Pat's Custom Cabinetry

Everything went perfectly, and was exactly what we wanted.

I was referred to Pat's Custom Cabinets by a coworker who had her kitchen refinishing done by Pat. I'm actually glad I decided to use someone who has over 25 years of experience with cabinets and woodworking because it shows. Everything was explained in detail and the job was done one week before schedule. I had a contractor come over to do some other work in my house,he was very impressed and asked for Pat's information. I'm very pleased with Pat's work that I even had him do my bathroom cabinets.

Outstanding. The new finish is absolutely beautiful. The price was fair, and all work was done on time. Pat paid great attention to detail, and he was a pleasure to work with. Very highly recommended!

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From first to last Pat did an A-1 job. Appearance exceeds expectations; on time and on budget. Easy to communicate with, returns calls promptly. Workmanship so close to tolerance that when doors swelled a little they started to hit each other, Pat returned quickly to adjust, no charge. Really an artisan. Used to do custom furniture and it shows! (And I don't give many rave reviews)

I was initially going to purchase two new cabinets but after talking with Pat decided to refinish the original oak cabinets. We wanted a unique stain and Pat created it in his shop and sent us sample pictures to choose from. The outcome is awesome and exceeded my expectations. Great Job!

Beautiful, quality work on all of the cabinets and island. He doesn't just paint and leave. He takes the doors ahead of time to his shop where they go through an extensive process. He also built our island in his shop as well. Pat then came back about a week later and painted all of the wood for a process of a couple days, then installed the cabinets and put on all hardware. My kitchen is beautiful! I love it!!!

Wow! I was hesitant to paint our aging/dated cabinets as I didn't think throwing some paint on them would make much of a difference. Was I ever wrong - they look completely different. Some neighbors recently stained their cabinets, and while it freshened up their kitchen, you could tell they were still the same cabinets. Other neighbors had their cabinets painted by a contractor they hired to paint some walls. Those looked really nice from the next room, but close inspection showed old cabinets with good wall paint applied. Pat paints (and builds) cabinets for a living and does it the right way. He used a pre-catalyzed product that gives the cabinets a very smooth and very hard finish. I have no concerns about water damage, although I do wipe them down if I notice standing water. Pat was pretty responsive, fair with his price (more than "house" painters, less than other cabinet painters), communicative with regards to timeline and coordinating with the counter top guys, and knowledgeable. He explained the pros and cons of different methods and products and steered me towards a finished product that I am thrilled with. His estimate included all the details, including the installation of new hinges that required new drilling and filling of the previous holes. (Watch out for that as other cabinet painters either don't do that or charge extra for that detail work) Overall, I am very pleased with the end product and the process was a breeze. If you're looking for a new kitchen without the new kitchen price, this is the way to go.

Pat did a wonderful job of building a home office. He matched the look of our kitchen cabinet and used quality materials. We are very pleased with his work and the way he does business.

Wonderful experience. Pat was professional, punctual, and came in right at quoted price. Pat transformed a tired kitchen into one that looked brand new. He was always pleasant, arrived on time everyday, and always cleaned up thoroughly at end of day. Extreme attention to detail; he is a real craftsman. The cabinets looked like custom furniture when completed. He does not just do a "paint job". Very considerate of keeping the process as easy as possible for those in the home while he worked. Very happy with the result and definitely plan to use him again.

