Pat's Custom Cabinetry

I am 100% against doing this but after being blown off for the better part of a year I don’t think he’s ever going to follow through with what he was paid for and people should know. Short and sweet, I contracted to have my cabinets fixed(chipping, crooked hanging and touchup paint). 8 months later he finished 90% of it right before Christmas. He was paid in full and was going to return after the holidays. Haven’t seen him since. First contacted him mid April 2023. Along with 3 other contractors. He went on and on about how the materials they use are so superior and the guy that did the original work did do a good job. He was the most expensive but seamed the most knowledgeable and able to properly fix our issues so we went with him. Final install was done 20th of November leaving screws and wood pieces in every drawer and cabinet he worked in. During the last week of seeing him he was grumpy, constantly saying how bad it was and messed up and just frustrated. Any time anything was brought up he would get visibly frustrated and loudly explain how something wasn’t right. I was quick to see him leave knowing he’d need to return and fix some issues. He never returned to fix the few issues nor did I receive the touchup paint to fix the little scratches that come from having teenagers in the house. I was shocked to see he was still in business as in January 2024 he called me upset that I didn’t understand what was wrong in his life. Moving with a new partner and all of the hassles of apparently closing his business. I had messaged him a few times asking if I could get the touch up paint and if he could fix a few crooked hanging doors. He told me that I didn’t want to buy new hinges to fix the problem which makes absolutely zero sense. Does it make any sense that I’d pay $16,000 for doors and not pay $400 for hinges to make it right? Of course he didn’t bring this up until after the doors were made and he was having issues. I understand that apparently the maker that originally made my cabinets didn’t do a good job and probably used the wrong hinges. This is exactly why I contacted highly reviewed contractors to fix the issues. He seamed very knowledgeable and with tons of experience and reviews which is why I picked him. You know it’s easy to be a good man when it’s easy you see the true character of a man when it’s hard. Update this is huge and I’m sorry. He responded in another review making baseless lies stating that I was mean to him as well as some others regarding hinges. I have video of him well after the doors were ordered asking me lightly if I wanted new hinges. You can clearly hear me say I don’t want new hinges unless I need them. I paid him $16k to fix the all of the issues. Again he was not the cheapest by a long shot and I didn’t haggle. I just wanted the issues fixed. Three of the doors have warped and the paint in the corner of a drawer is coming apart not to mention the crooked doors on my now 55k kitchen cabinets.

Everything went perfectly, and was exactly what we wanted.

I was referred to Pat's Custom Cabinets by a coworker who had her kitchen refinishing done by Pat. I'm actually glad I decided to use someone who has over 25 years of experience with cabinets and woodworking because it shows. Everything was explained in detail and the job was done one week before schedule. I had a contractor come over to do some other work in my house,he was very impressed and asked for Pat's information. I'm very pleased with Pat's work that I even had him do my bathroom cabinets.

Outstanding. The new finish is absolutely beautiful. The price was fair, and all work was done on time. Pat paid great attention to detail, and he was a pleasure to work with. Very highly recommended!

From first to last Pat did an A-1 job.  Appearance exceeds expectations; on time and on budget.  Easy to communicate with, returns calls promptly.  Workmanship so close to tolerance that when doors swelled a little they started to hit each other, Pat returned quickly to adjust, no charge.  Really an artisan.  Used to do custom furniture and it shows!  (And I don't give many rave reviews)

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I was initially going to purchase two new cabinets but after talking with Pat decided to refinish the original oak cabinets.  We wanted a unique stain and Pat created it in his shop and sent us sample pictures to choose from.  The outcome is awesome and exceeded my expectations.  Great Job!

Beautiful, quality work on all of the cabinets and island.  He doesn't just paint and leave.  He takes the doors ahead of time to his shop where they go through an extensive process.  He also built our island in his shop as well. Pat then came back about a week later and painted all of the wood for a process of a couple days, then installed the cabinets and put on all hardware.  My kitchen is beautiful!  I love it!!!

