Member Chad
MemberForum Replies Created
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BarkerCustom Beta 0.2.0 — More cabinet choices and smoother room planning
Released October 9, 2026
I wanted to share another update with everyone following the launch. BarkerCustom Beta 0.2.0 is live, with a clearer way to add products, more cabinets and individual components, better appliance planning, and further improvements to the cabinet editor.
A lot of this round is about making it easier to keep designing without stopping to work around the software.
Design the room with fewer interruptions
The Add products menu now has pictures and clearer categories. On desktop, you can drag cabinets, appliances, doors, and windows from the menu into your room.
We’ve continued working on how cabinet groups and stacks move together, along with fixes for stacking, filler gaps, row seams, soffit sizing, and keyboard controls. New rooms also start with clearer shape and setup choices.
Design checks, room measurements, construction scope, and finishing groups help explain what needs attention as you work through a layout.
More cabinets—and individual parts for your project
The expanded catalog adds bottom-drawer bases, split-top drawer layouts, tray-divider choices, a two-drawer cabinet with hidden rollouts, additional open and drawer wall cabinets, and farm/apron sink bases.
There are also individual cabinet doors, lazy-Susan bifold door sets, and drawer boxes. The existing flip-up and Aventos choices remain available.
For supported farm/apron sinks, the selected sink model helps determine the cabinet opening, including installation allowances. That connection between the product you select and the cabinet around it is something we’re continuing to build out.
Better appliance planning and hardware previews
Built-in and standard refrigerators now have separate menu entries. Supported model choices, openings, panel sizes, and clearance warnings use the manufacturers’ documented requirements. Microwave drawers and appliance cases have additional sizing support, too.
We’ve added more documented appliance and sink choices, with links to the source information so you can review the details. Always confirm the requirements for your particular appliance with the manufacturer and its installation instructions.
Supported Compact Blum hinge previews now use verified CAD geometry, and hidden rollouts follow their drawer’s movement in the preview.
A cleaner cabinet editor
The Share control is easier to reach inside the cabinet viewer. Door, hinge, edge-banding, and drawer-box choices are arranged more compactly so the cabinet stays visible while you review them.
Included hardware and countertop options are clearer, with additional choices marked for Pro. This release also includes door and custom-frame pricing corrections, plus fixes to phone door and window controls.
On a phone, you can configure cabinets and view your existing room in 3D. Full room editing remains a desktop workflow.
Work continues in our shop
Behind the scenes, we’ve also improved the layouts in Batch Center, Optimizer, Saw Station, and CNC Center for our staff.
The manufacturing side remains an internal staff pilot. Operator and machine acceptance are still required before relying on production output; this release does not certify physical saw, printer, or CNC output.
We’re continuing to work toward connecting the design to the actual parts and production process, while proving that workflow in our own operation.
Give it a try
Open BarkerCustom.com and look for Beta 0.2.0 beside the logo. If you have an older session open, refresh the page.
On a computer, try the new Add products menu: browse the categories, drag a cabinet or appliance into the room, and select it to review its settings. Then open the cabinet Share menu and copy a link to discuss here.
Existing saved projects and accepted quotes retain their own records and pinned versions. New catalog selections and fresh quotes use the current publication.
The desktop and phone-sized public room and cabinet viewers were checked on this live release, including the opening sliders, room measurements, and phone layouts. I’d like to hear how they work for you in an actual project.
If something needs attention, reply with Beta 0.2.0, the cabinet code, your device and browser, and the steps that led to the issue. A screenshot or shared design is helpful. Please leave private account and customer information out of public posts.
And tell me what you’d like to see next. Whether you’re planning your own kitchen or designing cabinets every day, your feedback helps us decide where to focus.
Design it. Share it. Improve it. Build it.
— Chad Barker
chad@cabinetdesigner.ai
chad@barkercustom.comA look at Beta 0.2.0
BarkerCustom Beta 0.2.0 desktop designer and Add products menu
Public sample kitchen viewed on a phone
Cabinet hardware and opening controls viewed on a phone
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On the Modern line, to order a 60″ tall 45-degree wall cabinet, you would need to order it at the current maximum height of 48″, then request that the height be changed to 60″ in the order notes at checkout on the credit card screen.
We will make the change on the back end. Any additional charge for the increased height would be calculated during the pre-production review and emailed to you separately.
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Thanks. I’ll pass that along to our shipping team.
We’ve made a lot of changes over the years to keep these pallets safe in transit. Freight damage is extremely costly because it usually means replacement parts plus another freight charge, so we take it very seriously.
Over the past 15 years, we’ve steadily refined our packaging based on what we’ve learned from every damaged shipment, along with a lot of testing and new ideas. At this point, we’re in a pretty good spot and are able to get the vast majority of orders delivered safely and in pristine condition.
Thanks again for the compliment.
