Joinery really should be considered an art; back in the days, craftsmen and artists were one and the same.  The only difference is that craftsmen made art that was functional, while artists made art that evoked more of the thoughts and feelings of the admirer. Joinery is the art of working with timber, timber veneer and other panels to produce built in or freestanding furniture and cabinetry as well as other items found in building and construction. A joiner is typically a craftsman with a very particular attention to detail. The skills required to perfect the joining of surfaces take a long time to establish and hone and these days it is getting harder and harder to find joinery companies that invest the time in the development and training of their staff.

Nothing Beats Craftsmanship

Although modern times have made way for more mechanical means of perfecting joinery, a luxury kitchen owner would definitely not object to her kitchen being made by the hands of a master craftsman. The reason behind this is that the final result of the kitchen will depend entirely on the quality of work done at every turn.  Actually, even the strength and durability of your kitchen joinery is at stake if using an in-experienced or sloppy joiner. A luxury kitchen should not only be beautiful to look at, or smooth to the feel; it also should stand up to the different tasks and work done in and around the kitchen.

This does not at all mean to say that mechanically made joinery is not durable or of excellent quality. A small number of luxury kitchen manufacturers are combining the precision and speed of modern machinery with hand made or hand finished techniques to produce very high quality joinery.

Before deciding on a joinery manufacturer,  Always check for reliability, longevity of trading history, reputation, the quality of the product and whether they are displaying the product, and of course, professionalism. Scout, window shop, ask around and most importantly visit showrooms or past work to visually inspect the quality.

Reliability and reputation can more easily be faked these days; just reading the testimonials off the website therefore, would not be enough evidence. However you can surmise a lot more by phoning to make a more detailed enquiry and check out how they handle their business.  You could also ask to be shown a real client’s kitchen or at least a few showroom  kitchens before you begin the next step in the process.

If you are at this stage right now then a couple of reputable companies we have found are listed with website links below.