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Creating a design concept for a kitchen or remodeling an outdated bathroom requires an understanding of the products and services available to those looking to undertake such a project. The ProSource Podcast breaks down the home remodeling industry and highlights the merchandise and experience that it requires to achieve your vision. Join ProSource Director of Digital Marketing Content Kevin Devine, as he speaks with those who facilitate the ideal project and offer valuable information for how to choose the ideal products and services that transform your ideas into reality.
Welcome or welcome back
to The ProSource Podcast.
Today
I am joined by representatives
from Cabinetworks.
We have, Kristen Phipps for the senior
brand director for Medallion Cabinets
and then Heather Argo,
national trainer for Cabinetworks.
For anyone wondering,
Medallion and Yorktown are both
brands underneath Cabinetworks
And so we'll be able to differentiate
those brands today a little bit more.
But I'm very excited to learn more about
both the brands with two experts
that we have on.
So, Kristen
and Heather, please,
whoever wants to go first,
please tell me a little bit
more about your background
and role for the Cabinetworks group.
My name is Kristen Phipps.
I have brand and product
for the Yorktown and Medallion brands.
I've been with cabinetry about 15 years.
And I've kind of managed
brand and communications
and product for everything
from stack
level cabinetry all the way up to custom.
So as you can imagine,
Heather and I very excited
when we get to talk about these brands
because they are so near custom.
And we feel like there's such a world
of possibilities here for designers.
So thank you for having us. Yeah.
And I've been in the industry
for over 20 years.
I started as a retail designer.
So I, you know, sat in the trenches,
I design the kitchens all the jobs.
So I, I love to integrate
that into the work that I do
as national sales trainer.
So, we're actually
working on new product
launch content currently.
And I conducted a webinar today.
So I love that interaction with designers
and being able
to explain
the benefits of a product
that assist them in the design portion,
not just making the kitchen,
but they have to be integrated
and connected, which,
I think these brands do very well.
Yes.
And they are very popular,
from what
I understand, amongst
all of our trade pro members
I'd already touched about,
you know,
how both are under Cabinetworks group,
but there's also many other brands
under Cabinetworks.
How would you describe these two brands
to someone
that may not be aware of their existence?
If anyone's listening,
and that's a possibility.
I'm not sure if that is a possibility,
but just in case.
So I think the way that we position
these brands is that we really lead
with a fine furniture finish.
So this is a very near custom brand.
It is very much
we consider it to be designer brand,
because it is so intricate.
Designers can approach this
and really find the models and SKUs,
and even finishes and textures
that they need to make a unique
look for each of their clientele,
who tend to have more luxurious tastes
than, the average consumer.
and I would add to,
from the designer perspective,
what we're able to do in the sweet spot
of factory modifications is steps above,
a basic semi-custom line.
So these we are considered semi-custom,
but we dip into the custom realm as well.
So we can build custom cabinets.
But we do a ton of factory modifications,
which really saves the designer time.
And designing
checking in multiple pieces and parts.
And then of course installers
then have less pieces and parts
to put together in the field,
so it makes the install go faster.
And honestly,
when you have less pieces and parts,
you less seams
and it just looks
prettier at the end of the day.
So that's part of the passion
that I have with it.
Absolutely.
And I feel like sometimes
the more simpler it is, the better.
Sometimes when you bog it down
with too many different details,
it's just chaotic looking.
And in today's world,
we want more simple.
Yeah.
And modifications
will help with that too. So.
And I think, yeah.
Part of like what bugs that I want to
many details is
we have all these different
door sizes and the lines don't line up
and it it just looks choppy.
And that's part of what
we can do to keep it
consistent and clean
and looks really good.
So And I know
both of the brands
have solid industry history.
Word on the street
is that you are working on something
called Pursuit of Excellence.
Could you tell us a little bit more
about what that is?
So that has been, just an amazing feat
this year for our team.
We have invested in these brands
and in the network that produces
these here in America like never before.
So our folks are absolutely dedicated
to the pillars that our brands stand for
and what that means to a designer.
