Raising Kitchen Value With a Low-Cost, High-Style Approach

Chevon Villanueva, Select Design Studio, Houston, Texas

Today’s home buyers want builders who can provide them with affordable kitchen designs that meet their need for style and personalization. By using a “one-stop-shop” approach, Select Design Studio provides our customers with options in flooring, cabinetry, countertops, brick and more.

We have two locations in Houston and serve large builders such as DR Horton, Woodridge Homes and Mercedes Homes. DR Horton offers Aristokraft as a standard in its homes because it has a good array of colors and good quality.

Making style affordable
Typically a customer will come into the studio and fall in love with a cabinet design; then we will work the entire design around that cabinet. For example, they may fall in love with the Aristokraft Java Glaze, which might be a higher price, but we can help meet their budget with other things, such as lower end countertops so they can keep the cabinets they want.

Aristokraft offers attractive, affordably priced options to choose from such as the Saddle color, which is the most popular color with our customers. Another highly desirable option is raised panel Birch. It’s affordable enough to do a whole kitchen in Birch; and a lot of people comment on it and everyone likes it.

High style upgrades
We help our customers achieve a high style look by offering upgrades. For example, if a customer can’t afford higher end doors, we can upgrade with glass door inserts that allow them to show off their china. Customers are also drawn to Aristokraft’s rope trim, lazy Susan drawers, tilt out trays, and raised panels, which are very popular.

Also, if you stay within the standard color choices, you can offer customers another cabinet height, which is not as expensive as an upgrade might be in another style. We can use cabinets up to 42 inches in height, which gives a kitchen a grand look.

Customers see the difference
For many customers, seeing is believing. Sometimes you have to show them the difference in heights and demonstrate how it fits in their budget, but for some people, as soon as they see it, they have to have it! In the showroom we display both the standard kitchen and the upgrade options side-by-side so they can compare.

“Aristokraft goes out of the way to help us fit their styles into peoples’ budgets. The cabinetry is affordable and gives our buyers good options.” — Chevon Villanueva

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