I have no connection to Wood-Mode; I don’t own any of their cabinets and haven’t installed them either . But Brian Way, a friend and regular contributor to Tools of the Trade has, and he shared a video about Wood-Mode’s factory on Facebook and posted the following comment “I have installed Wood-Mode Cabinetry, it is top notch. If you are in the market for a new kitchen, and your wallet can handle it, I highly recommend it.” If Brian says so, then I believe it.
The video below was produced by Wood-Mode and is basically a commercial. I’m sharing it because I spent part of my construction career in a millwork/cabinet shop so I’m naturally curious how things are done on a larger scale. The video focuses on a small group of people in a part of the factory where the more custom work is produced.
One of the folks in the video says the company has over one million feet of production space. With that much space, there must be 1,000 plus people in other parts of the plant. It would have been interesting to see the big machines those folks are using, but that wouldn’t have advanced the image of small-scale craftsmanship the video was intended to create. To get a sense of the size of the factory complex, see the map at the bottom of this page.
What follows are some random thoughts/comments on the video. 00:04. Cool that they dry their own lumber. That is a really big kiln.
00:25. It’s interesting to see the humidification; I’ve seen similar setups in a shop that produced cabinets for a builder I once worked for.
00:45. That’s an old pin router. They’re probably using it to template-cut curved parts. I always wanted to have one of those things.
01:00. A bunch of old-school templates/patterns.
01:10. I wouldn’t have guessed they test for weather conditions in various parts of the country. It makes sense, though. I remember working in New England with carpenter who had recently arrived from Denver. He hung an expensive exterior door with the margins one would use in a dry climate like Colorado’s. After a couple of days in the summer humidity we had to beat it out of the jamb with a sledgehammer.
02:02. What the heck is that weird retro “paint stirring” gizmo?
02:30. The narrator goes on about feeling defects your eyes can’t see; any carpenter, cabinet maker, painter, or auto body guy could tell you that.
Okay, so it’s still a commercial. But as commercials go, it’s not bad.
Wood-Mode is headquartered in Kreamer, PA and has a number of plants and facilities there. The distance from one end to the other along Kreamer and then Creek Mountain Road is a good 3/4 of a mile.