And the way that they can sell
with confidence to the consumer is
these folks are meeting every day
to talk about
how to make a fine furniture finish
and how to ensure that
there's, extremely high caliber,
luxurious product
delivered in the consumer's home
so that they're making memories
in a kitchen that lasts for years
and years to come.
We take that very seriously.
Our operations
teams are absolutely in line
with our values.
In fact,
I joke that they have a weekly meeting
that's called fine Furniture. Finished.
Just to talk about making sure
that we're calibrating our finishes,
that we're always looking
to kind of the next
the next step improvement.
And ensuring that our folks are
well trained and able to execute that.
There's so much that goes into that.
I mean, the finishing process
and even something as little
as the type of lighting used
in different areas of the plant
so that everybody can see
the color in the same way,
and then also discovering
that as we put people in roles
where they're expected to see color,
not everybody sees color the same way.
So I know part of that process
was putting people through the test
to see what
sort of color range
their vision is, and and making sure
that we have accurate people
looking at colors and analyzing
that and, and partnering with,
our color
specialist, Sean Williams,
to help us get all of that calibrated and
in alignment.
Absolutely.
And I know color
could be tricky, too,
because even depending
on which room you put it
in, it can look different.
And like you mentioned, person to person,
some people might be
just a slightly colorblind
and they don't even know.
So that's a good point to make too.
And I think even just
you guys bringing attention to this
and how, you know,
difficult color can be brings designers
and any trade pro member,
I think some confidence
to look at Medallion or Yorktown
for their choosing for their clients
because they have that confidence
that you guys
are putting the attention
to details there.
And we want to continue to, to,
inspire that confidence in the designer.
We know that that is, you know,
the real connection to the consumer.
I was in one of our facilities this week,
and they were talking about the
increased protocol
that they have
for even training the finishers.
Heather mentioned
some of the color acuity,
but as well,
they're doing a great mix of hands
on and virtual training
to make sure things like
tip application is consistent
and angle is consistent,
and we're getting the right hang ups.
And so all of those little things
all go together
to make that fine furniture
finish that we're so proud of.
And your designers have
come to expect from us.
And just out of curiosity,
I'm sure this has been on your radar
as long as Medallion Yorktown
has been in existence. Right.
But when has this
initiative really took off?
That's like pursuit of excellence.
We kind of titled it that way this year.
We've been working on
continuous improvement
for a really a very long time.
Anybody who's familiar
with the plant environment
and many of your designers
have been on tours with us
and seeing the trainings
we go through,
the quality enhancements
that we use,
all the point of inspections.
But we really kick this off this year
because we felt like,
there's a new generation of designers
and kind of a more informed
group of consumers who want to know
what goes into making my cabinetry
and what are the qualifications
of the artisans that make that,
and are we making sure that it's being,
you know, applied the same way each time?
So we really kicked it off this year.
And as Heather mentioned,
we provided a lot of information
and the Pursuit of Excellence campaign,
just to show, here's
all of the capital investments
that we've made.
Here's all the people investments
that we've made.
But most importantly,
here's all the investments
we've made in making sure
the designer feels comfortable
with our products,
and then selling those and recommending
them to their clients.
We have a
website dedicated
to up to date
information on that process, too,
because it's not just a one
and done, like,
we might do a product launch
and then we wouldn't do another product
launch for a few months.
This is really a program
that is in constant motion.
It's never going to stop.
It's something
that we are continuing to improve
and that Kaizen method.
So there is
a website that we have dedicated
where we're going to constantly
be updating the new improvements
and things that we've changed.
It could be boxes,
could be construction,
could be variety categories under that.
That's awesome.
That makes it really easy to for people
to just always go to that one place
for up to date resources
or if they just need
to check in on information,
So let's
go ahead and talk about
some of the design
and like product specifics of the brand.
What is a micro shaker style door
and why do you think it makes
a good choice for design
that I actually have?
In my office
a couple samples
because I'm doing our new product
launch, training.
But I have
we launched this door in April.
This is our, Finch door,
and this is a micro shaker.
So you have this is a 3/8 frame
versus like, your standard shaker,
which I have in my office behind me.
I don't if you can see it.
It's like usually at between
the two and a three inch rail.
So the idea is it's not quite a slab door
and it's not quite a shaker
because we've seen shaker
style done for so long.
