dina and rob’s story

In July 1996, while rollerblading with a 200 person group through downtown Philadelphia, we literally bumped into each other. Light banter led to four hours of talking, and we’ve been together ever since. At the time, we were both working in the corporate construction industry as architect and engineer, gaining a lot of knowledge and experience, and enjoying the energy of living in Center City Philadelphia.

By 2003, we’d had enough of the rushed pace and lack of open space of East Coast city life. We also knew that we preferred working with homeowners to large businesses. We wanted to be more hands-on in our work. So, we sold our house and quit our jobs to pursue a more sustainable life in the Midwest. We chose Madison because of its proximity to organic food, great cycling and bike commuting, outstanding universities, winter sports and beautiful lakes.

In 2004, we started by buying and renovating our own house. Then we bought a few more homes to renovate and sell. Impressed by our work, neighbors asked us to remodel their kitchen, bath, porch or deck. As we got to know more and more people in the Madison area, they came to trust us and they too asked us to provide remodeling or design work. By 2006 we transitioned out of house flipping and focused exclusively on design and remodeling services.

At first we helped homeowners remodel everything from one story additions, to decks, to kitchens and baths. However, we found that as a small company, it was more efficient and cost effective for homeowners when we remodeled their kitchens, bath, and basements; spaces where a larger crew can’t complete the project any faster. Kitchens, baths and basements already made up the majority of our work, so in 2017 we began focusing on them exclusively.

Since 2004, we’ve purchased just about every type of cabinet available: from lumber yards, big box stores, local custom cabinetry makers, the Amish, the Menominee Tribe, you name it. None of these suppliers could consistently provide an excellent product and professional service at a reasonable price. Then we discovered Crystal Cabinet Works.

The quality of Crystal’s product and their exceptional focus on service far exceeds any other cabinet manufacturer we’ve worked with. Becoming a Crystal dealer has allowed us to satisfy a wide range of customer needs, dependably and affordably. We look forward to providing Crystal Cabinets to our clients, as well as the clients of other contractors and designers.

Our guiding principles and how they developed

Principle 1: Excellence

Like many of our clients, we too have been frustrated by good craftsmen who were horrible communicators. Or contractors that didn’t return our phone calls, or didn’t complete their work satisfactorily. From the beginning, our main goal has been to provide what homeowners pay for and expect: an excellent product and professional service at a reasonable price.

Principle 2: Sustainability

Our experiences with corporate culture exposed us to a practice that we both struggled with: an unbalanced focus on the bottom line. In too many cases we saw good design, materials, or construction methods value-engineered out of our projects. This led us to the second goal of our business: a focus on sustainability. Sustainability for us means creating a product that endures in terms of design, style, and use; minimizes environmental impact or improves the environment; AND balances costs. Sustainability has been a guiding principle in our own lives for a long time. Click on the link below to see how we make our business and life choices as sustainable as possible.

principle 3: hassle free

When we first moved to Madison, we bought an older home that was built in 1925 as a garage. Due to the Great Depression, the owners moved into the garage instead of building an adjacent house. Several cobbled-on additions followed. By the time we bought the house in 2004, it was in need of a complete gut job. After starting the work, we discovered that the house was in much worse condition that we thought. We had to rebuild almost the entire house….while still living in it. So we understand what living through the remodeling process is like.

Out of our experience grew our third focus: make the remodeling process as hassle free as possible. We understand the huge investment a homeowner makes when they remodel a part of their home that they use everyday. That’s why we make the whole process as easy as possible. We provide lots of help during the design and selections process, and always maintain excellent communication. Rob and his subcontractors keep a clean job site and move the job along as quickly and efficiently as possible. Above all, we make sure your needs are always addressed in a timely manner.