump up the Starmark price in order to, both, take their share and cover their overhead. Icabnitrydirect.com sells direct from their website to you so their overhead is substantially lower.

The process of ordering

I plan to do a future post about the details of how it all works but the process is super simple and these are the big bullet points.

1. You take measurements of your kitchen. We did our own based on the instructions we received from icabinetrydirect.com but I have, since, had clients who hired a contractor for this job ( it is usually the contractor they plan to use to, ultimately, install the cabinets)
2. You and your personalized kitchen designer at icabnietrydirect.com work virtually to begin creating your dream kitchen. It was really no different than sitting down with a person at the Lowes desk and designing a kitchen with a person there – On the first call you discuss, generally, what you would like from in your kitchen, then your designer will refer you to the website containing cabinet door and drawer styles ( I chose Gillette with barrel hinges and slab drawers for the most antique look) and ask you to select your favorite. Following this call, you receive a 3D virtual rendering which is made using your measurements, cabinet style selection and kitchen goal. You also get an overhead blueprint-style drawing view of your kitchen (with dimensions) This rendering and overhead is just basically a jumping off point. Over the course of the next few weeks we would look together at our renderings, on calls, and tweak things. We added our choice of moldings, pull outs, tweaked dimensions of appliances etc. After each of these calls we received emails with attachments of the updated design. My designer, Sosanna, had a lot of great ideas that I didn’t have regarding the flow of the kitchen and how everything would be most conveniently laid out. I didn’t need to to imagine how it would all fit together. Over tweaked and re-tweaked together until the plan was perfect.
3. I received samples in the mail in the finishes that I was interested in so I could see them in the light of my own space.
4. Even though there were beautiful color options I had something very specific in mind so picked out a custom color and was sent a full door in the color prior to ordering. (stay tuned for a post on how I picked this soft shade of green)
5. I placed my order and excitedly waited the 9 weeks for them to be made. When the day finally came their white glove service delivered right into my home!
6. The cabinets come pre assembled in blocks with the doors and drawers already installed and your or a contractor levels and installs them in your kitchen (stay tuned for a tutorial post on how we installed ours and how we did a few special touches such as the dry goods style holes in the cabinet doors under the sink, the magnetic panels we designed to make our fridge look like a (much more expensive) fully integrated fridge, and a how-to for the install of outlets at the back of the appliance cabinets and water hook up for the pot filler in the back of the coffee station cabinet.)

The Quality

When the cabinets came I was amazed at the quality both inside and out. All the solid maple doors and drawers are soft close, the insides are also made out of beautiful solid wood. The options offered feel endless. Here are a few of the pullouts and other special things I chose:

The cabinet details and special options felt endless

Pantry cabinet with doors that easily tuck in for access to the toaster oven cabinet.

The coffee station and appliance garage.

So in the end…

I was able to create my dream kitchen for a better price than I ever thought possible.

The process wasn’t just painless, it was really fun. I could not be happier with the quality of the Starmark cabinets and the team at iCabinetry.

Get 35% off your new inset kitchen

The coupon code for 35% off is Leah35 and will discount all of your kitchen cabinets and accessories! Call iCabinetry and work with their professional designers to make your dream kitchen a reality. During the call mention the coupon code and they’ll apply the discount to your cabinets.