It is a classic look,
but we have an audience of customers
who are looking for something
that's a little bit
more fresh,
and maybe a bridge
between contemporary and transitional.
So it's a nice kind of meet
in the middle style.
It's definitely different,
but it's something
we've been seeing for some time now.
We have three different versions.
This is the one I just showed
you is the narrowest at 3/8,
but we have one
that's a little curved one.
It's a wider flat one. And this one here.
Yeah.
I think the one you just showed me.
We have that in our resource of Saint
Louis, location, where I work out of.
And because we've, I've went in there to,
you know,
do content
and I've definitely seen that,
door style.
And it looks so good.
It looks so clean.
And like you said, it's
it is almost similar to a shaker,
but it has a little bit of edge to it.
No pun intended. Right.
It has a little bit of edge.
It's a little bit more different.
And like, fresh,
it doesn't feel like the typical,
shaker cabinet doors.
And I think that that people
might be seeing in, in trends
as they evolve.
It's just we want something
that we haven't seen
a million times before.
And when something is fresh
and has that edge to it,
we tend to gravitate to that look.
And that's
how it kind of grabs legs
and becomes, you know, mass market.
And that's what we've seen
with the style.
It's certainly not not a niche look.
It's been around
and we see a lot of people interested.
Yeah it feels a little bit
more finesse to
then just without,
you know, just a typical
shaker door style.
Does you want to add to that at all?
Chris said,
I just wanted to double
check the only one.
The only thing I would mention is that,
Heather is obviously
an extremely experienced designer,
but she and her team traveled the country
talking to designers
and going to trend forward shows.
My team and I do the same,
and we're always
looking for this type of thing.
And I actually know for a fact
that the Finch store
was identified by somebody
who was traveling to a, customer.
And the customer said,
hey, I've seen this look
in some furniture
magazines,
and I would really like to know
if we can make
that available and cabinetry.
And of course, we are always looking for.
Great.
Our designers inform our product line.
So all of those trend,
suggestions
and Inquisition's from our designers
really make up the product line
and make us proud to offer
this designer product line.
Cabinetworks has introduced
ten new paint finish colors.
And so we've seen this strong,
bold color trend over the past year
or even further than that.
Do you think customers are moving away
from all white kitchens,
or do you think there's
still a market there
for all white kitchens?
Is it $0.50?
Our designers are definitely like,
please, please
move away from all white kitchens.
Yeah.
So whenever I am
in front of designer audiences,
I think we as an industry
are ready to see something different
because they've been designing
white shaker kitchens
every time someone comes in.
And we've been seeing,
a tip of that,
actually starting
as far back as,
like before 2020, like, 2019,
we launched, a huge palette of colors,
as standard colors
that they didn't have to
go into the custom,
method of coating them.
And the idea is
we wanted to be the first one.
With the customer
to have the right green, the right blue,
the right shade of white even.
So we have this expanded palette,
and in April,
we launched,
I think I have those two, actually,
we launched this, grouping of ten colors
that are meant
to be kind of fashion forward
and as we know, in the fashion world
and in interior design,
everything shifts
and changes periodically.
So there could be more muted colors.
Maybe eventually they'll be more bold.
So we have a palette
that we even have,
like these dusty, gray purpley tones.
We have some terracotta,
we have a variety from greens
and a variety of different blues.
I have green in my own office
here, and green and blue,
traditionally have always been
the two biggest colors
that customers are easily gravitate to,
I should say,
because they're typically
the two biggest colors
we see out in nature.
So we're pretty comfortable.
We're putting those
within our home as well.
But the idea is that they can be faster
moving colors and clarity
that I have
on the Finch store
here is kind of that purpley color.
And we've had a lot of requests for this
in a variety of different, designs.
So it's, a fun palette to work with.
And, Chris,
I know you spent a lot of time,
getting that ready to launch.
So what would you want
to add to that, too?
I think I think I echo everything
that Heather
said, and,
and I would continue
to reinforce
that we're committed
to continually refreshing that palette.
Heather mentioned that we've got,
nearly 40 standard colors.
But we do have custom color capability.
