Home/Custom Cabinetry And Millwork
Our own wood shop, since before the company
Custom Cabinetry And Millwork
Kitchen cabinetry, vanities, built-ins, custom furniture, reception desks, matched trim and curved parametric work, drawn and cut in our own shop on a five by twelve foot CNC router and finished by hand.
What is custom cabinetry and millwork?
Ecostep makes its own cabinetry and millwork rather than ordering it in. The shop runs a five by twelve foot CNC router under the C-6 cabinet, millwork and finish carpentry classification, and produces kitchen cabinetry, vanities, built-ins, custom furniture, reception desks, matched trim profiles and curved parametric work.
This page covers what the shop makes and why each of those things is made rather than bought, what a CNC bed of that size actually changes, and which finish carpentry items sit under the same classification. It does not price a cabinetry package, since that comes out of the drawings and the room.
What we make
Five by twelve feet of bed, and a bench shop behind it.
Ecostep runs its own wood shop. It exists because Amer opened a cabinet shop in Pittsburg long before Ecostep, and it is still the part of the company the rest is built around rather than an afterthought bolted on.
| What | Typical work | Why it is made rather than bought |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen cabinetry | Full runs, islands, tall storage, appliance housings | Catalogue cabinetry comes in fixed increments. A run that does not divide evenly into them gets made up with filler strips. A made run fits the wall it is on, which in a hundred-year-old house is rarely straight. |
| Bathroom vanities | Single and double vanities, wall-hung units, mirror cabinets | Bathrooms are where every inch is contested. A stock width that nearly fits is the usual compromise and it is avoidable. |
| Built-ins | Bookcases, window seats, under-stair storage, media walls, home office joinery | Built-ins are defined by the space they sit in. There is no stock version of an alcove. |
| Custom furniture | Tables, desks, freestanding pieces | Made to a dimension and a material rather than chosen from what is available in that finish. |
| Reception desks and commercial millwork | Reception counters, commercial casework | The shop takes commercial millwork as well as residential. A reception desk is a one-off by definition. |
| Custom trim and mouldings | Casings, base and shoe, stops, stools and sills, fascias and soffits, stairs and railings | An original profile that is no longer manufactured can be matched and run, rather than replaced throughout the house with the nearest stock option. |
| Parametric and curved work | Slat walls, curved profiles, interior finishing for parametric walls | This is what a CNC bed is genuinely for. Curved and repeating geometry is ordinary shop work on a router and effectively a hand-built prototype without one. |
The shop
Modern production methods, traditional craft, in the same building.
The interesting part of a CNC router is not that it is fast. It is that it makes one-off geometry cost roughly what repeated geometry costs, which changes what is worth designing in the first place.
A five by twelve foot bed takes a full sheet with room to spare, so a cabinet carcase, a curved rib or a run of matched trim can be cut in one operation with its joinery already in it. What comes off the machine still has to be assembled, fitted, sanded and finished by somebody who knows what they are doing, which is the traditional half of the equation and the half that decides whether the piece is any good.
The shop deliberately works at the intersection of both rather than choosing a side. Machine accuracy on the parts, hand judgement on the assembly and the finish.
What that changes on a project
- Drawn by the people who install it. The cabinetry is designed in the same firm that is framing the room, so the carcase dimensions and the framing agree with each other before anything is cut.
- Measured off the building, not off the plan. Older walls are not parallel and openings are not square. Parts cut to the site dimension do not need shimming to disguise the difference.
- Material is a choice rather than a menu. Species, sheet grade, edge treatment and finish are decided for the job instead of picked from what a supplier stocks in that door style.
- Repairable and extendable. Five years later a matching piece can be run again. A discontinued catalogue line cannot.
- One licence. Cabinetry, millwork and finish carpentry sit under C-6 on our own licence, alongside B general building, so the cabinetry is not a separate contract with a separate schedule.
Finish carpentry
The hundred small joints that decide whether a room reads as custom.
Cabinetry gets the attention and finish carpentry does the work. On a construction budget it is its own set of lines, and reading them tells you how much of a job is actually joinery.
- Casings and trimWood door and window casings, interior trim, exterior window and door trim. The junctions at head and sill are where an eye lands without knowing why.
- Base and shoeWood base and shoe mouldings, and the scribe where they meet a floor that is a century old and no longer flat.
- Stops, stools and sillsThe parts of a window that are almost always replaced with something thinner than the original and always look it.
- Stairs and railingsFinish stairs, railings and specialty ladders. Geometry, code compliance and joinery at once.
- Fascias and soffitsWood fascias and soffits outside, where the same joinery has to survive weather.
- Shelving and storageCloset and utility shelving, storage specialties. Cheap to do badly and noticed daily.
All of it is cut in our shop and hung by our own carpenters, under the same C-6 classification.
Who is making it
The shop came before the company.
