Our Process
Our methodologies for cabinet making & design create exceptional outcomes and are integral to every step in the meaningful cabinet design process.
Step 1: Concept
Customers want meaningful design. Engaging our customers is an enjoyable creative interaction of discovery and sharing and exploring ideas.
We help to refine customer preferences for room environment, style, workflow and organization and test these through mock-ups and samples. Our customers are confident that their purchase will be met with an elegant and purposeful design.
Step 2: Designing Custom Cabinets
At Arbor Mills, design can be organic or developed through numerous ordering systems and the custom nature of our work offers an extraordinary range of styling, moldings, accouterments and finishes. Our products are scaled and proportion for you, your styling and your environment to allow advanced compositions that are both elegant and classic.
Our cabinet interior systems are immense and offer unique opportunities to explore and create exceptionally efficient workflows. Our design studio presents options that are unique and allow you to immerse yourself in creative possibility.
Step 3: Create a Prototype
When we develop new-to-the-world ideas, we prototype these solutions to meet exceptional standards of beauty and function. Prototyping is a rigorous and demanding endeavor, yet very creative and rewarding. Your judgment is most important, and you are very welcome to participate.
Step 4: Custom Millwork & Production
We embrace technology like others, but unlike others we are not servants of our machinery. Our machines outnumber our craftsmen four to one yet our woodwork remains bench-made with knowledge and methodologies inherited from one generation to the next.
Merging technology and craft is particularly an ‘American Factory’ invention. Some machinery is computer controlled and some entirely computer driven. They perform repetitive and strenuous work allowing our craftsmen to immerse themselves in their specialty and enjoy the creative and artistic side of woodworking with exceptional results. See the balance between machine and man for yourself. Almost all of our clients tour our onsite manufacturing facility.
Step 5: Installation
We have teams of installation experts and guarantee that all of our woodworking is installed appropriately and functions to the highest standards. If customers choose to employ their contractors, we will assist.
Whoever you choose, we will always follow up with craftsmen to visit your home and fine-tune the appearance, alignments, and function so that you have the best of what we do and can begin enjoying your new product.
“As a multigenerational remodeling company in Naperville, we have had the opportunity to partner with Arbor Mills for decades. One of the greatest attributes of Arbor Mills is that they are able to create any style of cabinet our clients may be looking for. They have built cabinets to match antique built-ins on one of our historic renovations and they supplied kitchen cabinets in a mid-century style for another project. If you are looking for a great company to work with for premium cabinetry, we would recommend Arbor Mills.”
– Steve Shiffler, Shiffler Builders on Houzz
“Arbor Mills did an unbelievable job on our house. We still find ourselves in awe of our cabinetry, and sometimes have trouble believing this is really our home. Not only is the quality of their product unmatched, but the creativity and ingenuity of their design sets them apart from the competition. Look at the photos for yourself; it is clear that Arbor Mills truly deserves a five-star rating.”