By Gary Nager

Photos by Matt Wiley

So, with the local housing market finally showing signs of recovery, isn’t it time you made some much-needed upgrades to your home, whether to get it ready for sale or to make it a more beautiful place for you and your family to live?

Well, our friend Hui You and her staff at Cabinet & Stone International (located on N. 56th St. in Temple Terrace, between Busch Blvd. & Hillsborough Ave.), have always had great ideas for providing the best-looking kitchen and bathroom cabinets and granite and other stone countertops for your home, and as always, there are some new arrivals you should check out even if you’ve been through the Cabinet & Stone showroom before.

For about four months now, Cabinet & Stone — which has its own factory in China which produces the amazing cabinet lines designed by Hui and her staff here in Temple Terrace — has been featuring two exciting new all-wood cabinet designs, one being a sleek, Santorini white and the other in Manhattan espresso. The styles of the two new lines — which brings the total different cabinet and color choices available at Cabinet & Stone up to eight — are the same, only the handles are different, but they look totally different because of the handles, the cabinet configurations and the countertops you choose to go along with them.

Best of all, in addition to kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities available in the new Santorini white and Manhattan espresso colors, Cabinet & Stone also can create an entire closet system for your home in the same colors and styles.

With so many cabinet choices available now at the 30,000-sq.-ft. warehouse and showroom, Hui says Cabinet & Stone has had to split its existing showroom into two parts — one just to display bathroom cabinet and stone selections and the other is the new vanity and closet design center. She adds that she didn’t begin promoting the new design center right away (it’s been open for several months) because, “We wanted to make sure everything was perfect with the new designs first. Even without really promoting them, we have still sold a lot of them because when people see them in the showroom, they want to buy them and everybody really seems to love them.”

She says the new designs are skewed towards younger buyers because, “A lot of the people buying new houses are younger families who want a younger, more modern look,” she says, “and all of the colors and styles you see on our website (CabinetnStoneIntl.com) are Cabinet & Stone brands that we’ve designed.”

The deign center is also a great place to see all of the beautiful and popular new vessel sinks and vessel sink faucets that you find in modern, contemporary bathrooms you see in many new model homes. You also will find the also-popular under-mount sinks in the design center.

A Little History & More

According to its website, Cabinet & Stone International has been serving the greater Tampa Bay area as a family-operated business for more than 10 years. The families involved in the business have been involved with woodworking for more than 25 years in Fujian, China, where they have their factories and granite quarries. The company directly imports cabinets and granite counter tops, thus eliminating the “middleman” cost and Cabinet & Stone’s prices are very competitive. With a total of more than 70,000 square feet of warehouse space, the company is one of the largest distributors of pre-made cabinets and granite countertops on the east coast of the U.S.

Whether the order is from Grand Cayman or Upstate New York, a single cabinet order or a container, Cabinet & Stone is capable of meeting your needs.

“We believe that no job is too small or too big,” says Hui. “If you need your kitchen or bathroom yesterday, we can do it because everything is stocked here at the warehouse, so unless we’re out of stock on an item, there’s no wait or turnaround times.”

But, with new container shipments arriving from China every month, Hui says that you won’t even be waiting long for items that are temporarily out of stock, either.

“No one is going to get you your countertops or cabinets faster than we are or beat us for quality,” she says. “And whenever we check other company’s prices we know that we are saving our customers money.”

And, Cabinet & Stone has many customer testimonials to share, including this one from a customer named Anne.

“I just wanted to let you know how good the job looks and how much we appreciate your professionalism throughout the entire process. We will recommend you to all of our friends. Thanks again, and keep up the good work.”

All of the cabinets at Cabinet & Stone are 100-percent real wood, including oak, maple and birch. There are seven unique door styles each with designer selected colors in stock. All of them are solid wood fronts and plywood boxes and shelves stained in the same color as the front and there are absolutely NO particle boards The hardware also is top-of-the-line: full- extension, heavy duty glides, soft close glides, and six-way adjustable hinges.

The company also specializes in granite in many colors you need in any edges you want, in addition to our in-stock unique selections. We have both 2cm and 3cm in thickness.

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For information about Cabinet & Stone International (6606 North 56th St., Tampa 33610, call 887-5658 or visit CabinetnStoneIntl.com. Bring in the Cabinet & Stone ad on page 48 and New Tampa customers will receive 25-percent-off their purchases. Ask at the store for details.