Expertise: Millwork

When it comes to home projects, one of the worst scenarios is taking a step back from an expensive and complicated project, and feeling disappointed. Maybe the cabinets aren’t the right shade of blue or the windows you loved on Pinterest look strange in your space; either way you’ve spent too much time and money to go back now.

There is a simple way to prevent this: visiting a design showroom prior to starting a home project. Showrooms and design centers offer the ability to get a better understanding of the products you’re purchasing for your home and perhaps to find options you didn’t know existed.

House & Home spoke with Herb Benjamin, CEO of Freedom Millwork, about Freedom’s most recent expansion: a brand-new showroom, 6209 Design.

What benefits do showrooms like 6209 Design provide for designers and homeowners?
The showroom is a place for people who want to make decisions—and to have a bit of control over what they’re putting into their home. In today’s world, the culture is one of immediate gratification, and people tend to buy a lot of things off the internet without ever interacting with them. When you’re looking at large purchases for your home—whether kitchens, custom cabinetry, windows or doors—the opportunity to see and touch those products is tremendously beneficial. We stock our showroom with high-quality products from reputable companies to ensure multiple options for most needs and budgets.

In addition to being able to visualize and interact with the products, our design experts are extremely knowledgeable about each of the products. At a big-box store, while its designers may be good, they may be limited in the designs they can create and the attention they can dedicate to your project. The goal of our design center isn’t to pressure someone, but to find the perfect fit for each individual project—from kitchen designs to custom wine cellars to bookshelves.

From showroom to project, tell me about that process.
When you walk into the showroom, you will be greeted by a design professional who will work with you on your project, whether it is cabinetry for a kitchen or another room. The first step is fact gathering. We need to understand dreams, wishes, wants and needs. We will also strive to understand budgetary constraints and which is more important, function or aesthetics.

The next step is to work on the design. That’s where the magic happens. Everything that was discussed during the fact-gathering stage is incorporated into a preliminary design. From there, the design is modified to more selectively represent the combined vision. This is done through line drawings and computer 3D renderings of the project.

Once the design is finalized, we will conduct a site visit to confirm all measurements. We typically work with the customer’s contractor or we can provide installation services as well.

Freedom Millwork recently celebrated 10 years in business; how has the company grown since 2014 and what are the plans for the next decade?
From our humble beginnings with six employees to a work place of over 50 employees, we have been very fortunate in our ability to show double-digit growth as a company. We have also integrated two acquisitions. About four years ago, we purchased a finishing company so we could be in control of the quality and scheduling of millwork finishing. This company—now Freedom Finishing—finishes the custom cabinetry that we build, but also cabinetry for other custom woodworkers. Freedom Finishing also does kitchen refinishing, touch-ups and small repairs. About two years ago, we acquired another custom cabinet company, and assimilated them into our facility.

We moved from one building of about 15,000 square feet to another of almost 25,000 square feet. This larger building allowed us to create a state-of-the-art showroom where we display all our custom cabinetry, kitchens, windows, interior and exterior doors, and hardware, giving customers a unique one-stop shopping experience.

Word of mouth has been extremely beneficial for us. Every week we get people who come in who have seen our building before but didn’t know what we did until they talked to a friend or neighbor about an upcoming project. They’ll tell us their neighbor said: “You need to go see the guys at Freedom Millwork. They’ve got everything there.”

Freedom Millwork - 6209 Design
Pipersville, Pa. | (215) 642-2213 | FreedomMillwork.net

Published (and copyrighted) in House & Home, Volume 24, Issue 12 (November/December 2024)
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