Newtown Cabinetmakers Find A Niche By Doing Exactly What People Want

Date: Fri 29-Mar-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Roodhuyzen-cabinetmakers

Full Text:

HOME and GARDEN w/photo

Newtown Cabinetmakers Find A Niche By Doing Exactly What People Want

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Jim and Dave Roodhuyzen's Castle Hill Cabinets workshop is barely larger than

a two-car garage. In fact, the 700-square-foot workshop is located in what

originally was the garage of Jim Roodhuyzen's home on Castle Hill Road in

Newtown.

But in this limited space the two brothers produce custom-designed cabinetry

which has been featured in such national magazines as Country Living and

Kitchen & Bath .

The neocountry kitchen designed for Carolyn and Parry Merkley's Wilton home,

featured in the Winter 1995 Kitchen & Bath Custom Planner , included

Shaker-style maple cabinets which were designed and detailed to look like

freestanding furniture.

"After that article appeared, we got calls from all over the country -

Seattle, San Diego, Dallas," Jim Roodhuyzen said. "But generally we do most of

our work in Westchester County, Long Island and Fairfield County, especially

lower Fairfield County."

The two men create cabinetry for new homes and for houses that are being

renovated. One of their success stories was a library Jim created for a

turn-of-the-century apartment that was being renovated in New York City.

"One of the first guests who saw the library commented to the owner, `At least

you didn't have to change this room at all,'" Jim said, smiling. "I thought

that was the ultimate compliment. When we are done with a room it should look

like it has always been there."

Creating cabinetry for vintage houses with asymmetrical walls is a challenge

but one which the Roodhuyzens take in stride.

"Wood is a really neat thing but it isn't rocket science," Jim said. "Our

success comes as much in the relationship we develop with our customers as

with our work. I've seen really talented craftsmen who weren't successful

because they couldn't work with clients and weren't good businessmen."

Jim Roodhuyzen has operated his own business in Newtown and, earlier, in

Denver, Colorado, for more than 20 years. Dave has worked with him, on and

off, during those years.

"I spent five years in England - my first wife was from Cumbria - and learned

a lot about antique restoration there," Dave said. "I worked with an antique

dealer, restoring pieces which we bought at auction and sold later to American

antique dealers."

The Roodhuyzens grew up in Westport, spending their junior high and high

school years there. They attribute their interest in carpentry to their

father, a do-it-yourselfer who built a garage and a screened porch on the

family's house.

"When we were little we always tagged along helping Dad," Dave said. "He gave

us a child-size workbench and a bag of nails each and told us to pound the

nails in. We filled every inch of the top."

Fate Steps In

Neither youth planned to choose cabinet-making as a career. Jim Roodhuyzen

intended to go into radio and television broadcasting but fate stepped in

during his last semester at the University of Denver.

"I had signed up for two communications courses and arranged an internship at

a Denver television station when the dean told me that I had maxed out the

credits in my major and had to take something else," Jim explained. "He told

me that students needed a more well-rounded education."

"I pointed out that I had dropped out of college, been a Green Beret in

Vietnam, helped build a house in Vermont, then came back to college through

night school. But he said he couldn't make an exception for me."

Needing just one more semester to graduate, Jim wound up "taking Sociology of

Man and Central American something" just to get the required credits. During

the semester, he met a man who needed a formica countertop for his business.

"I figured I could do it and, while I was working on it, a doctor whose office

was upstairs called and wanted a 22-foot wood and laminate reception desk,"

Jim said. "As I was finishing it, Dave showed up, on his way home from

Northern Arizona University. He was pretty amazed when he saw what I had done.

I saw that I was very good at it."

For graduation, Jim's parents bought him a table saw.

"Since I graduated in 1978, I've worked for someone else only a total of about

four and a half months," Jim said. "I like to be creative and to make my own

decisions, traits that don't make you successful when you're working for other

people. And working for myself has given me the opportunity to be home and

spend a lot of time with my children."

Dave Roodhuyzen earned a degree in biology. He almost became a teacher but

found himself working with his older brother, just as he had tagged along when

they were kids.

"I was always enamored with his ability to create things out of nothing," Dave

said. "I always wanted to be involved in all the `cool' things he did. To this

day, we don't compete. We seek the same goals."

The Roodhuyzen brothers said they are always trying to come up with new and

better ways to do things.

"There is no standard way in my mind," Jim said. "And every job is different.

We never really do the same thing twice - which is nice."

Even if they have been hired by an architect or designer, the Roodhuyzens ask

the homeowners what they want to be able to do in a room to make it more

functional.

"People love their gadgets," Jim said. "And they have hobbies. We can make a

room look exactly like the designer specified but still accommodate the

clients' interests. An entertainment center can include a desk, for example."

Custom cabinetry isn't cheap, they admit.

"A lot of people are able to pay - are still concerned about cost - but are

willing to pay for a quality job," Dave said. "When we bid on a job it is an

inclusive price with customizing from start to finish. There aren't going to

be extra costs later."

Jim Roodhuyzen doesn't turn down smaller jobs if they fit into his schedule.

He has put new door- and front-fronts on cabinets in a Sandy Hook kitchen,

making them look like a custom installation, and has even agreed to install

factory-produced cabinets in a cottage on Cape Cod. But usually his customers

are looking for something that can't be found in mass-produced cabinetry.

"Our niche is doing what people want," Jim said.