Kitchen cabinets in Carolina Beach

Salt air is not a marketing line

On Pleasure Island, hardware corrodes and finishes fail faster than they do six miles inland. It changes what we put in a kitchen — hinge and slide finishes in particular, and how a door is sealed at the edge. A cheap hinge on the island will seize inside two years.

If it is a rental, build it like one

A property that turns over every week takes ten years of wear in three. Full-overlay painted doors show every knock. We will often steer a rental toward a harder-wearing finish and a simpler door, and put the money into boxes and drawer slides that survive.

Small kitchens, properly planned

Cottages and condos here are tight. The win is rarely more cabinets — it is better ones: drawers instead of doors at the base, a proper corner solution, and full-height storage where there is currently a gap above the wall units.

Carolina Beach is 25 minutes from our showroom at 2725 Old Wrightsboro Rd, Wilmington. Same crew, same warranty, no travel surcharge.

Finishes we build most

Whatever the town, the color decision is the one people find hardest. White shaker, grey and greige, navy, two-tone and stained wood — each page says what it suits and where it goes wrong.