By Matt Wiley
Hui You has six kitchens, none of which are capable of cooking a meal. That’s because these kitchens make up the impressive showroom at Cabinet & Stone International’s N. 56th St. location in Temple Terrace, only 20-30 minutes from most of Wesley Chapel.
The 2,000 sq.-ft. showroom is not only home to several sample kitchen designs, it also features samples of the many different kinds and colors of cabinets and countertops that Hui’s family-owned company has been installing in homes around the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel areas since 2004.
“We specialize in all-wood cabinets and granite countertops,” says Hui. “We provide everything from measuring and designing, to installing the cabinets and countertops.”
With the housing market finally beginning to bounce back, Hui says Cabinet & Stone is the perfect place to begin a kitchen or bathroom renovation project.
“That is often what draws buyers to a house,” Hui explains. “If you do want to sell your house in this market, you need a new kitchen. People don’t want a ‘90s’- style kitchen or a kitchen that looks 15 or 20 years old.”
She says that she sees many companies in the same line of business that charge an exorbitant amount for cabinets or granite countertops and that Cabinet & Stone prides itself in being able to beat competitor’s prices by as much as half in some cases.
“When we see (other company’s prices), we know that we are saving people money,” she says.
Hui attributes much of her customers’ satisfaction to Cabinet & Stone’s quick turnaround times. She says that at most other places, the customers end up having to wait anywhere from six to eight weeks for their order to come in and be installed.
At Cabinet & Stone, everything that is featured in the showroom is kept in stock in the company’s 30,000-sq.-ft. warehouse. “Here,” she says, ”you can buy, and take home, your cabinets the same day.”
Most of her business, she says, comes from “word of mouth” from Cabinet & Stone’s many happy customers, several of which have recently come from New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, in part because of advertising in this publication. Among those are Michele and Bob Lucas, who recently had new cabinets and countertops installed in the master bathroom of their Pebble Creek home.
“I can’t say enough about how pleased I am with the way it turned out,” Michele says.
Lucas’ bathroom used to have marble countertops that, she says, were extremely hard to take care of. She also was not happy with a mirror that took up much of the wall. “After living here for 16 years, we decided that we needed to do something about (the counters),” she explains. Lucas shopped around Tampa and did her “due diligence” before stumbling upon Cabinet & Stone and meeting Hui.
“I had a basic design in mind,” she says. “Hui used what I told her and showed me some designs on the computer. She was very knowledgeable and was really good at picturing what I was saying.”
Now, instead of dull marble countertops, Lucas’s bathroom boasts tall maple cupboards topped with crown molding that stretch from wall to wall, encompassing two sinks, but still open enough to “not feel like we’re in separate rooms.” Lucas beams, looking around her new bathroom. Even the bottoms of the counters are stylish, with “quarter round” at the base, instead of a traditional perpendicular angle with the floor.
“It changed the look of the entire bathroom,” she says. “And the price was phenomenal!”
If you’re considering renovating your kitchen or bathrooms, give Cabinet & Stone a visit at 6606 N. 56th St., located right across the street from King High School in Temple Terrace, and let Hui give you a tour of her many kitchens. Or, give her a call at 887-5658.
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