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Good point on the color change over time. For reference, I’ll post a picture showing how Sapele ages. It tends to darken over time, similar to cherry.
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Sadly, the Slim Shaker would not work well as a glass door because of the way the frame is constructed behind the glass.
The hinge cup cuts into the panel area slightly, and that would be visible through the glass. The backside of the frame is also about 2.625″ wide, while the front is only 1″ wide to create the slim appearance while maintaining enough structure. With glass installed, you would be able to see the wider routed backside of the frame through the glass.
For that reason, I would recommend using the regular Shaker glass door frames anywhere you plan to have glass doors.
A 1″ wide frame around glass would also be pretty flimsy in my opinion, so that is not something we could offer due to warranty concerns and the fact that it would be more difficult and potentially unsafe to manufacture reliably.
Slim Shaker applied door end panels with the wider rails are currently available. They are new, and the top and bottom rails will be slightly narrower than the standard applied door panels. The regular Shaker doors use approximately 2 5/8″ wide rails, while the Slim Shaker uses a 1″ rail by design, so the top and bottom rails on the Slim Shaker version will be about 1 5/8″ narrower than the regular applied door panels.
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Sure. To get a similar result, use Sherwin-Williams Gallery Clear Coat and apply two coats at about 4 to 5 mils wet thickness. A 20 sheen would be the standard sheen we use.
Sand before the first coat and again between coats. Our sanding process is automated with a Robatech Universal system, so the edges are broken evenly, but you can get essentially the same result by hand without having any issues with the veneer.
We also inspect and hand-sand each piece between steps. After that, it goes through the orbital sanding process, which helps polish the inside edges and details, removes sharp corners, and gives all of the surfaces a light scuff for proper adhesion.
Stick with higher-grit sandpaper, around 400 grit or higher, and you should be fine. The veneers may look thin, but they are American-made and thicker than a lot of the imported material you may have seen.
I would recommend sanding with 400 grit, spraying both sides, sanding again with 400 grit, and then applying the second coat. That should get you very close to the finish we provide. You can also use 300 grit without any issue. I would just stay away from anything around 220 grit or lower.
Technically, we use an AcromaPro product. AcromaPro is Sherwin-Williams’ industrial coatings division, and from what I have seen, the products are very similar. It is really nice material and extremely durable.
Clear coat is also pretty forgiving because you can always add another coat if you have an issue or need to make a repair. I would not stress too much about getting every detail perfect. If you apply too much, just sand it back and do it again.
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BarkerCustom Beta 0.1.2 — Here’s what we’ve been working on
October 7, 2026
I wanted to give everyone an update on what we’ve been working on since opening up CabinetDesigner.ai and the new BarkerCustom.com.
A lot of this work comes down to making the designer more useful when you move beyond a single cabinet and start putting an actual kitchen together: cabinet runs, corners, finished ends, appliance openings, and all the little details that need to work together.
BarkerCustom Beta 0.1.2 is now live at BarkerCustom.com. The version appears beneath the BarkerCustom logo. If you already have the designer open, refresh the page to load the update.
Work with an entire cabinet run
You can now combine compatible single-door and double-door wall cabinets, equalize their door widths, and resize them as a group.
You can also copy and paste the whole group, combine it with another group, and keep working on the larger run.
For example, try placing a few wall cabinets beside one another at matching height and depth. Select them, choose Equalize door widths, and then Combine. From there, drag the group’s width handle or click its dimension to enter an overall size.
That’s the kind of workflow I want to keep improving: fewer repetitive adjustments when you’re trying out a layout.
We also fixed problems with sizing accuracy, incomplete group copies, and entering group dimensions in 3D. Pasting a whole group now takes one Undo step to reverse. If a particular front arrangement can’t be combined correctly, the designer explains why.
Try this on a computer for the full editing experience.
More cabinets—and more of the pieces around them
The catalog now includes 75 cabinet and finishing product definitions.
New additions include 45-degree base, wall, tall, and sink cabinets, along with bar-back panels, thick and panelized finished ends, and horizontal fillers. The Aventos flip-up wall cabinet options are also available.
We’ve been working through the details around those cabinets, too: fillers, island and peninsula backs, toe skins, molding returns, corners, changes in cabinet depth, and built-in refrigerator openings.
These details matter. A layout needs to make sense beyond the cabinet boxes, and we’re continuing to improve how the designer places and shows those finishing pieces.
Take a closer look at how the cabinets work
Guests and Free accounts can now select Ultra and Maximum detail, including supported Blum hardware previews and animation.
I want people to be able to explore the construction and understand what they’re looking at. Try the higher detail settings on a supported cabinet, open the doors or drawers, and take a closer look.
On a small phone, cabinet configuration and shared-room viewing are still the main workflows. For full room editing, use a computer.
Share something we can actually explore
The shared-design idea remains a big part of what we’re building.
