About Us
Kitchens Made New
Kitchens Made New, was started in 2000 by Tony Morris. It was first known as "The Morris
Company" and then was re-named and restructured when Gary Morris came on board in 2002 to concentrate on Kitchen and
Bath cabinet refinishing/Refurbishing/Resurfacing. It is fast becoming recognized as "THE LEADER" in Cabinet
Refinishing / Refurbishing / Resurfacing and Refacing in the greater Sacramento area. Unlike many, many of our Competitors,
we proudly display our Contractors license on the Home Page of our website.
If you don't see a Contractors License listed on their website, then be cautious as
they must not be proud of it for a reason. So go to the CSLB website
and do a search by their company name. If it doesn't show up and they are doing work
for you, you may not be protected. Check any "sister" companies as well especially if
they are doing cabinetry work for you.
Some companies hire employees and pay them cash to avoid paying workers compensation
insurance and payroll taxes for them. This is against the law and they either don't
have a license or they will eventually be caught and will have their license revoked
by the C.S.L.B.
The C.S.L.B. requires that you either list the workers compensation that you are
providing your employees or that you are "exempt" from showing it because:
A - You either don't have any employees at all, or....
B - You "technically" don't have any employees because you are "leasing"
your employees and the leasing company pays it.
We are exempt because we lease our 9 employees from our payroll company. Most of them
have been working for us for more than 5 years. ( The Payroll Companies get a much
better rate on Workers Comp than we can because they are suppling many companies,
so the number of employees they have allows a much bigger "group" rate and we actually
save money because of it.)
While we are a C-6 "Cabinet,Millwork and Finish Carpentry" Contractor, some of our
competitors are just C-33 "Painting" contractors and take your doors and drawer fronts
to their shop to paint them. This has a cost and that cost is being passed on to you
in the guise of "having a dust-free environment." It may also be because they are only
using a "cabinet grade" finish at their shop and it may either take a long time to dry
and/or they need to "bake" them. Beware that because of O.S.H.A. regulations companies
that spray at a shop are often forced to use a lower quality finish.
We set up a spraying environment that saves you the cost of transportation and
the possibility of the doors and drawer fronts being damaged/scratched during that
transportation.
We choose to provide the highest quality "furniture grade" finish that drys so fast
that a "dust-free" enviornment is not needed, yet our finish stands up to water much
better than many or most of our competitors finishes because they only use a
"cabinet grade" finish that is often not water resistant and often does not
contain U.V. protection to prevent yellowing.
About 90% of our work is "Refinishing" or what some call "Refurbishing"
cabinets. This is because it is usually much
more economical to refinish cabinets than to replace or "reface" them and we can
even change the color without refacing.
About 10% of our work is in replacing and Refaceing cabinets for customers that
want a completely new wood grain. We also occasionally add new ones. Once in a
while we will make an entertainment center because it needs to match what we did
in the kitchen.
Our competitors are almost always in the "Refaceing" or "cleaning" business because
many are not trained in the art of refinishing and may be unable to produce the
exquisite finish that is found on our cabinets. The special lacquer finish is from
our special formula that we use. Without our special formula, many will say that
what we do is impossible.
Some companies will try to "renew" or "refresh" your kitchen without removing the
old finish. It is normally not possible to "clean your wood" on most cabinets because
it has a finish on it that protects the wood from exposure to water or other liquid
"cleaners" and they are "cleaning the old finish" and not cleaning "the wood."
If you use a "cleaner" on your cabinets, you are merely cleaning the surface of the
coating such as the varnishes or laquers, or cleaning the inferior finishes such
as urethanes or polyurethanes, and thus you are not being told the truth if they
claim to be "cleaning your wood."
Putting a new finish on top of the old one may be faster, but they will have to
come back and "charge" you for another "renewal" again in just a couple of years.
Many of the old finishes are a problem because they are peeling up and putting
something on them will just peel up the new finish as well because it is not allowed
to bond with the wood. Sanding is necessary to allow the new finish to bond with
the wood.
Don't be fooled by "cleaning" techniques that just put you in their "repeat business"
income stream and become a perpetual money drain on your budget.
The only real way of protecting your wood for many, many years is to sand off the
old broken down finish and put a superior finish on them, and not by just cleaning
the peanut butter off the old worn out finish and then applying an inferior
polyurethane on top of the old finish.
Tony Morris as an individual has been doing carpentry work professionally since 1989.
First millwork with California Cascade, next furniture making with The Michaels Company,
Furniture Refinishing and Restoration with Restoration Hardwoods, and then Cabinet
Making on his own and with another well known Custom Cabinet Company.
Gary Morris has retired from his work as a former Software Engineer and former
President and Chief Operating Officer of a multi-million dollar business, to
concentrate on building and managing the business, while Tony concentrates on
managing and training the current 9 man crew.
Notes about this website:
For several "Before and After" pictures, be sure to go to our "Picture Gallery" page.
Again, we do most of the work at your house. This saves both of us time and money,
since we don't have to run back and forth to the shop and we can finish sooner.