2015 Wood Diamond Award

Main Category: Kitchen
Sub Category: European
Dollar Amount: Over $25,000

What materials/species were used in this project/item?
Modern Open Concept Kitchen in West Vancouver, Canada
Materials: – stainless steel kick, “waterfall” quartz island counter-top
For cabinet construction: we used a combination of MDF (in a high gloss poly finish) and engineered veneer Wenge

Describe, in detail, the project/item’s construction.
For the cabinet construction We used a Biesse Acritech CNC, a Felder G500 edgeander, as well as a Felder Kappa Format Sliding Saw.

What is the most unusual aspect or outstanding characteristic of this entry?
Surprisingly It took us several months to locate vertical door handles for the concealed fridge door that would match the horizontal door handles for the remaining kitchen cabinetry.

List any items that were outsourced.
High Gloss poly finishing and countertops were outsourced.

How being a member of the CMA has benefited you and/or your business.
We started our business back in 2008.
Because we were new in business and didn’t really know where to turn to for advice we have made quite a few mistakes, let’s call them ” bad choices”.
Since we joined the CMA we turn to the membership forum for advice every time we are facing a dilemma; chances are there is always someone that has solved the same problem we are having and everyone is so friendly and eager to help.For example: forum members helped us make the following decisions:
– to move into a bigger facility
– to do all of our finishing onsite so we invested in a spray booth
– to continue outsourcing our cabinet deliveries for nowAlso the yearly Benchmark Study helps us tremendously in planning our budget, our marketing strategy and in making good management decisions. We would recommend the CMA to anyone looking to save money, save “trial-and-error-time” and gain extensive industry knowledge.