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Products Moulding & Millwork Dan's Millwork Picks
Wednesday, 17 April 2013 13:34
As I spend time in our four kitchen showrooms, I hear customers ask our kitchen designers: "What is the latest trend in kitchen design?"
Now kitchens, unlike many of the products sold by Kuiken Brothers, is more of a "fashion" product and the popular styles change fairly often. Of course some styles are classic and never really go out of favor, but every year some new design trend does emerge. We see the designs show up in magazines, popular design shows on tv and in our customer's tastes. So this year when I hear our customers ask "what is hot, what is fashionable" I hear the same response time after time.........simple is in!
So what does it mean to design a "simple" kitchen. Our customers aren't indicating they want a lack of accessories or options, on the contrary, they want the options that make their new kitchen as efficient as possible. What they are referring to is the architectural or designer style of their kitchen. Gone are the days when we design a kitchen with ornate, multi-layered crown mouldings and fancy decorative on-lays. Customers are thinking practical and thinking about how they want to simplify everything in their lives.
The transitional style, as this latest trend is called, is defined by clean lines, not extra detail and ornate decorations. In kitchens, the look trends towards contemporary but nor all the way. The most popular door style in transitional design is a shaker door. Some companies offer shaker doors with two different widths of stiles and rails to vary the look. Most of the time, the stiles and rails are square to the panel, but a small inside cove moulding is allowed and adds some definition to the otherwise plain door. Inset doors also fit into this genre, as long as they carry only a simple bead design around the edge of the door.
The color that most classically defines transitional is white. White cabinets embody the look of clean and uncluttered. If customers want color in the kitchen, they are adding it by going with a rich tile or hardwood floor and accenting the white with a counter top that is mostly white with a few accents. A nice granite or quartz with some gentle graining or texture seems to fit the bill quite nicely.
Mouldings aren't eliminated in a transitional kitchen, rather they follow the mantra of simple and clean. Most kitchens in this style will use a cove or angled crown. Sometimes the crown can be quite large, but the details remain minimal.
The great thing about the transitional style kitchen is that it is represented in most of the cabinet lines sold by Kuiken Brothers. We find transitional details in our Merillat stock cabinet lines all the way through our semi-custom lines like Kabinart, Legacy, Holiday and UltraCraft. The transitional style is within most budgets for that reason. Due to the fact that the door styles are simple, the costs usually remain reasonable.
We would love to have our designers show you how to achieve the transitional look and welcome the opportunity to work with you on your next kitchen project. Please feel free to visit any of our kitchen showrooms including our upcoming newest kitchen location in Wantage, NJ.
If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me, Dan Hughes at 201-705-5352 or via email at
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Friday, 08 March 2013 07:40
Kuiken Brothers sells many types of doors for every application. Our showrooms display lots of examples of the latest styles and options available from our manufacturer vendors and we will work with you to find a door that meets your budget.
There are times however when you or your clients just want what you want. The driving force behind the door selection is the design and not the budget. The customer asks "Can you make it" before they discuss the price.
For door design requests like this, Kuiken Brothers has always found that TruStile is a quality manufacturer with the ability to turn your design ideas into your next door. Let me take you through how a typical custom door order might occur......
While you might best know TruStile for having over 400 door styles, 66 profile choices, 40 glass and resin options and 14 standard wood species, you may not be aware that over a quarter of all doors they manufacture are custom designs. At TruStile they love custom. Their advanced manufacturing process is set up to produce any custom door in any quantity. This pictorial example delves into their custom door process — from cocktail napkin sketch to final installation. So let's get started...
The inception of a custom door often starts with a skeptical phone call or e-mail accompanied by a rough sketch asking "Can you make this door?" More often than not, the answer is "YES!" To better illustrate the process of creating a custom door, we will use a real life example of a door that TruStile made this past year.
After reassuring a client that TruStile can make the custom door from just a sketch, their product engineers embark on transferring the drawing into CAD software. This involves both science and a little art. Some sketches go into great detail as to the overall door style and exactly what the sticking and panel profile should look like. Others are just a rough outline which allows their engineers to tap into their inner Frank Lloyd Wright to bring the drawing to life. Once a CAD drawing is produced (this typically takes a day or two), it is sent along with a quote to the customer for approval.
With approval, an order is produced for either their MDF or Wood Door plant. In this particular case, the order entered their Wood Door Plant and was made from Select Alder. In order to create the highest quality precision built architectural wood door, TruStile follows the Architectural Woodwork Institute (AWI) standards when selecting wood and handcrafting each door.
After your custom TruStile door has passed their final Quality Inspection, it is packed for shipment to a Kuiken Brothers location. These doors arrived unfinished and were fitted into a prominent radius-top pocket door opening within the new home. They were then stained a rich chocolate brown and outfitted with hardware. This perfect architectural door makes a statement in the room it now calls home and will be admired for years to come.
TruStile Doors and Kuiken Brothers can make almost any door idea into a door reality. If you are interested in TruStile or any of the other high-quality doors carried by Kuiken Brothers, please feel free to contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by phone at 201-705-5352.
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 09:55
If you are designing or re-building in a coastal area that was impacted by Hurricane Sandy, than I would strongly encourage you to take a good look at both the Andersen A-Series and 400 Series Windows & Doors with Stormwatch protection. Both offer protection not found in any standard windows in order to perform despite what Mother Nature dishes out, especially along the coast. Plus, with so many color and style options, you don't have to sacrifice the look and are still able to achieve the architectural style you desire.