And we are continually looking
not not only at our paints,
but at our specialty
finishes, at our stains,
at what is happening in wood,
grain and wood grain demand.
Interesting stat for you.
Your company
has, has ordered
quite a few of the new colors.
They have taken off a little bit
faster than we even had hoped.
So of course
we're thrilled
our folks and our plants are thrilled
because it's very fun.
If you're in our plant
to see those going by
on the on the paint lines
and being inspected at that last stop
before we carefully shipped them out.
So, just again, it's very
it makes it very fun for all of us.
And designers
definitely vote with their designs.
So we look forward to seeing more of that
in color.
It doesn't have to be like a kitchen,
doesn't have to be all green or all blue.
There's certainly a variety of levels
that customers are comfortable
with adding it.
And when I do design and trends training,
we talk about the risk level.
So maybe somebody isn't,
you know, fully comfortable
doing an entire green kitchen.
So maybe they just do the hood
or just the island,
or maybe it's
just a way that they have like a view
through into another room.
So there's a little
like a sideboard piece
that they can see that's green.
So it's not in the main kitchen
or it's the bathroom or the powder room.
So we are seeing it
pop up in a variety of ways,
small little doses or it's all in
and the whole kitchen is a color view
from top to bottom.
Yeah.
And I was looking at those colors
and we're currently on the Pro
server side.
And in our marketing department,
we are getting ready
for color of the year
because we do a lot of stuff
for that
every December and January,
and a lot of those colors
probably aren't
exactly those colors of the year,
but they remind me
of the colors of the year
that's coming out for 2026
and the ones that we just did in 2025.
And terracotta,
I know, is also huge right now.
I mean,
I think when
I'm not even just in cabinets,
one of my friends, she's getting married
and that's like her bridesmaids dresses,
you know.
So I see it everywhere
and I'm constantly reminded,
oh, I need to buy my,
my dress to be at this wedding
because you just you just held that up.
So I know that's a popular color,
and that's not your typical blue
or green.
So people are starting
to slowly
even branch out
further than just the typical hues
that we see.
But and then those dusty colors
that you pulled up to,
those are super popular.
It depends on the house style, too.
I this year focused on, training on,
timeless design.
And when I was asked to talk about
it, kind of gave me pause.
I'm like,
I don't know if I could tell you
what's timeless, right?
Until I'm in the future
and I can look back and be like,
no, that's not timeless.
But it's really kind of
back to the classics.
And when you are designing
someone tell me of a period
style of the Victorian,
or maybe it's a traditional farmhouse,
or if it's mid-century modern,
if you put items from that time
period in there,
they will remain more timeless
than if you forced a look on a house
that it didn't fit in.
But we do see,
even though these colors
might be trending today,
used in the right applications,
color itself can absolutely be timeless.
So we see, like old farmhouse kitchens
and Victorians
have color cabinetry all the time.
So there's definitely ways to work it in
and make it timeless and not have it
have a time stamp on today
just because the color.
One of the things I took from
Heather mentioned her timeless,
the art of timeless design,
her presentation on that.
And one of the things that I took as an
you know,
we play in color
and so we're prone
to want to talk about color all the time.
But,
one of the things she mentioned is
sometimes people are kind
of have a signature color,
or they're known for the area
they live in or the
or the time period of their home.
And so you remember your grandmother's
sunny yellow kitchen or, perhaps a dusty
blue of a lake house that you spent time
in as a kid with cousins.
And that really contributes
to that art of timeless design.
And that was something
that she'd pointed out for me.
That was kind of an
for me in that moment.
It's nostalgic for sure.
Right?
I think that that's a huge part of people
wanting to move away
from all white kitchens
is because they want to go back to
maybe how they felt
when they were more carefree,
had less worries when they were a kid.
That probably
subconsciously plays a part.
And and what their decision is,
I know
sometimes, like even when we post,
you know, a kitchen remodel
that's very neutral white everything.
Well,
we'll get a lot of feedback of like,
well, this needs more color,
but then it's like,
okay, well,
it comes down to the person
that's, you know,
investing the money into the remodel.
So I see it kind of go back and forth.
But I think generally as a whole,
this new generation at least
is really moving forward to having color.
