Crafting Spaces with Purpose: Custom Cabinetry Insights from Harold Morantz

Join us for an insightful conversation with Harold Morantz of Morantz Custom Cabinetry as he unpacks the world of truly custom cabinets. From defining what “custom” really means to offering smart design tips, storage solutions, and material choices, Harold shares decades of expertise. Whether you’re planning a kitchen renovation or just curious about the process, this episode offers valuable guidance to help you create cabinetry that’s both functional and beautifully tailored to your lifestyle.

• What “Custom” Really Means: Harold breaks down the differences between stock, semi-custom, and fully custom cabinetry—and why true custom work offers unmatched flexibility in style, size, and function.

• How to Prepare for a Project: From inspiration photos to basic measurements, Harold shares what clients should bring to their first consultation to save time and get better results.

• Design with Purpose: Learn how Harold’s collaborative process helps homeowners visualize their cabinetry and make informed choices, with in-person visits to the showroom and real-life examples.

• Storage that Works: Discover modern storage solutions—like full-extension pull-outs, lazy Susans without center poles, and microwave drawers—that blend form and function for every lifestyle.

• Materials & Longevity: Harold explains his go-to materials, from durable laminates to plywood interiors, and shares care tips for maintaining cabinets that look beautiful for years.

Transcription

Bella Bennett:
Hello and welcome. I’m Bella, and today I’m joined by Harold from Morantz Custom Cabinets. I’m really happy to have him here with us. Harold has been in the cabinetry business for many years, and what makes his work special is how personal and detailed it is. If you’re thinking about renovating your kitchen, bathroom, or another space in your home, I think you’ll find this conversation really helpful.

We are going to talk about what custom cabinets really mean, what to think about before starting a project, and how the whole process works. Harold, welcome. It’s a pleasure having you here today. How are you?

Harold Morantz:
Thank God. I’m very well. Perfect, perfect.

Bella Bennett:
Let’s begin with something simple, but very important. A lot of people hear the word custom and wonder what it really means. Can you explain what makes a cabinet truly custom and how that’s different from stock and semi-custom options that people might see in big stores? I think this helps clear up a lot of confusion right from the start.

Harold Morantz:
Sure, yep. It’s an excellent question. Basically, stock cabinets are usually made in standard sizes, which don’t necessarily always fit your scenario. They may not fit your dimensions in your house. They’re also only available in a limited number of colors or a limited number of designs. So, different companies who make kitchen cabinets will have only a certain type of line. They may not have another type of line; they may not have the color you want. And they are generally available from the box stores.

The actual box store people who are designing it for you are using their stock cabinets to fit into your space. You don’t get the optimum use of space because it only comes in the increments that it’s sold in, and you may need it two inches wider, three inches wider—and they can’t provide that for you. The same thing with heights, widths, and depths—they cannot provide you with what you need. It’s always a stock item that you have to choose.

If it’s a semi-custom, they usually have a little more flexibility in terms of width, height, and sizes—not necessarily in colors. They may say, “No, it’s only available in a white shaker. This is what we sell.” But again, it is a limited range compared to custom.

When it’s manufactured in a production facility, they have to keep to certain standards to be able to make their profit. I don’t have those confines. As a custom maker, I work with a customer. We pick the color they want. If it’s a painted color, they could give me a Sherwin-Williams color. If it’s a pre-finished product, I carry thousands of different products that can be made into cabinets—not something that you can just buy in only white or only gray. So we have the flexibility of providing the client with exactly the image that they’re looking for, exactly the style they’re looking for. And I’ll provide all of the specifications to fit their house exactly.

Bella Bennett:
Wow, great insight. Let’s say someone is planning to get custom cabinets. Before they even start, what should they think about or prepare? Do they need to bring measurements, pictures, or ideas about style?

Harold Morantz:
Usually when I’m doing custom cabinetry, it works several ways. When it’s custom, sometimes there is a designer involved, and of course the designer will then be sending me designs they’ve already worked on with the client.

If it’s a retail customer that’s reaching out directly to me without a designer, then basically I ask them to send me inspiration pictures. That way I get an idea of what they’re looking for. Occasionally there is a type of product that they’ve seen online, which is from Europe or somewhere that I can’t reproduce. And I don’t want to waste their time, and I don’t want to waste my time.