Andersen A-Series products with Stormwatch protection have reinvented coastal windows and doors with exterior composite materials that stand the test of time in coastal environments. And they're warranted against corrosion for the life of the products. Plus, they're arranged based on the style of home, making classic architectural styles easier to achieve.
Click here for more information on Andersen A-Series
Andersen 400 Series with Stormwatch protection offer an excellent value for the money, and are the coastal versions of the windows that help make Andersen the most recognized window brand in America. Add Stormwatch protection to create attractive windows and doors.
Click here for more information on Andersen 400 Series
Many of our customers have asked if we will ship to the Jersey Shore and the simple answer is yes. Quite frankly, we have been shipping material to projects along the Jersey Shore, and in all five boroughs of New York City for the past few decades. We have 9 locations and a fleet of over 80 vehicles, so our ability to serve you in territories further than you had expected is even easier than before.
So if your business is requiring you to travel to the Shore due to the demand, Kuiken Brothers is ready to go with you. Please feel free to give me, Dan Hughes, a call (201) 705-5324 or send me an e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We look forward to assisting you with your millwork needs.
Wednesday, 19 December 2012 23:35
If you weren't able to make the The Product Expo on November 8th, or simply couldn't get to all of the exciting, educational seminars, here is a quick recap video.
We offered our customers the opportunity to learn the latest techniques on how to install watertight exterior doors, which was sponsored by Therma Tru.
The experts from The Katz Roadshow also demonstrated how to install longer lasting decks utilizing one of the most advanced, new products on the market, Perennial Wood decking. Perennial Wood is real wood, but the cellular structure has been scientifically modified to offer superior durability in all weather conditions.
We also showed how much impact you make in your window installation jobs by trimming the windows and doors out with our new KB Classical Moulding line. Make your windows "pop" by selecting the historically inspired KB Classical line which is in-stock at Kuiken Brothers. The window installed was an Eagle Window (which will now be called E-Series, part of the Andersen Architectural Collection moving forward in 2013).
And a first this year, we shared tips and techniques for installing kitchen cabinetry in a seminar sponsored by Merillat. Mike Sloggat and Rick Arnold shared tips learned from their years of experience in the kitchen installation business.
Throughout the entire show, Myron "That Drywall Guy" Ferguson shared his drywall installation best practices and had great interactive demonstrations with many of our customers.
Here are some additional highlights from the Millwork Department that you should make sure to talk to our sales team about in 2013.
Contact your Kuiken Brothers representative directly for more details, or feel free to contact me, Dan Hughes at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by phone at 201-705-5375. We had a great time in 2012 and anxiously await many more exciting millwork projects in 2012!
Monday, 12 November 2012 11:30
The idea of Dan's Millwork Picks originated with the idea of sharing the latest and greatest information with Kuiken Brothers' customers in order to help keep you on the cutting edge. When I write a new edition, I am always searching for new products and product improvements in order to be able to share with you something that might give you an edge with your customers. I talk to many of you to find out different techniques you may have for product installations in order to keep myself in tune with where the market is headed. To me, this is common sense and will be the way I continue to look at Dan's Millwork Picks.
But every once in a while, I need to turn my focus from looking forward and to take a minute or two to look back. If you receive any communication from Kuiken Brothers at all, then by now you are well aware that 2012 is our 100th Year Anniversary. We have celebrated this year by holding special customer dinners, focused on thanking you, instead of focusing on the many products from our great vendors. We have special 100th Anniversary Kuiken shirts that we have been passing out to our customers, and in less than two weeks, we will hold our semi-annual Kuiken Brothers EXPO. The EXPO will be a great event where you can see the latest products, learn construction techniques from industry experts and share some great food and laughs with the staff and ownership at Kuiken Bothers, and we look forward to seeing you there.
But 100 years is not just a normal anniversary. The Kuiken Brothers Company is unique and 100 years is quite a milestone. Over the last two weeks, the Kuiken Family held several thank you dinners for our employees. Everyone got a chance to take a break from the hectic workday and spend time with their co-workers and the owners of the company. We were able to share some great food and fellowship and two members from the 3rd generation of Kuiken Family, Doug and Henry Kuiken, shared with everyone their appreciation for the group effort it takes to build a successful company over 100 years. As I listened to Doug and Henry speak of their combined 90 plus years of working and running Kuiken Brothers, I was struck at how personal the company still is for them. As the 4th generation begins to take on more responsibility, this same sense of "family business" has been instilled with them as well. Kuiken Brothers is not a company that they get up in the morning and come to work at and then punch out. Kuiken Brothers is their family and their "family business". They don't just come to work here, they live and breathe Kuiken Brothers.
The most valuable information I can share with you in this edition of Dan's Millwork Picks is that when you buy from Kuiken Brothers, you are buying from the Kuiken Family. Its personal with them, they care that your buying experience is a good one. As a customer, you can take comfort in knowing that with all of the decisions you have to make to run your business, the decision to buy from Kuiken Brothers is the right one. Dealing with Kuiken Brothers is dealing with family.....and that is something you can build on!
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Kuiken Brothers has been providing professional service and the highest quality building materials to builders and remodelers since 1912. Our commitment to be the leading supplier of lumber millwork and building materials in the markets we serve has enabled us to build lifelong relationships with our professional customers.
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Kuiken Brothers is a great source of inspiration and advice for your new home or remodeling project. We offer a wide range of building materials, windows and doors, mouldings and more. Visit our showroom to start a project, meet with your contractor during the project for final product selection to ensure you get exactly what you want. If Do-It-Yourself is your style, we offer the highest quality products that will last and our friendly sales team will treat you the same as any customer that comes through our doors.