We hired Patrick to reface our entire kitchen last spring. He recommended the type of paint that he said is best for kitchens, and we trusted his professional opinion. The kitchen looked great when he was finished, but within a month the paint was chipping and peeling off of four different cabinet doors on the kitchen island. Patrick came out and told me that the paint was chipping because water had dripped onto the top of the cabinet doors from the bullnose edge of the granite countertop. He said that he would do me a favor and repaint the chipped doors, which he did. Since then I have been extremely careful to check the cabinet doors for water drips after I wash dishes or clean the countertops. Despite my best efforts, the chipping occurred again, and it is very unsightly. (See photos.) In addition, doors and drawer faces all over the kitchen have been chipping as well, even though they are nowhere near any possible source of water. We discussed with Patrick the possibility of repainting the cabinets under the sink with a different kind of paint that would not chip off if it came into contact with water drips. Although it would be a different finish than the rest of the cabinets, we felt it was the only solution to keep this problem from recurring. He agreed to try this, and he came out today to remove the chipped doors and take them back to his shop. I showed him all of the other doors and drawers that have begun to chip as well, and when I told them we felt that it was not unreasonable to expect that 6 month old cabinets should not be chipping like this, he became angry and belligerent. He told me that it was my fault, and that I must be doing something to the cabinets, because the paint "just wouldn't jump off the doors by itself." He refused to take the doors that he came for back to his shop, and stormed out of my house. I expect that any reputable businessperson should stand by their work, and I am very disappointed that Patrick refuses to do this. *UPDATE* April 6, 2015 It has been 4 months since my initial review, and now the paint on nearly all 50 of the recessed panel cabinet doors is deteriorating. In the joints where the recessed panel meets the frame of the door, hairline cracks began to appear, with some small chips. I pointed out a few of the doors with this problem to Pat when he was out here in December. As time passed, the cracks deepened and then the paint began to chip/peel off, exposing the raw wood beneath. (See photos) I have had 3 different painters, all of whom specialize in cabinetry, come out to look at the cabinets. They all told me the same thing--it appears that the doors were not properly primed before painting, which created an adhesion problem between the primer and the substrate. The end result is the paint cracks and peels or chips off. They told me that many different things could have caused this problem. It could have been that Pat didn't let the primer cure properly before putting on the top coat, or that he didn't sand properly between coats, or that he used the wrong grit of sandpaper. There could have been excess dust left in the recessed areas, or the wrong type of caulking was used, or a combination of any of these things. The bottom line is that this problem cannot be fixed. The cabinets need to be totally stripped and properly refinished, or I need to buy all new ones and start over from scratch. They warned me that the cost of stripping this many cabinets would be prohibitive, and that it will be be less expensive to just purchase all new doors and begin again. All three painters were quite surprised when I told them that Pat refused to take responsibility for the problems with the finish, and that he would not do anything more to make it right. They said that when there are problems with any of their jobs, they do whatever it takes to remedy the issue., and that this is the expectation with any reputable painter. Using Pat's Custom Cabinetry has unfortunately turned out to be a very expensive mistake. My advice to anyone hiring a painter is to ask for references from past clients whose job was done several years before, and then go look at their cabinets and see how they are holding up.

Quality was excellent. He did a great job and he is a really nice guy. Unfortunately the paint finish he used started to chip under the sink (no finish can really handle water drips) and he came back to repair that too. A really great small business. We have some other stuff in our kitchen that needs to be fixed on the cabinet (not his fault , my fault) so I hope I can call him to work on that for us. He's very busy but always takes my calls which I appreciate.

Contacted several cabinet resurface, refinish and replacement contractors in San Diego area. Found Pat through Angies list and contacted him after receiving quotes from 3 other contractors. Pats quotation was 40-60% less than other contractors for similar services. Pats team arrived , removed cabinet doors and rescheduled return for the cabinet refinishing the following week. First schedule was 3-4 weeks for completion however he worked overtime / weekends and was able to complete in less than 2 weeks. Entire process went very well. High quality finish on the doors and high quality door hardware. Pat also has a lot of kitchen / home remodeling experience and was good resource for entire kitchen remodel project. Would highly recommend him and his team.

My existing cabinet doors and drawers were in a brown type stain and I wanted to change to a modern shaker white. I had previously worked with another contractor approx 8 years ago on a similar type project and their workmanship was nothing like Pat's. Pat's workmanship is one of the best. He repaired the poor workmanship of my cabinets by repairing cracks, etc caused by incorrect hinge screws. The finish on the cabinets is as if they were new custom cabinets. He makes suggestions and is on site to ensure work is completed to your satisfaction. I have received many compliments on the work he has done and would recommend and use him again for future projects.