Wow! I was hesitant to paint our aging/dated cabinets as I didn't think throwing some paint on them would make much of a difference. Was I ever wrong - they look completely different. Some neighbors recently stained their cabinets, and while it freshened up their kitchen, you could tell they were still the same cabinets. Other neighbors had their cabinets painted by a contractor they hired to paint some walls. Those looked really nice from the next room, but close inspection showed old cabinets with good wall paint applied. Pat paints (and builds) cabinets for a living and does it the right way. He used a pre-catalyzed product that gives the cabinets a very smooth and very hard finish. I have no concerns about water damage, although I do wipe them down if I notice standing water.
Pat was pretty responsive, fair with his price (more than "house" painters, less than other cabinet painters), communicative with regards to timeline and coordinating with the counter top guys, and knowledgeable. He explained the pros and cons of different methods and products and steered me towards a finished product that I am thrilled with. His estimate included all the details, including the installation of new hinges that required new drilling and filling of the previous holes. (Watch out for that as other cabinet painters either don't do that or charge extra for that detail work)
Overall, I am very pleased with the end product and the process was a breeze. If you're looking for a new kitchen without the new kitchen price, this is the way to go.

Pat did a wonderful job of building a home office. He matched the look of our kitchen cabinet and used quality materials. We are very pleased with his work and the way he does business.

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Wonderful experience. Pat was professional, punctual, and came in right at quoted price.
Pat transformed a tired kitchen into one that looked brand new. He was always pleasant, arrived on time 
everyday, and always cleaned up thoroughly at end of day. Extreme attention to detail; he is a real craftsman. The cabinets looked like custom furniture when completed. He does not just do a "paint job". 
Very considerate of keeping the process as easy as possible for those in the home while he worked. Very happy with the result and definitely plan to use him again. 

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We hired Patrick to reface our entire kitchen last spring. He recommended the type of paint that he said is best for kitchens, and we trusted his professional opinion. 
The kitchen looked great when he was finished, but within a month the paint was chipping and peeling off of four different cabinet doors on the kitchen island. Patrick came out and told me that the paint was chipping because water had dripped onto the top of the cabinet doors from the bullnose edge of the granite countertop. He said that he would do me a favor and repaint the chipped doors, which he did.
Since then I have been extremely careful to check the cabinet doors for water drips after I wash dishes or clean the countertops. Despite my best efforts, the chipping occurred again, and it is very unsightly. (See photos.) In addition, doors and drawer faces all over the kitchen have been chipping as well, even though they are nowhere near any possible source of water.
We discussed with Patrick the possibility of repainting the cabinets under the sink with a different kind of paint that would not chip off if it came into contact with water drips. Although it would be a different finish than the rest of the cabinets, we felt it was the only solution to keep this problem from recurring. He agreed to try this, and he came out today to remove the chipped doors and take them back to his shop. I showed him all of the other doors and drawers that have begun to chip as well, and when I told them we felt that it was not unreasonable to expect that 6 month old cabinets should not be chipping like this, he became angry and belligerent. He told me that it was my fault, and that I must be doing something to the cabinets, because the paint "just wouldn't jump off the doors by itself." He refused to take the doors that he came for back to his shop, and stormed out of my house.
I expect that any reputable businessperson should stand by their work, and I am very disappointed that Patrick refuses to do this.

*UPDATE*  April 6, 2015

It has been 4 months since my initial review, and now the paint on nearly all 50 of the recessed panel cabinet doors is deteriorating. In the joints where the recessed panel meets the frame of the door, hairline cracks began to appear, with some small chips. I pointed out a few of the doors with this problem to Pat when he was out here in December.  As time passed, the cracks deepened and then the paint began to chip/peel off, exposing the raw wood beneath. (See photos) I have had 3 different painters, all of whom specialize in cabinetry, come out to look at the cabinets. They all told me the same thing--it appears that the doors were not properly primed before painting, which created an adhesion problem between the primer and the substrate. The end result is the paint cracks and peels or chips off. They told me that many different things could have caused this problem. It could have been that Pat didn't let the primer cure properly before putting on the top coat, or that he didn't sand properly between coats, or that he used the wrong grit of sandpaper.  There could have been excess dust left in the recessed areas, or the wrong type of caulking was used, or a combination of any of these things.

The bottom line is that this problem cannot be fixed. The cabinets need to be totally stripped and properly refinished, or I need to buy all new ones and start over from scratch. They warned me that the cost of stripping this many cabinets would be prohibitive, and that it will be be less expensive to just purchase all new doors and begin again. 