Amer Abusafieh moved to the United States in January 1986 and went straight into construction. He completed a union apprenticeship and earned his Journeyman Heat and Frost Insulator card in 1995, worked refineries, power plants, pharmaceutical plants, offshore platforms and ships, became a licensed California general contractor in 2003, and opened a cabinet shop in Pittsburg. Ecostep was founded in 2015 around that shop.
CSLB #1006147 carries B general building, C-2 insulation and acoustical, C-6 cabinet, millwork and finish carpentry, and C-36 plumbing, and is active through 31 August 2027. Ecostep, Inc. is a California corporation working across Contra Costa, Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Marin counties. Recorded values across our residential building permits run from $25,000 to $210,000.
A homeowner who hired Ecostep for a major renovation described Amer as experienced, professional, honest and responsive, and specifically called him a skilled woodworker.
Curved and repeating work
A CNC bed makes one-off geometry cost about what repeated geometry costs.
That is what makes slat walls, curved profiles and parametric interior finishing ordinary shop work here rather than a quoted special. If you have seen something you like and been told it is not feasible, it is worth a second opinion.
Questions
What homeowners ask.
What is the difference between custom cabinetry and stock or semi-custom?
Stock and semi-custom cabinetry comes in fixed width increments, so a run that does not divide evenly into those increments is made up with filler strips. Custom cabinetry is made to the wall it sits on. In a newer house with square rooms the difference is modest. In an older Bay Area house where the walls are not parallel and the openings are not square, it is the difference between fitting and nearly fitting.
Do you actually make the cabinets yourselves, or order them?
We make them. Ecostep runs its own wood shop with a five by twelve foot CNC router, under the C-6 cabinet, millwork and finish carpentry classification on licence #1006147. The shop predates the company: Amer opened a cabinet shop in Pittsburg before founding Ecostep in 2015.
What does a five by twelve foot CNC router let you do that matters to me?
Two things. It takes a full sheet with room to spare, so parts are cut in one operation with their joinery already in them, which means accuracy. And it makes one-off geometry cost about what repeated geometry costs, which is why curved profiles, slat walls and parametric work are ordinary shop jobs here rather than expensive specials.
Can you match trim that is no longer manufactured?
Usually yes, and this is one of the most useful things a shop can do on an older house. An original casing, base or stool profile can be matched and run rather than replacing every piece in the house with the nearest stock option. It is also how a new addition gets trim that does not announce itself as new.
Do you do commercial work?
The shop does, including reception desks and commercial casework. This site covers residential, and Ecostep's industrial and mechanical insulation division operates separately at ecostepinc.com. For a commercial millwork enquiry, call and we will tell you honestly whether it is a fit.
What are parametric walls?
Interior surfaces built from repeating parts whose dimensions vary according to a rule, most often timber slats or ribs that produce a curved or flowing form. They look bespoke because they are, and they are only practical when the parts can be machine cut, because every rib is slightly different from its neighbours. Interior finishing for parametric walls is regular work in our shop.
Can I use you for cabinetry only, without a full remodel?
Worth a conversation. The shop's work sits under the same licence as the construction, and cabinetry, built-ins and trim are things it makes routinely. Whether a cabinetry-only project makes sense depends on scale and location, so call rather than assume either way.
What materials do you work in?
Species, sheet grade, edge treatment and finish are decided for the project rather than picked from what a supplier happens to stock in a given door style. The shop also handles staining and transparent finishing, which is a separate line in a construction budget from painting and is a genuinely different skill.
How far ahead do cabinetry decisions need to be made?
Earlier than most people expect, because cabinetry is drawn alongside the framing rather than after it. Carcase dimensions and framing have to agree before anything is cut, and on a kitchen the countertops are templated only after the cabinets are set. Deciding cabinetry late is one of the more expensive ways to generate a change order.
Can you repair or extend cabinetry you made previously?
Yes, and that is a real advantage of made over bought. A matching piece can be run again years later from the same drawings and the same profiles. A discontinued catalogue line cannot be matched at all, which is why an extension to stock cabinetry usually means replacing the whole run.
What finish carpentry do you cover?
Casings for doors and windows, interior and exterior trim, base and shoe mouldings, stops, stools and sills, finish stairs and railings, specialty ladders, fascias and soffits, closet and utility shelving and storage specialties. All cut in the shop and hung by our own carpenters under the same classification.
Which areas do you work in?
Contra Costa, Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Marin counties. Our permitted residential work on public record sits in Alameda, Berkeley, Concord, Fremont, San Francisco, Belmont and San Leandro.
Related
Start here
Tell us the address and what you are thinking about.
We will walk the property, tell you what is feasible there, and set out the scope and the price in writing before you commit to anything.
- Phone925-628-4860
- Emailinfo@ecostepinc.com
- Service areaContra Costa, Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Marin counties