So the process is: look for the style that you’re looking for. If you have measurements, that’s great. Not all people do. Again, we don’t need exact measurements. If a person knows—even if it’s a condominium or a home—they can send me the architect’s drawings. We’re not worried about it being an exact inch. If we know the room is 20 feet 2 inches wide, if it’s 18 feet 6 inches or 20 feet 6 inches, that’s not going to make a major difference to the overall cost. But it gives me an idea of how many feet of cabinetry there are, how tall they are.

So it’s always better for the client to first come to their cabinet maker with as much information that they already have of what it is they’re looking for. It basically refines the system down and saves a lot of time for the customer and for the manufacturer.

Bella Bennett:
Absolutely. Absolutely, yes. And sometimes people know what they like, but they don’t know how to put it into words or they aren’t sure what will work in their space. Do you help guide them during the design process to make sure the final result works well and also looks the way they want?

Harold Morantz:
Oh, absolutely. That actually is probably the thing that separates me from many other places. We offer a true custom experience. Communication with the client and knowing what they’re looking for—or leading them towards a direction that they feel comfortable with—is really important.
The important thing is to educate the customer about what all the possibilities are. To do that, clients can, of course, look on my website, they can look on my Houzz site, and I can send them additional pictures. If it’s something that we just finished and it’s not on my site yet, I can send them some ideas.
But the best way to do it is for the client to come into my showroom. I’ve got hundreds and hundreds of samples, all my pictures, and I have work on the floor, which very often the client says, “You know, I don’t understand. What does that lazy Susan look like?” So I say, “Well, come into the shop right here,” and we come into the shop. I show them how the cabinets are made. I show them the drawers. I show them, “Here’s the lazy Susan.” “Oh, okay, that’s great.” “Here’s a double garbage drawer.” “Wow, that’s fantastic.” And they get a visual view.
Sometimes people are very visual. Very often people are not, and they can’t foresee things. Of course, we eventually do 3D designs on the computer to show them those items. But the most important first step is for the client to come into the shop. That would be the initial way to show people what is possible.

Bella Bennett:
Next question is actually about that—storage. There are so many ways to make cabinets more useful. What are some smart storage solutions you like to include in your projects? I always find it interesting to hear what’s possible beyond just shelves and drawers.

Harold Morantz:
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Really, the needs of each client really have to be taken into account. There are a lot of cabinets today that are made which give you a lot of pullout drawers. So we tend to do most of our base cabinets with everything with pullouts.
The old days of opening up two doors and having pullouts inside, or having just a shelf inside, are gone. People want convenience. They want accessibility. If somebody is older or maybe has arthritis and can’t reach an upper cabinet, we may design the bottom cabinet drawers with a lot of pullouts, with dividers within the drawers for dishes, for glassware, where there are separators within the drawer to separate the items out so that when you open the drawer, things don’t shake and rumble at the same time—rather than having to reach up into an upper cabinet.
We’ve done a lot of kitchens today where there are no upper cabinets, where everything is all pullout drawers on the bottom. And certainly, if you’ve got heavy ceramic dishes, it’s easier to lift them up and put them on the counter than to reach into an upper cabinet and take down 15 or 12 dishes in a stack.
Now, for corner cabinets, we use many different systems. I still prefer the lazy Susan. The lazy Susan we use has no pole in the middle, so it offers full use of the shelf with no limitations. But lazy Susans don’t always fit into every scenario. Sometimes it’s a dishwasher that has to go right up into the corner. Then the other system we use is called the Lemans Pullout, where it’s only on one side. It gives you some use of the space, but not as much optimally as it should.
So every design, depending on the house and where everything is going, has to be taken into account. But maximum storage is what we always strive for. Pantries will normally have four to five pullout drawers. We will discuss with the client in advance: What’s in their pantry? We get personal—”Do you buy your cereal boxes at Costco?” And then, are they two feet high and you need some very high pullouts, or is it not a major issue for you?
If you use a lot of canned goods, we’ll do a lot of small, shallow pullouts that hold a lot of stuff without wasting space. So that clause—pantries are important for that.
And there are other built-in items that are not in your way. Microwave drawers are very, very popular today. They are easier than reaching over a stove, and when you’re taking out a bowl of soup, you might spill it on yourself. It’s great to have the hood, of course, over the stove, but the microwave doesn’t have to be there now.
Now, the microwaves are made as a drawer. So basically, the whole concept is to give the client the maximum amount of storage space in whatever space they have.

