The nation’s cabinet trade, buffeted for months by high interest rates, a housing slump and other market headwinds, was subjected to decidedly mixed news recently, with word that Rutt Quality Cabinetry LLC is being significantly downsized – but will nevertheless remain in business – as one of the industry’s most venerable custom-cabinet suppliers.
News of Rutt’s downsizing was conveyed late last year on the heels of widespread conjecture about the company’s future, particularly among its network of kitchen and bath design firms, factory employees and sales reps, many of whom have been associated with the 72-year-old cabinet manufacturer for decades.
Rather than being shuttered, subjected to divestiture, or merged with sister company Wood-Mode LLC, Rutt, according to ownership, will retain a 30-person workforce – roughly a third of its former size – at its New Holland, PA plant, and will pare back its product offerings, concentrating exclusively on its top-selling Classic line of cabinetry.
Rutt and Wood-Mode, corporate officials reported, will remain separate entities – each with its own manufacturing, sales and marketing arms. Dealers of Rutt’s discontinued, lower-profit Regency line are being encouraged to specify Wood-Mode’s Brookhaven cabinets, sold at roughly the same price point as Regency. Rutt will add production capacity as future sales warrant, management said.
While many pundits may consider these decisions lamentable on their face, it’s likely that Rutt’s management spared the iconic cabinet supplier, at least for now, from a far more dire fate – all while managing to preserve brand equity, protect the company’s dealer base, and perpetuate a time-honored tradition of custom, handcrafted cabinetry that’s critical to the vibrancy of the kitchen and bath trade.
Founded in 1951, Rutt has long been celebrated for its cutting-edge cabinet designs, attention to detail, and pride of craftsmanship unique to Pennsylvania’s Amish and Mennonite communities, a region long considered the beating heart of America’s custom-cabinet trade.
For years, Rutt was seen as both a trendsetter – an innovator in the art and the science of cabinetmaking – and a throwback to an era when steel- and site-built cabinetry dominated the landscape, wood cabinets were thought of simply as “boxes,” and cabinet suppliers routinely rose from the workshops, garages and basements of visionary artisans and craftsmen.
Like other custom-cabinet suppliers, Rutt’s furniture- quality construction techniques, progressive door styles, custom finishes, unique storage features, use of hardware and other cutting-edge ideas helped revolutionize the nation’s cabinet trade, challenging antiquated notions of what cabinets should look like, how they should function, and how they should be built.
Just as significantly, Rutt was among the nation’s first cabinet suppliers to expand its outreach beyond the finite trading area of the prototypical custom-cabinet shop and establish distribution of luxury handcrafted cabinetry through a nationwide network of kitchen and bath design showrooms serving the high-end niche. As such, the company’s pioneering innovations not only served a critical customer base of discerning, affluent clients, but palpably reshaped homeowner perceptions, spurred widespread investment in residential remodeling, served as a model for other companies and helped cement the role of high-quality cabinetry as the cornerstone of the modern-day kitchen.
The market for high-end, custom-crafted cabinetry, while less impactful in terms of sales than that of the stock and semi-custom niches, remains critical to the vibrancy of today’s kitchen and bath design trade. Custom-cabinet suppliers, as in the past, play a vital role by offering exciting new possibilities, raising the bar for others, and growing the market.
While there’s clearly some overlap between the two cabinet suppliers, it’s difficult to believe, as some observers suggest, that Wood-Mode’s ownership acquired Rutt simply to divest its assets, merge it with Wood-Mode or, worse, close its doors.
Here’s hoping that the sister companies weather the financial realities of modern-day cabinet manufacturing, establish a genuine synergy and remain viable options for design firms serving a high-end clientele. ▪