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HIGH POINT – High-end furniture manufacturer Howard Miller/Hekman came to High Point Market this week with a variety of new product, but perhaps the standout was its new “custom modular” cabinetry.
Unlike the cabinets usually installed in homes, Howard Miller’s are modular and not a permanent fixture. They’re essentially interchangeable wall units that can be configured in a variety of ways and used in different rooms.
“Customers can easily take them with them if they move into a new place,” said Jim O’Keefe, vice president of sales. “They really enable furniture retailers to compete with Lowe’s.”
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All cabinets are made at Howard Miller’s Michigan factory and ship in three weeks. Customers work with in-store designers to create exactly what they want, such as selecting options for wood finish and styles for drawers, doors and hardware. Other features include metal drawer glides, reversible wine shelves, soft-close doors and crown molding.
“They’re much faster than ordering and having cabinets installed, and they’re of higher value,” said O’Keefe. “The ease of selection and sliding into place sure beats the complicated process and mess of custom cabinetry, carpentry and cleanup.”
Plans are in place to provide the whole ordering process through custom renders on the Howard Miller website. The company isn’t quite ready to have custom rendering yet, but the capability should be ready soon, it said.
Storage is more of a focus for the company in general O’Keefe said, noting it’s one of the main things retailers are asking for. This echoes comments made by fellow high-end case goods supplier BDI, who also focused this market on an increasing appetite for storage.
Another push for the company this week is on accent furniture, which was moved up further in the showroom to show off the company’s breadth of style in the category.
“We’ve been in accents for decades, but the category is more important now,” said Neil McKenzie, director of product development. “Many retailers can justify buying individual pieces, but not whole groups. Accents are great for filling out a retailer’s floor.”