Bella Bennett:
Yes. Perfect. Thank you. Even me, I’m learning a lot from you right now. Thank you so much.
And my next question is about when someone wants cabinets that last a long time and also look nice. What kind of materials do you usually recommend, and why do you think those are a good choice? This is important because most people want something that looks good but can also handle daily use.

Harold Morantz:
Right. In terms of cabinets, there’s lots of different selections of materials. The materials that I like to use, as much as possible, are the pre-finished laminated materials. They come from Brazil, they come from Spain, many are made in Canada and the United States, and a lot of panels come from Italy.
Those are pre-finished panels in stock colors. You can’t change the color of those. It’s like a laminate, but it’s a very, very high quality. There are beautiful ones that are a super matte finish, which are not shiny but look almost like a painted surface. These materials are totally washable. They have a very, very thick edge on every door, which matches the door—pretty well indestructible, and very, very easy to clean and wipe down.

For my interior cabinets, we use pretty well whatever the client would like. Our standard is a pre-finished maple interior, which is three-quarter-inch plywood with a maple or birch finish, clear finish. That is what we usually use for the interiors. It’s pretty water-resistant. It’ll hold a lot of dishes and stand up to wear.

My snowbird clients from Canada or from Europe generally prefer a laminate material on the inside. That is not on a plywood base. Most Americans prefer the plywood—that’s just a cultural thing, especially if you’re from the middle of America. If it isn’t plywood, it’s not real; they think of it as garbage.

The truth is that the Europeans have been using melamine-type and laminate-type products ever since World War II because there were so many trees and forests destroyed during the war that have not been growing back at the same rate. They’re way more ecologically concerned. So they don’t want to cut down the trees. They are using waste material like particle board or MDF, which is laminated with a beautiful material on both sides. It’s laminated at the factory, so it will never come off.

So we have basically different types of customers that are looking for different types of things, but they’re all made very durable. Even a painted finish can be applied with a good acrylic finish to make it more durable. It’s not as durable as a laminate because it is a paint, but they’re still pretty durable.

And it depends—then some clients are looking for very, very high-end, matching veneers that are made out of wood. There is going to be a certain trade-off over a 15-year period depending on the house, for the longevity of that material. Generally, people who are ordering that type of material are people without small children in the house. They’re not as concerned about little kids running into the cabinets with a little tricycle or taking out a magic marker and writing on the doors.

None of the products that are made presently are totally waterproof. But even our doors that are the laminate—they are put on with very, very expensive edge banders, which put all the edgings on with a hot glue, which is at 190 degrees Celsius. And it never comes loose. It’s a very excellent product. So it can’t be used outdoors, but it’s excellent for general cabinetry and even for custom cabinetry.

Bella Bennett:
Perfect, perfect.
And I’d love to hear more about what happens after a design is approved. Can you walk us through the fabrication process, how the cabinets are actually built, and what makes your process or approach different from others? I think people are always curious to hear what’s going on behind the scenes.

Harold Morantz:
Sure, sure. Yeah. Well, we are a custom shop. We’re four people besides myself. My men are all trained in every aspect of cabinet making as well as cabinet installation. So we do both—we do the building and the installing of the cabinets.
Our shop is equipped with pretty well the most modern European cabinet shop machinery to build cabinets. Our saws are cutting without any chipping of the material. Our edge bander is applying the edging of the material with a great amount of heat and will not come loose. Everything is manufactured in-house.
My guys work from my 3D design programs and the shop—they’re called shop drawings—where they have vertical elevations and 3D elevations. They are also given the specifications for all the appliances.
I know that traditionally people leave 24 inches for a dishwasher, an empty space for a dishwasher. Well, that doesn’t always work. There are a lot of European dishwashers that are 23 and five-eighths. And if you leave a bigger open space, it looks terrible. So when they get the specs for the ovens, for the refrigerators—if it’s a refrigerator that is paneled—they know the specs for the fridge.
This is all from Subzero or Thermador or Monogram, whichever company that the client has bought the appliances from. They’ll use those specs as well to make all of the gaps as tight as possible, and not leave large spaces between a dishwasher.
We use, again, the material for the cabinetry can be either the plywood or it can be the pre-finished laminate material, depending on the client. My guys are used to working with all these materials.

