The budget kitchen bonus
By Beth Newcomb
“We’re doing over 100 kitchens per month,” says Northeast Factory Direct lead designer Angelo Lardomita, who personally has had a hand in creating more than 5,000 kitchens over the last seven years for Northeast Ohio homeowners. “Because we’re growing so fast, we just did a big renovation to our Cleveland showroom.”
Angelo says they blew out a wall and put an addition on to make room for more kitchen designers and more cabinetry displays.
“We began to notice our appointment book was filling to the point that people had to wait a week to get in to see one of our designers,” he explains. “We decided to be proactive and make changes to accommodate our customers, so they could sit down with us and plan their dream kitchens as quickly as possible.”
Workstations were added to keep the process comfortable, and three new designers were brought on to the team. In Eastlake, the kitchen design area also received an update, with an expanded planning zone and more design talent added.
What’s the secret to NEFD’s unprecedented growth?
“We recognize that the vast majority of homeowners in Northeast Ohio want value, but they also want a quality product and a quality experience,” Angelo says.
“We provide all three. Our kitchens start at a ridiculously low $1,899 for a 10x10 space. That’s enough cabinets for a standard L-shaped kitchen. It’s our basic package and we sell those all day long.”
Most people, however, want to add a few extra bells and whistles, things like glass door inserts, a pantry, a lazy Susan, a pullout trash cabinet, pot and pan storage, cookie sheet storage, spice racks, a wine rack, rollout shelves and decorative molding to really take their space to the next level.
The average cabinet configuration with all the extras NEFD has to offer typically ranges from $5,000 to $6,000. You’d pay more than double someplace else.
“Because we sell so many kitchens, we buy our cabinets by the truckload and pass the dramatic savings on to our customers,” Angelo notes. “This volume-buying approach means we can best any box store cabinet price by as much as 60 percent.”
In addition to the extreme savings realized when you shop NEFD for kitchen cabinets, you’ll also get a few extras at no charge. Here is a list of NEFD freebies:
- Door knobs and drawer pulls – free
- Design service – free
- Design to take with you without a commitment – free
- Upgrade to all-wood construction, solid maple dovetail drawers, steel under mount full-extension guides, soft-close doors and drawers, and paint, stain and finish options of your choosing - free
- Popcorn while you shop – free
Angelo smiles about the popcorn, joking that while the affordable pricing structure typically brings people into the showroom, it could be the smell of fresh-popped popcorn wafting through the air that keeps them there.
Once you’ve settled on a free design for your new space, the selection process starts. NEFD features more than 50 different door styles, with several new styles making their debut, and a virtually unlimited number of stain, paint and finish options.
“In keeping with the trends, we recently brought in some of the more popular painted-style cabinets, along with more quartz options,” Angelo says.
Granite and quartz countertops at NEFD start at $49/square foot installed. There are hundreds of different options to choose from and you get to pick the slab that appeals to you most.
Northeast Factory Direct has two locations. Find them at 3321 W. 140th Street in Cleveland. The phone number is 216-941-7727 and the hours are Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. In Eastlake the address is 33599 Curtis Blvd., and the phone number is 440-942-7945. Hours are Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. To sit down with a kitchen designer, an appointment is recommended. Get directions from anywhere when you visit the website at NortheastFactoryDirect.com.