When it comes to redesigning a kitchen, many homeowners have resigned themselves to having to adapt their plans to a fixed inventory of cabinet styles, dimensions and colors. It doesn’t have to be that way, though, with the Omega Custom and Omega Dynasty lines of cabinetry, now offered in Wilmington by Markraft cabinets.

Omega is one of the lines now on display in Markraft’s brand-new Design Center, explained Meredith Shaver, one of the company’s in-house designers. In preparation for the introduction this year, she visited the Omega plant in Iowa last October to see first-hand how these high-end cabinets are designed, built and finished.
 
“These are very well-built cabinets,” she explained. Omega cabinets are largely made by hand, using moldings and other wooden components crafted on-site in the manufacturer’s own mill.
 
For customers whose budgets permit total flexibility in design, the Custom line allows for more than 220 modifications in dimensions, materials and details. Instead of assembling a kitchen design from a catalogue of fixed sizes and styles, the homeowner and designer send their precise specifications to be individually crafted at the Omega factory.
 
An editing team reviews the details of the project before any work begins. A team of skilled craftsmen then begins assembling the cabinets from hand-selected North American hardwoods. The final product is given a white-glove inspection before it is packaged and shipped.
 
For customers who might have somewhat more modest budgets, Omega’s semi-customized “Dynasty” line features the same quality construction and materials in a wide range of pre-set sizes, Shaver said.
 
For both lines, the same standards apply. The cabinet boxes are solidly built, using plywood and woodscrews instead of the particle-board and staples that some manufacturers use. All doors are hand-built on site, not bought from third-party suppliers, and feature carefully made mortise-and-tenon or miter joints. “They don’t build the doors,” Shaver said, “until somebody has ordered a kitchen.”
 
Sturdy, heavy-gauge metal glides and integrated, behind-the-door hinges ensure that drawers always extend fully and that doors and drawers close softly and quietly.
 
Omega pays similar attention to the quality of its finishes. For clear-finish designs, wood is chosen to display the natural gain to its best advantage. For painted cabinets, Omega offers a wide variety of basic colors but can also create custom colors for its three-coat, state-of-the-art paint system. The customer can specify any shade or tint from any paint manufacturer’s color system and Omega’s craftsmen will match it precisely.
 
“Another customization that we think is really nice as designers,” Shaver added, “is that they will build appliance panels to fit any make and model” of refrigerator, dishwasher or other kitchen appliance. Omega’s designers will get the necessary specifications to create front or side panels to make any appliance a perfect match in the customer’s kitchen.
 
Shaver and her fellow designers invite you to see the four displays of Omega cabinets in Markraft’s new Design Center. It’s at 2705 Castle Creek Lane, just off Castle Hayne Road, north of downtown Wilmington. The Center is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and on evenings and Saturdays by appointment.
 
Since 1985, Markraft has specialized in cabinet and countertop design and installation in residential and commercial construction and custom remodeling. To learn more about Markraft, go to www.markraft.com. Contact Markraft at 910-762-1986 and like Markraft on Facebook at www.facebook.com/markraftcabinets.