All the drawer systems and the hinge systems are based on a European system of drilling holes that everything fits into automatically. There are very few small screws that are used to attach everything. It’s all done with the European hardware that attaches it in the strongest way possible.
All of our hinges open up or they close in a soft-close way. Our drawer slides are mounted under the drawer so they don’t get dirty or rusty. They also can be either soft-closing or they can be—some people don’t want to have handles—they have soft opening, where they push on the face of the door and it opens; it springs out instead of springing in.
And then the most sophisticated system is where it springs in and out without any handles. That’s the most expensive type of slide. But my men are all used to working with all that hardware and all that material.
When they have an occasional new piece of hardware, the hardware companies will send their rep in. They will give my guys total training on how to use that type of hardware.

The common ones today that are very, very popular are the systems where people have a kitchen within a kitchen, where they have a coffee center and the doors open up and then slide into the side of the cabinet. So it’s almost like they have another little kitchen inside their kitchen.
Those have become better over the years and they’re quite efficient now, but they do require a certain amount of training to be able to use them. Our reps will come in and train my guys on it. Then the other thing we can always use as a backup is good old YouTube.
My guys have a computer in the shop. If they need to look up something they’re not sure about, today, go to Google, go to YouTube—you can watch an actual video yourself of that new particular type of hardware. So they’re aware of all the educational options that are available for them for things that they don’t know.
But generally, they are totally familiar with building anything—and building it in such a way, by the way, that it’ll fit into the house.
Sometimes designers design something that’s too high to get into the elevator, and we have to redesign the product because the designer is thinking in the sky of what they like, but it’s got to fit the roof, it’s got to fit the system. So they’re aware of that as well, and they’re trained in that area.

Bella Bennett:
And how about once it’s time to install the cabinets? What should the homeowner expect? And is there anything they can do to help the process go smoothly? It’s helpful to know what to expect, especially if it’s someone’s first time going through this.

Harold Morantz:
Yes, definitely. When we do a drawing, which is a 3D drawing and there are full elevations of every wall, that drawing is submitted to the client. Often there are changes to that. They may see something in the design and say, for instance—a common one would be—some people are lefties and some people are righties.
Usually, most people are righties and we design with the dishwasher to the right of the sink. Occasionally, we get a customer that says, “You know what? I’m lefty. I’d rather use my left hand to put away the dishes.” Well, we just flip the dishwasher over to the other side.
But once the design is approved, that design then becomes the basis for all the other trades. So it will go—I will send copies to the client, I will send copies to all their trades, or they themselves may send it to their trades.
I will then meet with the tradesmen, plumbers, electricians on site, and then basically lay out the kitchen with markers on the wall as to what’s going where.
If it’s a contractor who is totally knowledgeable in all those aspects, of course, it becomes easier. If it’s someone who is a little more of a rough person, who doesn’t have the full experience, we guide him as to what’s going where and why—where we need outlets for our LED lighting, where we need the electricity for the dishwasher, where we need it for the microwave.
So we spend that time with all the trades to make sure that everything is going to order. All those things have to be done first. We can’t go into a house and then find the plumbing is six inches in the wrong space.

Now, sometimes it happens that a client is not planning to move their plumbing and we have to take that into account when we first do our design. If they don’t want to go to that expense, well, we have to reconfigure the kitchen to that space.
So the client has to know, number one, what they want. Once we’ve come to an agreement of what they like, we do the 3D drawing. That 3D drawing then becomes the plan for everything.
No different than a party planner or a wedding—you know, everyone’s got to work on the same page. The flowers have to be the right color, the caterer has to have food, everybody’s got to be there on time, the photographer can’t interfere with the meal.
So we basically coordinate all trades together. And of course, their trades are not my responsibility, but I need them to be totally educated into what I’m delivering because I don’t want to deliver it and then send my crew away because we can’t start.

Bella Bennett:
Yes.
Right after the installation is done and the cabinets are in place, how can people take care of them? What do you recommend to keep them clean and looking like new?