And with cabinets, it's even
it's it's
easier to switch out, in my opinion,
like a cabinet color than,
you know, like a countertop
or flooring even,
or even just switching out door styles
that can be easier
than making some of those other
big investments.
So I think analogy
like like you said, exactly.
Colors for your wedding,
it's the feel
you want to have when you come home.
It's maybe, it speaks to you personally.
And I think we kind of see
that in a shift,
going from all white into some colors is
people want to put the personality
into it. It's their home.
And make it their own.
And not just the same cookie cutter thing
that they see
in every other Instagram post.
So yeah, personality is a big part of it.
Molly,
we would love to
love to coordinate with you too,
as you're identifying
your colors of the year.
We love to triangulate
with other experts in the industry
and see kind of the window
that you're looking through.
And did we get it right in tone and,
and saturation.
So I'm very curious always.
A few of our colors
have been very close
to some of the major,
paint manufacturers and so we've,
you know, given up
kind of a cheer of yay!
Somebody else
thought this was important, too,
but very interested to see
when you guys kind of come out
with your point of view.
We utilize all that as inputs
to our information as well,
because we're only as good
as the designers that we design with.
So we actually
the materials that we put out
are those big manufacturers
like you talking about.
So like Sherwin Williams, bear,
I think a couple of years ago,
Valspar didn't
come out with one color of the year.
There was multiple colors in the U.S
that they got out with families of them.
You know,
kind of
you mentioned the
the soft tones or the more vintage tones.
They will come out sometimes in a family,
which I think tells a story. Right?
So, I mean,
if you have a big paint manufacturer
who can't nail down one
color of the year,
what that says to me is people of color,
and it's a personality thing.
It's not just a green or a blue.
So I remember years ago
sending one of my teams
to as I wasn't going,
and I wanted to know just
when gray was first emerging,
and I sent them
with a couple paint swatches
and I'm like you to come back and tell me
which which type of gray is a cooler?
Is it warmer? Is it lighter is a darker.
Yeah. Nikki back is like Heather.
It's all gray.
Like everything is gray.
Every type of great lighter,
darker, warmer, cooler.
And I think that's kind of where we saw
the explosion of color on the seam two
wasn't just one.
It was just like color in general. Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
So if I'm a homeowner
or a trade professional
who is in shop for new cabinets,
why should I choose Medallion
or Yorktown for my kitchen remodel?
Well, I'm a little bit biased,
but I hope that we are.
We are continually refreshing
this these product lines
to make sure that they offer the SKUs
and the organization tips.
And obviously
the shiny, sparkly finishes
that consumers are looking for.
It is our goal
to always be on that cutting edge
and always be a little bit trend forward.
So you feel like you've got
not only a great palette to work with,
but a brand that stands behind you.
you know,
we're hopeful
that we would continue to earn
that partnership with your designers.
Yeah.
And going off of that,
for any trade professionals,
designers listening,
you have even more support
because not only can you go in and, like,
talk to our account manager
at your local ProSource
but that account manager has gotten
so much, academic from from you guys.
Right.
You talked about the training,
and there's, there's
such a close relationship
with process and cabinet works.
So our designers are also
having a lot of knowledge from,
from cabinet works
to then relay that information
to the trade professional.
So you're going to have like
a lot of support there with these brands.
Which I keep going back to this,
but it gives you the confidence,
to move forward
with these brands
and know that you have,
a lot of knowledge
back up and support there.
And we're going to continue
to push the envelope with these brands.
And, we will follow on.
We are in.
Heather mentioned that she and her team
are training
on, on, launch
that we are doing in January.
We will have another pretty major
launch next year,
because we want to keep
the selections fresh
and the designers
very inspired to work with our product.
Yeah.
And I've had the opportunity
to train ProSource designers.
So, I've been out in the field
and done virtual
training with some of them.
So, great group.
And any time you're,
you know, maybe not in a particular
brand all the time, it's good
to have a refresher on how to use it,
because each brand's
a little bit different than the next.
And I mean, I'm biased too.
Of course,
with these brands,
I ultimate camera for a little bit,
but I have them in my own office.
