Sierra Cabinets

“They design it, critique it, adjust it, build it, and install it... and we just don’t have any problems.”

Process

From conception to installation, Ray and his team are with you 110%.

The Idea
Rough Design/Plan
Detailed Drawings
The Review Meeting
Crafting
Detailing and Finishing
Detailing and Finishing: Handcarving
Installation
Ensuring Customer Satisfaction

Additional Info: Turnaround Times
Additional Info: Pricing

The Idea
You will meet with Ray Huerta at the onset to discuss your ideas (perhaps bringing floor plans or some photos) or present your design questions: What type of cabinets would be most suitable to the current décor? How is this space best utilized?). Ray brings a well-trained designer’s eye to the vision. Ray takes time to consider such factors as larger floor plans, elevations, usage needs, other cabinetry, as well as how and where the cabinets are placed.

Ray is very good at interpreting ideas.
-- C. Wall

Ray helped me map out what I wanted.
-- J. May

Rough Design/Plan
The design process is of fundamental importance and sets Sierra apart from the competition. Together, you will come up with a rough plan and design. You may discuss types of wood or wood finishes. Ray will sketch something out for you and offer a rough estimate.

The homeowners had ideas, but couldn't quite picture what the result would look like. Ray showed them all the pieces that would make a cabinet look like furniture and gave them that vision that they wouldn’t have otherwise had.
-- Ross Rembac, RCM

Detailed Drawings
Dedicated full-time CAD designers develop shop drawings that portray cabinetry and design aspects in explicit detail. These drawings are often more detailed than many architectural drawings, and enable the client to truly envision the work as well as significantly reduce the chance of error.

Great designers.
-- Karen Zapellino, Designer

Ray does such beautiful drawings that it’s a masterpiece just in the drawing, and you can really tell what the finished product is going to look like.
-- Suzanne Warrick, Office of Interiors

The Review Meeting
Once the detailed drawings are complete, Ray meets with the homeowners, architect, designer, or builder to carefully review and eliminate any guesswork or assumptions from the finished product. “There are, then, no surprises in the construction process—and enthusiasm builds as you see your vision taking shape on the pages.”

Ray was willing to work with us with different ideas that had never been done before. He was always willing to take the extra step.
-- Ann Mosle, homeowner

Crafting
After agreeing on the final design, the cabinets are expertly and meticulously crafted in Sierra Cabinet’s 18,000-square-foot shop, resulting in exemplary artistry.

Basically it’s furniture. It’s got all the bells and whistles and detail that you could imagine, so it takes it to the highest level of cabinetry.
-- Dave Marcotte, Alec Homes

They weren’t your typical mount-to-the-wall type of pieces. Most of the cabinetry looked like furniture.
-- Ross Rembac, RCM

The quality of your work is superb.
-- Stevan and Stephany Cavalier, homeowners

Detailing and Finishing
The finish is carefully decided upon and prepared as it plays a significant role in the look and quality of the final product (Ray likens it to an automobile finish). The options here are extensive and fall into the general categories of varnishing, antiquing, “distressing,” and painting.

Sierra Cabinets offers a wide range of finishes that a lot of cabinet shops just don’t produce—everything from a common stain and lacquer or a natural finish to all of the pastel colors that a client could possibly ask for, as well as custom matching, glazed and highlighted finishes, and distressed finishes like old French country furniture.
-- Mark Schmidt, Paul Schmidt Builders

Detailing and Finishing: Handcarving
For the most ornate pieces—a fireplace mantel, key stone in an arch, legs on a vanity—Sierra Cabinets offers hand carving. Sometimes a small, subtle carving can bring out the full beauty of a piece. This very special talent is one of the features that singles out Sierra Cabinets as a one-of-a-kind design shop.

He has the resources to do any embellishments that we want, whether it’s inlaid marketry or hand carving, in addition to figured woods and the various finishes that designers can come up.
-- Suzanne Warrick, Office of Interiors

I had wanted kind of a Japanese/Asian design, and Ray came up with the idea of having a carving and found a carver for me. It looks fabulous.
-- Judy May, homeowner

Installation
Finally, the cabinets are ready to be installed in your home where the special qualities of the wood you have chosen will be showcased in the finest design and woodworking that you will find anywhere.

The cabinet doors are sensational looking.
-- Morgan Gilman, homeowner

The family room was really a knockout with beautiful stain-grade rooms.
-- Jim Grey, The Carving Workshop

The laundry room is undoubtedly the most exquisite in Lamorinda.
-- Mark Bohan, Builder

It’s just so beautiful because he made it look very Old World. It looks like furniture. I’m really happy with it.
-- Ann Mosle, homeowner

Ensuring Customer Satisfaction
Sierra Cabinets stays in touch with their customers until they are completely satisfied.

If there’s a problem it’s taken care of immediately.
-- Tom Castellino, Castle Construction

He is immediate in responding to problems.
-- Jeff Momsen, Momsen Construction

This business is fraught with danger, so how people handle themselves when the chips are down tells a lot about the people behind it. Sierra Cabinets never duck or shirk their responsibilities. They’ll always step back in.
-- Mark Schmidt, Paul Schmidt Builders

For a cabinet company, you want someone who can follow through after the job’s completed, and Ray’s company speaks volumes along those lines.
-- Dave Marcotte, Alec Homes

I’ll give you an example. One of the tall laundry room cabinet was too big to get in the door. They came out and got it that afternoon, rebuilt it in the shop and got it back to me the next day.(Mark Bohan, Builder

Additional Info: Turnaround Times
Despite the building business having a well-known reputation of being late and off budget, Sierra Cabinets is neither.

They said 8 weeks or 10 weeks, and that’s what it was.
-- Bonnie Zumbo, homeowner

They understand the concept of a schedule.
-- Charlie Wall, homeowner

I’ve been working with Ray for 20 years, and he’s always managed to deliver in a timely fashion.
-- Bill Patterson, Shelter Development

We use Ray because he’s able to produce a large range of highly customized cabinets in a fairly short period of time for us and meet our deadlines. In the past, we had a lot of problems with smaller cabinetmakers that weren’t as disciplined on the timing as Ray is.
-- John Holt, J.S. Holt Construction

Additional Info: Pricing
Value and fair pricing are always important considerations. Ray Huerta’s honesty and integrity are well established in the building community.

Ray has typically provided exactly the proper price point and the quality we’re seeking. He can provide you a low grade, medium grade, or very high quality cabinets, which is important because everybody has different needs.
-- Bill Patterson, Shelter Development)

Ray is fairly priced, and he’ll give ideas on how to work within a budget—how you get that high-end A+ look on a B- budget. I’m very price conscious because I have to be, the margins have just gotten so small.
-- Mark Bohan, Builder

Once I received your bid, it was entirely reasonable, and, quite frankly, a good value.
-- Ramsey A. Araj, M.D., homeowner