All three painters were quite surprised when I told them that Pat refused to take responsibility for the problems with the finish, and that he would not do anything more to make it right. They said that when there are problems with any of their jobs, they do whatever it takes to remedy the issue., and that this is the expectation with any reputable painter.

Using Pat's Custom Cabinetry has unfortunately turned out to be a very expensive mistake. My advice to anyone hiring a painter is to ask for references from past clients whose job was done several years before, and then go look at their cabinets and see how they are holding up.

Quality was excellent. He did a great job and he is a really nice guy. Unfortunately the paint finish he used started to chip under the sink (no finish can really handle water drips) and he came back to repair that too. A really great small business. We have some other stuff in our kitchen that needs to be fixed on the cabinet (not his fault , my fault) so I hope I can call him to work on that for us. He's very busy but always takes my calls which I appreciate.

Contacted several cabinet resurface, refinish and replacement contractors in San Diego area.  Found Pat through Angies list and contacted him after receiving quotes from 3 other contractors.  Pats quotation was 40-60% less than other contractors for similar services. 
Pats team arrived , removed cabinet doors and rescheduled return for the cabinet refinishing the following week.  First schedule was 3-4 weeks for completion however he worked overtime / weekends and was able to complete in less than 2 weeks. 
Entire process went very well.  High quality finish on the doors and high quality door hardware.
Pat also has a lot of kitchen / home remodeling experience and was good resource for entire kitchen remodel project.  Would highly recommend him and his team.

My existing cabinet doors and drawers were in a brown type stain and I wanted to change to a modern shaker white.  I had previously worked with another contractor approx 8 years ago on a similar type project and their workmanship was nothing like Pat's.  Pat's workmanship is one of the best.  He repaired the poor workmanship of my cabinets by repairing cracks, etc caused by incorrect hinge screws.  The finish on the cabinets is as if they were new custom cabinets.  He makes suggestions and is on site to ensure work is completed to your satisfaction.  I have received many compliments on the work he has done and would recommend and use him again for future projects.

We just bought a house with a large kitchen.  All yellowish honey oak cabinets in the entire house. I contacted 3 cabinet refinishers and 1 painter but decided to go with Pat's custom cabinetry because of his expertise and crew size.   We were is a rush to get our cabinets refinished before we moved in to our new house.  Pat was able to accommodate the tight timeline.
Pat came out and gave us an estimate.  Just by talking to him, you can tell he is a cabinet expert in building, installing, and refinishing cabinets.  He is not a painter or just a cabinet re-finisher.  This is very important because problem always arising with older cabinets and the staining process is very touchy and its good to have an expert cabinet maker that understands and can resolve issues quickly and effectively.  Most painters or re-finishers will not know what to do or with old cabinet issues.  
Pat's estimate was fair and inline with all the other bids. 
His crew spent a few days prepping, taping off and covering all the kitchen, bathrooms, and hallways.  They spend another  two days or so sanding. Pat's did a sample spray/stain and the color we gave him was wrong. This was our fault. We picked out the stain color and when it was applied, it was way too light.  Pat worked with us diligently to come up with a custom stain color.  He actually had to do a custom mix of brown, black, and a touch of green stain to get the right color to our satisfaction.   This is very difficult to get right and I don't believe most cabinet re-finishers would have been able to do this to our liking.  The custom color came out perfect.  Its like a fine furniture grade finish where you can still see the beautiful wood grain.  I dont think most people know how time consuming and how much expertise is needed to get the stain just right.  They have to stain, sand, stain, sand and stain again 3-4 times to build up the finish.
I did upgrade my cabinets with all new hinges so all the doors had a proper tight close.  Pat supplied and installed all the new hinges. This makes a big difference especially in older cabinets.  
In addition to the refinishing work, Pat and his crew also drilled holes and installed new cabinet pull and knobs. A couple of the other re-finishers said they don't do that, another reason I chose to go with Pat's company.  Pat also re-mounted my granite support wood pieces.  They also installed new felt bumpers for inside of my cabinet doors for a softer close and he was able to install scribe/molding to cover the very small gap between the bottom of my granite counters and the top of my cabinets. 
Thanks to Pat and his hardworking crew for all their hard work and effort. Our Kitchen came out perfect and was really transformed.
Just a note of caution to fellow Angie's List members.  After going through the entire process, refinishing cabinets properly is a lot more difficult than one might think.  It really takes a craftsman to get the color and finish just right.  Please choose carefully.  Also, choose the correct stain color based on the type of wood of your cabinet.  A stain color will look completely different depending on the type of wood it is on. I don't recommend doing a custom stain color like we did because it is very difficult to touch up nicks and scratches down the road.  With a standard stain color, you can usually buy a touch up stick or pen to easily fixed scratches and nicks.

