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Across more than 20,000 projects over the past decade, Semihandmade has given IKEA cabinets new, Insta-ready doors, even making their way into the home kitchens of major designers like Sarah Sherman Samuel and Athena Calderone. Those customizations have been the envy of many a design lover whose lack of IKEA cabinetry has left them on the outside looking in.
Now, the launch of Semihandmade for All is about to level the playing field for those with cabinet door FOMO. Whether your home features built-ins from Thomasville, KraftMaid, or a more artisanal solution, you can soon give your kitchen, bathroom, or home office cabinet doors the custom-look refresh they deserve.
According to company president Beth Brenner, Semihandmade finally felt that the time was right to serve the consumers who have been clamoring for the brand to branch out beyond IKEA’s Sektion, Godmorgon, and Besta cabinets.
“We got to a point where we realized we could handle [customization], and our current vendors could sell us these doors as well as the IKEA doors. That turned on the light bulb for us,” Brenner explains. “We were coming off some very strong years, the demand seems to be growing for custom doors…it just felt like the right time to do that both for our company and also the consumers who were asking for it.”
The process of ordering custom cabinet doors can be completed by anyone with a tape measure and an internet connection. The process starts with measuring your cabinet doors, with Semihandmade for All’s measuring guide offering a comprehensive set of instructions to ensure the dimensions are precise and accurate. From there, it’s a matter of specifying whether your cabinet doors are framed, whether you want new hinges drilled, and, most importantly, what material and color you’d like. The order then goes out to the same American vendors who handle Semihandmade’s IKEA orders, who can have these one-of-one doors shipped to customers for self-installation in four weeks or less.
When it comes to style, Brenner notes that anyone familiar with Semihandmade’s IKEA doors “can have exactly what [they]’ve been coveting,” as the identical slate of 41 existing material and color options will carry over to Semihandmade for All. Pick Shaker or Slab doors in an array of neutral tones and three wood grains developed by Chris Loves Julia. Opt for Impression doors in five shades of wood grain. Or follow Sarah Sherman Samuel’s lead with Quarterline, which is the designer’s clean, modern update on the traditional Shaker look.
And if your idea of customized cabinets means going fully DIY, unpainted doors are available in Shaker, Slab, and Quarterline. Brenner estimates that “between 20 and 30%” of Semihandmade’s IKEA doors are sold unpainted, and she expects this combination of customization and color freedom to appeal to professionals. Brenner also predicts that Semihandmade’s database of 3,500 interior designers will love the ability to access the brand’s designs without the trip to IKEA.
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“Many designers consider this two-step process of Semihandmade-plus-IKEA to be a real pain point. They don’t want to shop in both places and assemble everything,” she admits. “Designers can now select from our door styles and colors for any client that wants a Semihandmade look, so they can save their client money which can be put towards other things in the home.”
Conveniently enough, those savings can be put to good use at Semihadmade’s freshly expanded online marketplace. New and upcoming offerings through brand partners include accessories from Hawkins, Caesarstone countertops, Backdrop Paint, and Shelfology shelves, just to name a few.
Today, the US cabinet market is a $4.2 billion industry for kitchens alone—and IKEA constitutes only about 5% of it. As such, the introduction of Semihandmade for All represents quite the opportunity not just for the brand, but also for the design lovers and pros who’ve been waiting for the chance to open new cabinet doors.
“We really believe that Semihandmade for All will be a game changer for consumers, the design community, and our business,” Brenner asserts. “We’re excited to spread the love to anyone with cabinets.”