We just bought a house with a large kitchen. All yellowish honey oak cabinets in the entire house. I contacted 3 cabinet refinishers and 1 painter but decided to go with Pat's custom cabinetry because of his expertise and crew size. We were is a rush to get our cabinets refinished before we moved in to our new house. Pat was able to accommodate the tight timeline. Pat came out and gave us an estimate. Just by talking to him, you can tell he is a cabinet expert in building, installing, and refinishing cabinets. He is not a painter or just a cabinet re-finisher. This is very important because problem always arising with older cabinets and the staining process is very touchy and its good to have an expert cabinet maker that understands and can resolve issues quickly and effectively. Most painters or re-finishers will not know what to do or with old cabinet issues. Pat's estimate was fair and inline with all the other bids. His crew spent a few days prepping, taping off and covering all the kitchen, bathrooms, and hallways. They spend another two days or so sanding. Pat's did a sample spray/stain and the color we gave him was wrong. This was our fault. We picked out the stain color and when it was applied, it was way too light. Pat worked with us diligently to come up with a custom stain color. He actually had to do a custom mix of brown, black, and a touch of green stain to get the right color to our satisfaction. This is very difficult to get right and I don't believe most cabinet re-finishers would have been able to do this to our liking. The custom color came out perfect. Its like a fine furniture grade finish where you can still see the beautiful wood grain. I dont think most people know how time consuming and how much expertise is needed to get the stain just right. They have to stain, sand, stain, sand and stain again 3-4 times to build up the finish. I did upgrade my cabinets with all new hinges so all the doors had a proper tight close. Pat supplied and installed all the new hinges. This makes a big difference especially in older cabinets. In addition to the refinishing work, Pat and his crew also drilled holes and installed new cabinet pull and knobs. A couple of the other re-finishers said they don't do that, another reason I chose to go with Pat's company. Pat also re-mounted my granite support wood pieces. They also installed new felt bumpers for inside of my cabinet doors for a softer close and he was able to install scribe/molding to cover the very small gap between the bottom of my granite counters and the top of my cabinets. Thanks to Pat and his hardworking crew for all their hard work and effort. Our Kitchen came out perfect and was really transformed. Just a note of caution to fellow Angie's List members. After going through the entire process, refinishing cabinets properly is a lot more difficult than one might think. It really takes a craftsman to get the color and finish just right. Please choose carefully. Also, choose the correct stain color based on the type of wood of your cabinet. A stain color will look completely different depending on the type of wood it is on. I don't recommend doing a custom stain color like we did because it is very difficult to touch up nicks and scratches down the road. With a standard stain color, you can usually buy a touch up stick or pen to easily fixed scratches and nicks.

Pat provided a quote for me via email after I sent some specs and pictures. A quote via email was very helpful because I was already meeting with a lot of contractors for various aspects of our kitchen remodel. His quote was below the three other contractors who gave me estimates, and my phone discussion with him made it clear to me that he really knew the business and paid a great deal of attention to detail, which is exactly what you want with this sort of job. He was patient and answered every question I had. I liked that he takes the doors back to his shop for painting. No other contractor offered to do this, and it is my understanding that this is a sign of high quality work. Every step of the job went flawlessly. Pat always kept in contact with me. I know he spent a great deal of time mixing the exact color I wanted. He was able to get me on the schedule earlier than I expected, and he finished the job in a record 2.5 days. I expected to be out of the kitchen for the week. But you would never guess the job was finished early because the finish truly looks like a factory finish. It's phenomenal. His crew was amazing too. They were very kind, respectful, professional, and hardworking. When the cabinet doors were put back on, they could have done it quickly and had an early start to their weekend. But they spent so much time getting the doors just right--something that was never done when the house was built 12 years ago. It's a testament to the care they put into their work. I highly recommend Pat's Custom Cabinetry. They will transform your kitchen!

In November I emailed several carpenters and Pat got back to me right away, he ended up being the only person to respond but I had a few quotes from Thumbtack.com Carpenters and one from Home Depot. Pat told me up front that he was very busy and would be unable to start before do anything before January 2014 but was willing to come and look at the project. Pat came out the week-end before Thanksgiving to take a look. What I liked about Pat was his honesty about not being able to get the project right away. Pat said if it was a project that needed to be done the following month he would not be able to accommodate. I appreciated his honesty, he was not going to take my money and string me along. I called him mid January and he came to our home to take the measurements. Pat knew I wanted a lot of drawers and he had several helpful ideas about sizing and number of drawers. He created a drawing and emailed it to me along with a quote. The quote included the cabinets, his demo of my cabinets and putting the drawer pulls on. Pat told me he would be able to make the cabinets toward the end of February and install them in March and I again appreciated him letting us know what his timeline looked like. Pat also said it may take 2 days to demo and install but he would try and get it done in one. Pat called us last week and told us the cabinets were ready so we set up the date for installation. Today Pat brought our new bathroom cabinets, demo'd the old, removed a large mirror without breaking it, Changed the leaky valves without an extra charge for labor and installed the 8' bank of cabinets. Pat also attached all the pulls and removed the debris from the old cabinets without making a mess. He and his helper Joey were able to do it all in a day. The price was great, the cabinets are a beautiful maple. very sturdy and fit beautifully.