So,
and what I designed my office of course,
but I, I did it
in a couple different brands
to see what price point
was going to be the best for my budget.
And I chose Magellan
because I was able to do things
like these more furniture
style looks with one cabinet.
In some other products
I had to use more pieces and parts,
and I didn't want that look.
So, I love the fluidity of using it
like that.
And,
I have heard from designers in the field
sometimes like, oh,
I didn't know
you could do that
in modeling in Yorktown.
So I moved my customer in,
you know, fill in a high custom line.
So you're unnecessarily
sometimes spending
budget of your customers
when we can do those things
and then open up some of that budget
for some of the fun things
the customer might want, like maybe
now they can do
some more decorative glass,
or they can upgrade their appliances,
or they can get that stone countertop
that they otherwise wouldn't.
So it's a really great way
that we can kind of bridge that gap
from semi-custom to custom.
That's what I love about it.
Absolutely.
So I understand
you've completed
two new product launches this year.
Can you briefly share what those were
for anyone that needs to be caught up?
So I think, first and foremost,
and Heather can provide you
all the details, but, we did that
gigantic color launch,
so we had ten new finishes
and the finished door.
And we are actually I'm
sitting here
with some of our launch materials,
but we are launching in January.
Here's a sneak
peek of the gossamer stain,
which is a lighter stain
that we're launching,
as well as a host of designer driven,
absolutely designer dictated,
new SKUs and modifications,
that, you know, again,
this is a designer's brand.
So our designers absolutely dictate
what we're adding to this.
However,
you could probably had better color
than I could to that.
So what I've been.
So this morning
I did the third call with,
our existing customers on this launch
that's coming out in January.
And what I love when I cover
the new product is all the reactions
I see floating up
in the bottom of the screen,
the hearts and the hand claps.
And it's not all just like new SKUs, but
it's us adding modifications
to things
that maybe weren't available before.
Or we got custom quotes,
because we'll custom quote an item
we don't currently have,
or designers are changing
the configuration of something
and we're like,
we got this multiple times this year.
We need to make it an actual skew
instead of having to custom code it.
So it's just
simplifying the design process
and pulling that crowdsourcing.
I guess that information
that we get from our designers,
so we hear, you
know, ceilings are taller,
so we need higher
cabinets and bigger doors
people don't like, like you
said, that busy look.
So we want to simplify
the look of the design
and have taller doors
instead of multiple doors
to reach those heights.
So there's some sneak peak stuff
coming out for January,
but we have, very excited designers.
I'm getting a lot of emails, like,
can I get that now?
When's that coming out?
What's the dimension of this?
So they want to start using it
right away. That's exciting to hear.
No, that is super exciting.
It seems like
that was going to be my last question.
Is what is to come?
But it seems like
you have your hands full
with a lot of product
launches coming up to
and what you're already currently
still pushing out
and tidying up across all the showrooms.
So it seems like a very exciting 2026
that is to come, for Cabinetworks
and Medallion and Yorktown.
Well,
I think we're going to squeeze
another one out. Possibly.
I think.
Oh, I, yeah, the peak.
Yeah.
We are well supported by Heather
and her team,
who travel the country
training designers and,
both virtually and in person.
And so that leaves,
the development team here with me
to kind of continue
to work on the newest stuff.
So of course, I can't divulge any,
any trade secrets,
but I've got a couple of them
sitting behind me.
If you look over my left hand
shoulder, including a new specie
and a continuation of that,
that shaker journey
that Heather referenced,
I think are so important,
as well as some new textures and styles
that I think designers
are just going to be delighted with.
I don't think we're ever done.
It's, you know, it's
fashion forward industry.
It's there is something
new on the horizon
and we have pop that way.
We have to evolve and change with that
so that we can have
what our designers need
when their customers ask for it.
I absolutely love that.
Is great to hear.
Thank you
both so much
for coming onto the park today.
And I love that
we really got to talk about color
a lot here, too.
That's not something
we typically
always get to talk in depth
about on the podcast.
So I really liked that theme here.
But I really appreciate
both of your time
and your expertise on all this.
Thank you so much. Always.
Thank you.
Thank you for joining us today
on The ProSource Podcast.
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