Harold Morantz:
Well, if it’s a laminate material, something like a Formica, that just needs a spray with Windex—it comes clean.
I can’t say it’s never happened—the closest example I can think of is some kids that take a magic marker and decide to write on the doors. You might need a little more than Windex—you might need a little bit of mineral spirits or VARs, which you can get in any hardware store—but it won’t damage the material.
Those materials are really, really indestructible.
But in general, any cleaning product is fine. Something non-abrasive is always better. Something like a soft scrub, which has an abrasive in it, is not suggested for most materials.
The interior cabinetry—a damp rag. Clean it out. You’re fine. Nothing really is going to happen to the exterior doors.
If somebody spills a little bit of oil on a cabinet and doesn’t notice it, again, any type of cleaner will clean that up—as long as there’s nothing abrasive that’s going to scratch the material, that’s fine.

Wood, you have to be a little more careful with, depending again on the type of finish that it is. If it’s a high gloss or a satin finish.
We don’t use that many high glosses these days anymore. Most people prefer the satin. So then again—a damp rag is really all you need to clean it—not anything with lemon or orange oil. Those things can sometimes damage a finish, not right away, but over time.
So we always advise the customer just to use a damp rag, and that’ll take off pretty well most any normal day-to-day products.

Bella Bennett:
Perfect. Let’s talk about cost for a minute. What are the main things that affect how much custom cabinets cost? And do you have any advice for people who want to make the most of their budget without cutting quality?

Harold Morantz:
Well, the cost, of course, is going to have—the largest amount of perception of the cost is going to be—the labor. So the more bells and whistles that are in the kitchen and the more high-end accessories that are within the kitchen, then those are things that automatically cost money.
If you want to have all the heavy chrome on the side and you want to have the maple borough dashboard, that’s going to cost you more than a basic model. So it’s no different than any other product that you’re buying.

In terms of the accessories that you can put in, the materials, of course, have a very wide price structure and most clients are very aware of that.
So nobody is expecting a $200,000 custom wood veneered kitchen with matching doors for $20,000.
But if someone’s buying a laminate, they’re not expecting to pay $200,000. So it really depends—the budget is really decided by the client in terms of what the ultimate goal is, how they have to fit everything into their costing.
If someone comes to me—we do higher-end work—so if somebody’s coming to me and saying, “I just got a quote from Home Depot and it’s too expensive,” I tell them right away, I’m not for you. I’m going to be considerably more than Home Depot. I’m not a stock cabinet company.
I’m providing you with a custom service. I’m providing you with time.
Those things have to be taken into account by the client before they even start anything.
It’s much cheaper to buy a ready-made, 36-inch fridge from KitchenAid that’s not paneled—that’s stainless steel—than it is to buy a $12,000 refrigerator from Subzero that we have to panel.
So they’re really part of the customer’s ultimate decision in terms of what they want to spend.
But of course, the more bells and whistles and the more labor involved and the more expensive materials, the price goes up.

Bella Bennett:
Are there any cabinet trends you are seeing more often lately? And which styles do you think are more timeless—the ones that still look good even after many years?

Harold Morantz:
I mean, there are certain colors that are certainly trendy right now. Light blues are very, very trendy. White oak is a very, very trendy material today.
We had periods of time where we were doing a lot of mid-century kitchens where it was done in a walnut color.
So, I was born in 1950. When I think back to 1950, the kitchens and bathrooms were pink, or blue.
I think back to some of the homes in Surfside and Bal Harbour that are from the 1950s. I love those homes because I grew up in a house like that.
They had a little banquette in the kitchen where everybody sat and ate. There were Harvest Green refrigerators and Harvest Gold refrigerators.

Now, I still find white, combined with another color, to be totally timeless.
But the trendy colors do change over time. Something that’s more basic—a gray or other neutral colors—will last.
But the styling, of course, changes over time.
White is timeless—that is for sure. White is timeless.
But we’ve been doing black kitchens. We just finished a blue and white oak kitchen. It’s really, really, really, really pretty.
Will that be fine 10 years from now? Don’t know. Things are going to change. You know, the styles change.
And then, of course, it depends on the budget of the client.
Some clients can afford to change their kitchen severely down the road, and some people need their kitchen to last for 20 years.
Then I would say, if you want your kitchen to last for 20 years, go with the timeless. Don’t go with the trends.
When you look in the designer magazines, you could go out of your mind with the amount of possible things that you can do, but are you going to want to live with that in five years, in ten years?
So those are all important factors to think of.