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Pat provided a quote for me via email after I sent some specs and pictures. A quote via email was very helpful because I was already meeting with a lot of contractors for various aspects of our kitchen remodel. His quote was below the three other contractors who gave me estimates, and my phone discussion with him made it clear to me  that he really knew the business and paid a great deal of attention to detail, which is exactly what you want with this sort of job. He was patient and answered every question I had. I liked that he takes the doors back to his shop for painting. No other contractor offered to do this, and it is my understanding that this is a sign of high quality work.
Every step of the job went flawlessly. Pat always kept in contact with me. I know he spent a great deal of time mixing the exact color I wanted. He was able to get me on the schedule earlier than I expected, and he finished the job in a record 2.5 days. I expected to be out of the kitchen for the week. But you would never guess the job was finished early because the finish truly looks like a factory finish. It's phenomenal.
His crew was amazing too. They were very kind, respectful, professional, and hardworking. When the cabinet doors were put back on, they could have done it quickly and had an early start to their weekend. But they spent so much time getting the doors just right--something that was never done when the house was built 12 years ago. It's a testament to the care they put into their work. I highly recommend Pat's Custom Cabinetry. They will transform your kitchen!

In November I emailed several carpenters and Pat got back to me right away, he ended up being the only person to respond but I had a few quotes from Thumbtack.com Carpenters and one from Home Depot.
  Pat told me up front that he was very busy and would be unable to start before do anything before January 2014 but was willing to come and look at the project.  Pat came out the week-end before Thanksgiving to take a look.  What I liked about Pat was his honesty about not being able to get the project right away.  Pat said if it was a project that needed to be done the following month he would not be able to accommodate.  I appreciated his honesty, he was not going to take my money and string me along.   I called him mid January and he came to our home to take the measurements.  Pat knew I wanted a lot of drawers and he had several helpful ideas about sizing and number of drawers. He created a drawing and emailed it to me along with a quote.  The quote included the cabinets, his demo of my cabinets and putting the drawer pulls on. 
 Pat told me he would be able to make the cabinets toward the end of February and install them in March and I again appreciated him letting us know what his timeline looked like.  Pat also said it may take 2 days to demo and install but he would try and get it done in one.
Pat called us last week and told us the cabinets were ready so we set up the date for installation.  
Today Pat brought our new bathroom cabinets, demo'd the old, removed a large mirror without breaking it, Changed the leaky valves without an extra charge for labor and installed the 8' bank of cabinets.  Pat also attached all the pulls and removed the debris from the old cabinets without making a mess.  He and his helper Joey were able to do it all in a day.  The price was great, the cabinets are a beautiful maple. very sturdy and fit beautifully.

Pat refaced cabinets in our kitchen (cherry wood) and our bathroom (glazed maple wood). He also built new drawers with new slides for both rooms. The whole process took about 2 weeks in the house (plus Pat had done all the prep and staining of the new cabinet doors, and building of the drawers in his own shop prior).
The quality of the new drawers and doors is excellent. He also did an excellent job of staining and finishing - he was very patient and flexible in terms of coming up with the perfect color to match our kitchen/bathrooms (we had to match tile flooring and granite countertops). The result (in the kitchen) was a lovely, warm medium brown-toned cherry wood. The bathroom cabinet color was also excellent.
Other than a few minor hiccups during prep/installation, the project went well and we are very happy with the end results. Both rooms look amazingly improved with the new cabinets.

Painted our kitchen and provided new doors and fronts did a great job and would use him again in the future,