What Makes “Custom” Cabinetry? Our Craftsmanship Story at Home Expressions
This story — and everything Home Expressions has become — is dedicated to my wife, Susan Perrillo-Home.
Key Takeaways
- Home Expressions was built on a simple standard: build every piece as though it’s going into your own house.
- The business started in 2019, growing out of a lifelong habit of building things and a partner who encouraged that dream into a real trade.
- “Custom” cabinetry means built to your exact space and specifications, not selected from a fixed size and style list.
- Quality materials — 3/4″ Grade B plywood carcasses, real hardwoods, milled in-house — separate lasting cabinetry from cabinetry that isn’t built to last.
- Susan Perrillo-Home isn’t just part of the story — she’s the backbone of the business today.
How Home Expressions Started
Before there was a business, there was a habit. Darren Home spent years in theater production and set design — building sets, taking radios apart just to rebuild them, always finding a reason to work with tools and his hands. In 2019, he decided to pursue that habit as a real trade: a self-employed woodworker, cabinetmaker, and small business owner. His wife and partner, Susan Perrillo-Home — who built her own career through finance, a PhD, university teaching, and eventually commercial construction project management — was the one who encouraged him to actually chase it.
The early years were spent building skill through real projects, together. One of them: an end-grain butcher block island top built from two different wood species — the kind of build that demands real planning before a single piece of glue touches wood. Matching grain patterns, squaring every block, gluing it up under a rack of clamps, sanding it smooth, and finishing it into a glossy, lasting surface. That project — and others like it — is where the skill behind Home Expressions today was actually built.
Susan’s role in the business didn’t stop at encouragement. She helped put the office infrastructure together. She builds. She helps with installation. She works directly with clients. And on the days the work feels harder than it should, she’s the one who lifts things back up. In Darren’s own words: “I owe everything to her. She is my best friend.”
What “Custom” Actually Means
“Custom” gets used loosely in home remodeling, but there’s a real difference between custom, semi-custom, and stock cabinetry. Stock cabinetry comes in fixed sizes and a limited set of finishes. Semi-custom allows some adjustments to a base product. True custom cabinetry is designed and built specifically for your space, from the ground up — every dimension, material, and detail decided for your room rather than selected from a catalog.
Inside the Process: From Design to Installation
Design and measuring
Every project starts with an in-home measurement and a conversation about how the space will actually be used. Walls are rarely perfectly square and floors are rarely perfectly level, especially in older homes — accounting for that from day one avoids problems later in the process.
Material selection and milling
Once a design is set, material selection begins: solid hardwood for structural components, quality plywood for larger panels that resist warping, and finish-grade material chosen to match the intended stain or paint. Rough lumber is then milled into consistent, straight stock — the foundation every later step depends on.
Joinery and construction
This is where craftsmanship becomes visible, even if it’s hidden inside the finished piece. Mortise-and-tenon joints, matched rail-and-stile profiles, and floating center panels are what allow a door to move naturally with humidity instead of splitting or warping over the years. Stapled or glued-only construction is faster and cheaper, but it doesn’t hold up the same way over decades of daily use.
Finishing
Sanding, priming, and finishing happen in stages, not all at once — each layer is applied and inspected before the next. This protects the wood rather than just sealing it, and it’s the difference between a finish that looks good on delivery day and one that still looks good ten years later.
Installation and site-fitting
The final step is where design meets the reality of an existing structure. Scribing panels to fit real walls and floors, adjusting every door and drawer, and checking reveals across an entire run of cabinetry is what makes a finished room look intentional instead of assembled.
What Craftsmanship Means to Us
Asked to define it, Darren keeps it simple: “Craftsmanship to me, in one simple answer, is quality. I want to be happy with my work at the end of the day. I want to make every build as though it’s going into my own house.” That standard — would I put this in my own home — is the actual filter every project runs through, not a slogan on a website.
What Makes Home Expressions Different
The difference shows up in the materials most homeowners never see. Cabinet carcasses are built from 3/4″ Grade B plywood, not the half-inch particleboard common in lower-cost cabinetry. Hardwoods are chosen for quality, not just cost, and much of the wood is milled in-house rather than bought pre-dimensioned. Subcontractors are held to the same standard. The goal isn’t a cabinet that looks good at delivery — it’s one built to last a lifetime.
A Millwork Project In Progress
A recent millwork project in a Saratoga Springs home shows this process mid-stream. In one room, custom wainscoting and crown-topped window casings are being installed piece by piece — tools still out, cabinetry not yet finished, but the structure of the design already visible. Elsewhere in the same home, our team is hand-installing a knotty pine, tongue-and-groove vaulted ceiling, a larger and more involved millwork undertaking. Seeing a project mid-installation is a reminder that the finished result is the product of dozens of individual decisions, not a single moment.
Why Craftsmanship Is Worth the Investment
Custom craftsmanship costs more than off-the-shelf cabinetry, and that cost is almost entirely in labor and material quality rather than markup. A cabinet built with proper joinery, real hardwood, and a hand-applied finish will still be functioning well after a stapled particleboard equivalent has failed. The value shows up over years, not on installation day.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between custom and semi-custom cabinetry? Semi-custom cabinetry starts from a manufacturer’s existing product line with limited size and finish adjustments. Fully custom cabinetry is designed and built specifically for your space from the ground up.
How can I tell if cabinetry is well-built? Look at the joinery (mortise-and-tenon or matched rail-and-stile construction holds up better than staples or glue alone), check that doors and drawers operate smoothly, and ask what the carcass material actually is — 3/4″ plywood versus thin particleboard makes a real difference.
Why does custom cabinetry take longer to build than stock options? Material needs to be selected and milled specifically for your project, joinery is done by hand or with precision tooling rather than mass production, and finishing happens in stages. Each step adds time but also adds durability.
Is Home Expressions a family-run business? Yes. Darren and Susan Home run Home Expressions together — Darren leads the design and building, and Susan runs much of the business’s operational and client-facing side, in addition to building and installing herself.
Conclusion
Home Expressions started with a habit of building things, and a partner who believed that habit could be a business. Everything this company has become — every project, every piece of cabinetry that’s left this shop — carries her hand in it somewhere, whether she’s the one who built it, installed it, or simply believed in it before anyone else did. This business is hers as much as it is mine.
Curious what this process would look like in your own home? Book a free design consultation with Home Expressions Custom Cabinetry.