Bella Bennett:
Thank you so much.
And for the next question: for someone deciding between custom cabinets and prefabricated ones, what would you say are the biggest advantages of going custom?

Harold Morantz:
The first thing, of course, is selection—that you can have whatever you want.
You know, you can order some beautiful, beautiful white shirts online today that I actually wear, that my wife throws in the washer and dryer and they come out—you don’t have to iron them. They’re gorgeous, and they’re high, high quality. They fit me, they look good.
I have an average body though. You know, if you’re somebody that’s very, very thin or much, much heavier, you might have to have something custom made.
So, the advantages to the custom, of course, will give you exactly what it is you want now, and of course, if you decide to trade up, you can change it and do whatever you like.
Stock is stock. It’s trendy for this year. We don’t know what it’s going to be like in two years.
The companies that mass manufacture hundreds of thousands of cabinets are not looking to change their lines every day. So there’s always a trade-off with custom.
You’re getting exactly what you want now and, at any time, if you want to change it. Stock—you have to take what they’ve got.

Bella Bennett:
And to finish, what is one important piece of advice you would give someone who is thinking about doing a custom cabinet project for the first time?

Harold Morantz:
I don’t think a custom cabinet project would change that much from a stock program.
The first thing you always have to do as a smart consumer is look at your budget, see what you can afford, and then go in that direction.
Certainly, in custom, it’s going to be more expensive. The timeframe is going to be longer.
Now, if you’re buying custom cabinets from Europe, the timeframe is really going to be long because if you’re waiting for product from Germany or Italy—and they produce beautiful, beautiful cabinetry there—but you can’t have it in a short period of time.
I’m usually eight to ten weeks on my lead time, sometimes faster.
They can go much, much, much longer.
The client has to really have a strong understanding of what they’re getting into.
Their total budget is very, very important. Not just what the cabinets cost—what do the counters cost, what are the trade-offs?
This counter over another counter, which contractor are you going to use?
You know, you want to try to save a couple of thousand dollars there, but spend much, much more later.
Or do you want to get someone—and then again—even with contractors, with architects, with countertop people, with cabinet makers—referrals, referrals, referrals.
Make sure you’ve done your due diligence.
You don’t want to buy a car unless you know that it’s a good car. You don’t want to buy a kitchen unless you know it’s coming from a good maker.
So those things all have to be in the customer’s mind before they even consider the project.

Bella Bennett:
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and expertise with us today. It’s been a truly insightful conversation, and I really appreciate how clearly you explained everything.
Before we finish, is there anything else you’d like to add, Harold?

Harold Morantz:
No, I don’t think so. I think we’ve pretty well covered all the areas that are important.
Again, my feeling is always that an educated consumer is a happy consumer.
The more the customer knows what it is they’re getting into, and what the either pitfalls or good parts of it are—because everything has its pros and cons—then they can make the right decision.
And I believe that people who get educated in all those areas—that’s really also a very, very important part of custom design.
You can go into a lot of shops that even do custom, and you just show them your drawings and they say, “Yeah, we can make that,” but they may not give you any other advice. They may not even care.
They just say, “Okay, this is what you want.”
Once it’s delivered, you say, “Oh, I didn’t realize this problem,” and I say, “Well, I try to foresee those problems.”
As I get to know the client, and I get to know their personality, and I get to know their lifestyle, I sometimes make suggestions that can save them a lot in the future.
That’s something that just ordering cabinets from a factory isn’t going to tell you.
So I think that is a good way to start—to be educated and to work with people you trust.

Bella Bennett:
Yes, absolutely.

Harold Morantz:
Yeah.

Bella Bennett:
Uh-huh, absolutely. Totally agree. Totally agree.
Thank you so much again, Harold.

Harold Morantz:
You’re very welcome.

Bella Bennett:
Thank you to everyone listening. We hope this gave you a better understanding of custom cabinetry and what to expect if you are thinking about starting your own project.
For more about Morantz Custom Cabinetry, you can find the details in the episode description.
Take care, and we’ll talk again soon.

Harold Morantz:
Thank you. Bye-bye.