Cabinet Exploded

After almost 10 years of the same cabinet design, Conestoga went back to the drawing board in 2012 and redesigned the cabinet for easier assembly and better overall quality. As always, Conestoga listened carefully to the following customer comments and solved them:

 

  1. Splines that hold the face frame to the cabinet, while innovative, are time consuming to insert, gobbling up nearly 30% of the assembly time. That, combined with the problem of missing spline packs (or the customer simply using too many on one cabinet, leaving not enough for the others), proved to frustrate many assemblers. Conestoga solved this by pre-inserting the splines in the face frame groove.
  2. Many customers commented that, while the integrated hanger cleats were nice, the 1/4″ cabinet back was too flimsy for a high end cabinet. Conestoga agreed and redesigned the cabinet back using  1/2″ thick plywood. They eliminated the hanger cleats altogether as the 1/2″ back is more than enough to screw through to hold the cabinet to the wall. The thicker back also provided greater screw hold strength for the drawer glide mounting brackets. Testing has shown that the hold strength of the new cabinet is the same or more than the old one and that the new cabinet far exceeded the KCMA (Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association) standards.
  3. There were comments that the modification charges for a cabinet were too steep and it put the modification options out of reach for many customers and projects. Conestoga has steeply reduced the cost for width/depth/height modifications, enabling the program to become a true custom cabinet for the DIY client, builder or cabinet shop. Now, custom cabinets are the same price as a standard cabinet!
  4. Modifications also posed a problem for many customers because the cabinet SKUs Conestoga would modify were fairly limited, forcing the customer to design around the modification program’s limitations. The new program will allow modifications to nearly every cabinet they offer.
  5. They have made soft close hinges standard on every cabinet when ordered with Blum hinges. Non-soft close Ferrari hinges are still available at a noticeable discount. A soft close piston can be added to the Ferrari hinges for a few dollars more.
  6. They have replaced the Blum Tandem glide with Blum’s new and improved version which allows for 4 way fingertip adjustment of drawer box, allowing you to dial in the perfect fit and alignment.

These are just a few of the many changes Conestoga has made to an already legendary product. Contact a Cabinet Joint professional to learn more.

The new cabinet line (s) are set to launch Feb 11th (subject to change) and will be called ‘Advantage’ (all plywood cabinet) and Essence (particle board cabinet). Conestoga will be phasing out the old construction, referred to as Craftsman and Pioneer, by March 25th 2013 (again, date subject to change), so we have changed our web site to only reference the new cabinet construction method/cabinet lines. Please be aware that until the March 25th phase out, Craftsman and Pioneer are still available, but only upon request or for replacements. Note that the old and new style cabinets can be used side by side in the same job.

We hope you are as excited about this new product as we are. Again, give us a call or shoot us an email if you have any questions at all.

Leave a comment about what you think of Conestoga’s new cabinet redesign!

6 thoughts on “Conestoga to release redesigned RTA cabinet February 11, 2013!

  1. Can u modify widths on wall cabinets? We have a width of 90″ between walls & we are trying to fit double entry glass faced cabinets into it. 30″ cabinets are too wide (15″ doors overhang the counter). Idealy 4- 22.5″ cabinets would be the solution. is this possible or is it a premium charge?

    We have the majority of base cabinets exposed on the back side. What is the most compatible treament color & style wise to finish these cabinets?

    1. Yes we can! Any modification of width, depth or height does come with an up charge, but it is reasonable. As for the backs of the cabinets, we can finish that off with either bead board, plywood or, our favorite option, wainscot door panels. The wainscot is really not that much more than the plywood options, but looks a lot nicer and more like true custom cabinets. The Wainscot it not just doors ‘stuck on’ to the cabinet backs, but one continuous panel with as many individual panel areas in it as you would like.

      Let us know if we can help in any way!

    1. We certainly do. As a matter of fact, we ship many cabinet jobs to Canada as our neighbors to the North seem to pay a bit more for a quality cabinet than we do here in the States, making Canada one of our hottest markets right now. Typically, we ship direct and add on the brokerage and extra fees to get the product to you. You would have to pay any applicable Canadian taxes. However, many of our Canadian customers who live close to the border find it more equitable to pick the cabinets up in the US and take it across the Border themselves. We can supply the documentation you will require to make this happen. Let us know if we can help you with any thing!

  2. Hi Brian, re: RTA program, I’d like to do a 27″w x84″h stack config, as follows from the top down… 15″h top-hinge cabinet, 18″h box for microwave using “built-in” trim kit, 11″h warming drawer, and 40″h base cab 27butt w/ rollouts, including the toekick. A skin down one side to cover the seams, or perhaps a 1.5″ solid panel. Can you do this?

    Also, will the new program include toekick drawers? And can mullion doors (such as Arched Lite, or 9-Lite offset) be sized smaller, for example 15×15″ or 18×18″ (as opposed to simply doing frame only) –thanks:)

    1. We can handle this request a couple ways, either by stacking cabinets per your suggestion or by doing a UCD2784 cabinet (tall pantry) and then deleting the face frame and doors. We would then add on a custom face frame the matched the opening requirements you asked for with door(s) sized accordingly. The only thing you would need to do is to fix a platform made out of 3/4″ plywood at the bottom of all appropriate openings to act as a ‘floor’ for those openings. For finished openings like the top one,the plywood would be finished in clear (we would supply). The other openings could be unfinished plywood as their only purpose is to support the MW, warming oven, etc. Fixing the platforms is fairly easily done by simply screwing wood cleats to the cabinet sides, back and behind the face frame and then simply laying the plywood on those cleats and either pinning, gluing or screwing (from underneath) the panel down.

      Re: mullions, we can do them in any size you need, but some minimums do apply when the door gets too small. The sizes you list are OK. Please note that the Arched lite, Diamond, X lite or oddyssey mullions are very expensive (plan on $250 per door or more depending on the design) and some of the odd designs also may not look good on the square door sizes you list.

      Thanks for posting and let us know if we can help further!

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