Allen Curran  - Curran Cabinetry and Design

On the Knowing Your Users: "So if you have teenagers at home, it might come in really handy to be able to slow that down so they don't have the opportunity to slam things shut."

We all live in homes with a few of the same types of rooms.  We all have kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms and a place to do laundry and maybe even a place to hold stuff in the garage.  In almost all of these rooms we have cabinets.  That is where the similarities deviate.

Cabinets can be made of a variety of materials, and styles.  How do you choose the best cabinets for your remodeling project.

Allen Curran, owner of Curran Cabinetry and Design, knows a thing or two about cabinets.  He has been in the industry for years and has seen designs come and go and come back again.

Listen as Allen explains the nuances of cabinets, the different design options and even the things you don't see, but you actually feel when using the cabinets.  It opens up a whole new world to making your house a much nicer home.

Enjoy!

Visit Lane at: https://currancabinetrydesign.com/

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curran.cabinetry.design/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 "Timeless Cabinet Color Choices"

04:00 "Architect Encounter on Flight"

09:45 Soft-Close Drawer and Door Features

12:17 Toolbox Over Kitchen Cabinets

14:46 Friendship, Friction, Sales Strategy

20:07 "Connecting with Amish Artisans"

22:55 "Helpful Advice From Retiree"

25:19 "Shop Machinery and Systems"

29:37 Local, Quality-Focused Service

33:07 "Custom Cabinets, Semi-Custom Pricing"

37:39 Muted Colors for Timeless Kitchens

39:17 Oak's Decline and Revival

42:38 "Microwave Drawers and Filtration Systems"

46:56 "Counter-Depth vs Full-Size Refrigerators"

49:43 Ethical Start in Remodeling Business

53:30 Modern Trends in Door Desgin

57:20 "Efficient Kitchen Showroom Design"

Podcast Transcription:

Allen Curran [00:00:00]:

White or shades of white are still the most popular. Gray, blue, and green are the other options. And if you look at the blues and the greens, they will tend to have a shade of gray in them. And the reason for that is so much easier to decorate with other colors. If you wanted cobalt blue cabinetry, certainly we can do it. We offer all the Sherwin Williams paint colors as standard, different colors to choose from. But if you want cobalt blue, my biggest concern and first question is going to be how long before you get tired of that color?

James Kademan [00:00:42]:

You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link [email protected] we are locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie, and today we're welcoming, preparing to learn from Alan Curran of Curran Cabinetry and Design. I almost forgot the and design part.

Allen Curran [00:01:06]:

Perfect.

James Kademan [00:01:07]:

So, Alan, how is it going today?

Allen Curran [00:01:09]:

Today's going well. It's a beautiful sunny day.

James Kademan [00:01:11]:

Yeah. We're talking cabinetry here.

Allen Curran [00:01:13]:

We are.

James Kademan [00:01:14]:

So let's just start with the foundation. How do you get in the cabinetry business?

Allen Curran [00:01:18]:

Well, how I got into the cabinetry business is I applied for a job, having had experience selling to general contractors and found out a little bit later that I was the only one who applied and dressed in a suit. That's my claim to fame, is I wore a suit the right day.

James Kademan [00:01:37]:

You know, that is. That's funny. You say that side anecdote here. I'm hiring, I guess you've been doing some hiring. And I get people in Zoom meetings. You probably, I imagine, have people in person.

Allen Curran [00:01:48]:

A bit of both.

James Kademan [00:01:49]:

So how are people dressing when they come to apply to your job?

Allen Curran [00:01:53]:

Much more casually than I would like.

James Kademan [00:01:54]:

Yeah.

Allen Curran [00:01:55]:

Or would expect.

James Kademan [00:01:56]:

Almost to the point of jammies.

Allen Curran [00:01:58]:

Tennis shoes, sometimes.

James Kademan [00:02:00]:

Okay.

Allen Curran [00:02:00]:

And it's like, okay, we're kind of a big ticket item and we're selling to typically professionals or, you know, people are. Most of our customers are 55 years of age and older. That's starting to change a little bit. But I mentioned to one of my employees who wants to dress a little more casual than I would like, and I said, okay. Have you ever gotten a compliment on how you're dressed? And he says, well, no. And I says, I have.

James Kademan [00:02:31]:

I love that.

Allen Curran [00:02:32]:

It's not like I'm bragging or anything of that sort. It's just to me, it's kind of showing respect.

James Kademan [00:02:38]:

Absolutely.