You can explore the sample kitchen and select Use this design to save an independent copy in your account. For personal shared rooms, the owner chooses whether copying is allowed. Your copy does not change the original.
If you’ve built something interesting—or gotten stuck on a layout—share it here. Logged-in forum members can use Insert cabinet or room to add an approved BarkerCustom cabinet or room embed to a post.
We don’t just want people sharing pictures of cabinet designs. We want people sharing the designs themselves.
A useful starting point, a better corner solution, or a cabinet arrangement someone else hadn’t considered can make this community more valuable for the next person.
Progress behind the scenes in the shop
We’re also continuing to connect the design information to our own manufacturing workflow.
This update adds internal tools for combining orders into production batches, reviewing optimized sheets, organizing saw and CNC work, and storing production files and labels.
These remain staff-only beta tools while we validate them in our shop. This is not the public launch of a Manufacturing subscription.
Generating output is one milestone. Proving it through real production is the next.
Give it a try and tell me what you find
Your saved projects and historical quote records were retained. Geometry and automatic finishing improvements can affect a new estimate, so review the finishing notes and current cart when revisiting a design.
This is still a beta. We’re going to find things that need work, and I want to hear about them.
Try building a cabinet run. Explore the higher-detail hardware. Start with the sample kitchen and make it your own. Then post what you made—or tell us where you got stuck.
If something goes wrong, include Beta 0.1.2, your device and browser, the cabinet code if relevant, and the steps that led to the problem. A screenshot or shared design helps us understand it. Please keep private customer and account information out of public posts.
And if you design or build cabinets professionally, tell me what would make this more useful in your everyday work.
Design it. Share it. Improve it. Build it.
— Chad Barker
Chad@CabinetDesigner.ai
Chad@BarkerCustom.comA look at Beta 0.1.2
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All edges of that 1.5” thick top support would come banded and finished. Fully enclosed so no plywood is showing at all.
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Three hinges on a door over 42” tall.
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The doors on the Modern line are a bit heavier because the core material is denser than real wood. Because of that, we had to build in a few limitations on the flip-up cabinets after seeing a few orders that pushed the practical limits of both height and width. We ultimately limited the standard height to 16″.
The power factor for the Aventos lift is calculated after the cabinet is built, since that is how the Modern line was originally designed. It is not dynamically calculated during ordering like it is on the new BarkerCustom line.
For Modern, though, you can request an 18″ height in the order notes and we can build it that way. Just be sure to include that request in the order notes at checkout.
With the new BARKERcustom.com line, we can accommodate virtually any reasonable door size because the lift calculations are handled on the site before the order is placed. Have a look at the wall flip-up cabinet with the Aventos lift there.
Another nice feature of the new line is that you can customize the cabinet interior material using the birch, maple, or grey melamine options from our other lines. That lets you mix and match some of your favorite features—for example, using textured laminate doors with Barker Cabinets-style interior materials.
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Sure. We do carry exposed and open-shelf wall cabinet options here:
https://www.barkercabinets.com/Kitchen-Glass-Door-and-Open-Wall-Cabinets-s/95.htm
Nice drawings, by the way.
Currently, we do not offer a pullout spice rack in a wall-cabinet format. The easiest option would be to order a standard wall cabinet and then add the spice rack of your choice on site during installation.
If needed, we can also modify the cabinet so the doors are not drilled for hinges. That would simply require an order note at checkout requesting the modification, but it is not a difficult change for us to make.
barkercabinets.com
Kitchen Glass Door and Open Wall Cabinets
Kitchen Glass Door and Open Wall Cabinets
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The tall end panels in the Modern line are limited by the sheet sizes available from Europe. They max out at approximately 108″ tall, so we cannot offer the 120″ version that is available with Barker Cabinets.
For the Barker line, we have 120″ sheets custom-made for us specifically so we can offer that taller size. With the Modern materials, we are limited to the sizes currently being imported into the U.S.
The sheets are already very large, if I remember correctly, roughly 80″ x 108″, and they are extremely heavy and difficult to handle at that size.
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This reply was modified 1 week, 1 day ago by
Chad.
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This reply was modified 1 week, 1 day ago by
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Thanks!
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Wall and base cabinet finished ends are fully enclosed, with edge banding that matches the face material and finish. Tall cabinet finished ends, however, do not have edge banding on the top or bottom edges.
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MDF and PBC are simply the core materials commonly used in Europe for textured laminate and solid laminate doors. Those products generally are not offered with a plywood core because of the way they are manufactured.
Textured laminates, in particular, benefit from a smoother, slightly more compressible core that allows the press plates to emboss the texture consistently into the face material. Plywood is not as well suited to that process.
Plywood is also much less commonly used for this type of product in Italy and Spain, so the European manufacturers typically build these panels around MDF or particleboard cores instead.