Pat refaced cabinets in our kitchen (cherry wood) and our bathroom (glazed maple wood). He also built new drawers with new slides for both rooms. The whole process took about 2 weeks in the house (plus Pat had done all the prep and staining of the new cabinet doors, and building of the drawers in his own shop prior). The quality of the new drawers and doors is excellent. He also did an excellent job of staining and finishing - he was very patient and flexible in terms of coming up with the perfect color to match our kitchen/bathrooms (we had to match tile flooring and granite countertops). The result (in the kitchen) was a lovely, warm medium brown-toned cherry wood. The bathroom cabinet color was also excellent. Other than a few minor hiccups during prep/installation, the project went well and we are very happy with the end results. Both rooms look amazingly improved with the new cabinets.

Painted our kitchen and provided new doors and fronts did a great job and would use him again in the future,

It couldn't gave gone better. Pat is a perfectionist and when the job was done there was a small mistake and he came back a couple weeks later and patched it up. Using Pat vs putting in all new cabinets saved us a huge amount of money. It looks like a new kitchen.

Signed contract in April and started to do work. What we liked was that Pat did all the work himself, no subbing out or having workmen do the job. He ran into problems with our doors due to damaged wood grain and suggested we purchase new ones and he would split the cost. Agreed to do so. We also wanted new crown molding on cabinets along with new baseboard around kitchen. Brought book so we could choose style and guided us, as we had wanted to glaze the doors and moldings, towards what would show off the best with that finish. Ran into family emergency and had to leave country for two weeks. Was very accommodating and said would have doors finished when we returned. Returned and was involved with another project but gave us a reasonable time frame when would start work again. Started work again but we had to leave for another four days. I think we were trying his patience but he was extremely patient with us. When he brought the doors in they were magnificent and matched the stiles he had done previously. Awhile later he brought the moldings but, alas, they were too dark a tint for what was there. He took them back and redid them and they came out perfect. Today, 7-18-13, he arrived on time and proceeded to install all the crowns and baseboards. There were a few areas where the tint came out too light and did not match the rest of the cabinets. He taped off those areas and reshot them to perfection. Pat taped off and sealed our entire kitchen to protect from overspray and sanding dust. The site was left neat and clean every work day and he was very forthcoming with any schedule changes and accommodated our scheduling difficulties. He is very attentive to detail even to those areas not visible outwardly and was willing to make it right if needed. The best part was the quality of his work and professionalism. i would highly recommend him.

Pat is a real professional cabinet refinisher. He understands the colors and how to match the woods. We had a challenge in that the cabinets were 20 years old with original maple color but exposure to sun had left uneven colorations and water damage from years of use. He was able to bring it all together, plus match the new refrigerator panels to the patina of the maple. He also helped me find the right color to put a dark stain on the island. He spent an hour with me moving samples around the kitchen and finding just the right color to work with the granite, the existing maple cabinets and the walls. When he came to do the work he communicated exactly the time required and masked off everything so nothing was effected by the paint. On top of all this he is reasonably priced. I love my cabinets, they are so smooth to the touch now and have beautiful satin finishes. I could not recommend him more highly.

The quote was very reasonable, he was right in line with everyone else. The quote process was informal. It was a conversation on the phone. He was very nice. I gave him the information and he was able to visualize it. He was a nice guy. He seemed meticulous and detailed oriented. I felt confident in talking to him that he would do a quality job.

We selected Pat, because he was a "local" business. Pat arrived on the date & time scheduled. He was polite and friendly. We walked through our desired work to be performed. Upon departing, he promised to send us an estimate in approximately a week. We NEVER heard from him again. No e-mail, no phone call, no mail......NOTHING. Not a good work ethic and apparently a waste of our time. This experience doesn't promote building faith in contractors. Fortunately, a short time later, we employed another contractor from Angie's list for an entirely different job (crown molding) and she was OUTSTANDING! SHE restored our faith in contractors.

We hired Pat after interviewing 3 cabinet refinisher's and while the others may have been just as good, Pat’s business style and personality stood out. It was obvious throughout the process that he takes pride in his work and wanted to do the best he could with our 20 yr old med. honey oak cabinets, some of which were in pretty sad shape from water and sun damage. After toying with converting to white, we decided on a med. walnut & replacing the old hinges with brushed nickel and adding knobs. Pat was to purchase the knobs and hinges, and work to raise the platform for the built-in microwave and oven. These were open ended side deals with estimated costs, I’ll be honest, I don’t like open ended costs, but Pat actually came in a little under the estimate. He could have taken advantage of the situation, but did not. The doors and drawer front panels were removed and refinished in his shop. Refinishing the cabinet framework is a messy process, yet Pat took great care to ensure the entire area was sealed off from the rest of the house. Bottom line, we couldn’t be happier with Pat and the finished project.