Allen Curran [00:02:39]:

For the people that you're talking to. And if you want to come across as professional, I think you need to dress professionally. So that's kind of where my thought process goes.

James Kademan [00:02:48]:

That is totally true. I was just watching the movie Casino and the thing that stuck out there was Robert De Niro suits. It was almost every scene he's got a different color and they're bright and I'm like, what a baller.

Allen Curran [00:03:02]:

Nothing like a sharp dressed man. Yeah.

James Kademan [00:03:05]:

And it's interesting because I heard a stand up comic talking about the way people dress at the airport where it used to be kind of a.

Allen Curran [00:03:11]:

It was a big deal to go.

James Kademan [00:03:12]:

On a flight and you would dress because it was an event and now they're just like, roll out of bed and maybe I'll put my socks on.

Allen Curran [00:03:20]:

We just went to Napa Valley, my wife and I, and you know, early flights and people were in sweats and hoodies and it's like, well, okay, granted I'm dressed more casual than what I am now because I want to be comfortable. But it's, it's different than what it was going to show age here about 30, 40 years ago when you get on a plane. And yeah, it was a high end event to be able to be on a plane. And now it's just a necessary evil.

James Kademan [00:03:49]:

Yeah. It's interesting because I always wonder who am I going to be sitting next to? No one's going to be like, oh, a nice jogging pant.

Allen Curran [00:03:56]:

Right.

James Kademan [00:03:56]:

Or they're not going to be inclined to chat.

Allen Curran [00:04:00]:

Well, exactly. And for me, I get a lot of. If I'm sitting next to a couple. Not to be sexist about this, but when the husband finds out what I do for a living. Don't talk to my wife, she's probably in the kitchen. But interesting. On my trip back from Napa, we flew through Minneapolis and the person I sat next to was an architect.

James Kademan [00:04:24]:

Oh, wow.

Allen Curran [00:04:25]:

I was like, what a great connection that is. Because architects are one of the people that kind of plan out spaces and things of that sort. So we had a lot to talk about and a lot to come. That is cool. Yeah. So he was dressed in a suit, by the way.

James Kademan [00:04:37]:

Oh, nice. So it's interesting because the suit on a plane, I like the idea of it, but the planes are so tight and I don't know how you can get off that plane without having your suit just be totally wrinkled.

Allen Curran [00:04:49]:

Yeah.

James Kademan [00:04:50]:

So there's the, the movie, you're in a suit on the airplane and then there's like, there's no way.

Allen Curran [00:04:56]:

The reality.

James Kademan [00:04:57]:

Yeah. Because you get off that thing. And it'd just be like a bedsheet that got out of the dryer. What is this?

Allen Curran [00:05:02]:

Yeah. Well, so today's world.

James Kademan [00:05:05]:

Yeah. Fair, fair. And in the end, I don't know. I suppose people are more accepting of it to a point.

Allen Curran [00:05:12]:

Covid created a lot of things in our world, and one of them is, hey, I don't have to get dressed to go to work. So I can kind of wear just about anything I want. If you're on a zoom call, you have to dress for work from the waist up.

James Kademan [00:05:24]:

Yeah. Don't even need pants.

Allen Curran [00:05:25]:

Yeah. I don't want to know about the rest.

James Kademan [00:05:29]:

Keep that camera up here.

Allen Curran [00:05:29]:

So it becomes kind of a different world.

James Kademan [00:05:31]:

Right on. Right on. So you got this job. Was it selling cabinetry or was it selling just 2 of GC? Other stuff.

Allen Curran [00:05:41]:

A little bit of both. It was a larger company here in Madison at the time. We covered pretty much the southern half of the state. We sold to lumber yards. We sold appliances. At the time. We did design work. But now, keep in mind cabinetry.

Allen Curran [00:06:01]:

This would be back in the 80s. It's a storage industry at that point. It's not a design industry. So fashion didn't come into play. And that's why you saw so many kitchens. Oak cabinets. Oak cabinets. Oak cabinets.

Allen Curran [00:06:17]:

As readily available as an inexpensive wood relative to other species. Once in a while, it would be an upgrade to cherry, but that was kind of it. And as time progressed, you would find it became more and more of a fashion industry, and I was fortunate enough to grow along with that.

James Kademan [00:06:33]:

Got it. Okay.

Allen Curran [00:06:35]:

And at that point, back in the 80s, most of the design aspect of our industry was taught by cabinet manufacturers simply because there weren't the interior design programs that featured kitchen and bathroom, which is much different today. Madison College has a program. There's others.