Few things diminish one’s zest for life faster than foraging for a saucepan in the troll’s den of a corner cabinet. And battling one’s way through an overflowing pantry can force the most eco-minded of folks to fantasize about ripping out their kitchen and dumping it in a landfill. Which is why ShelfGenie’s custom cabinet interiors—with pull-outs, dividers and sloping shelves—will make you more excited than, perhaps, a cabinet should.
To be clear, SG doesn’t replace cabinets; they transform the interior shelves from repositories of mayhem to easy-to-access havens of domestic bliss. Doll them up with some fresh paint, and you have a new kitchen at a fraction of the price of a renovation, without the stress and environmental havoc.
“People want to be neat,” explains SG owner Alex Modica, “but they don’t know how to do it.”
And, to be fair, some of us are neat but still have drawers full of lidless Tupperware and… things.
“You don’t need to have a mental disorder to have a professional organizer,” Alex says (referring to A&E’s Hoarders). "You just need a desire to get your stuff without organizing a search party."
Building a better cabinet starts with a meeting with Alex. A bit of background about him: Alex spent the first 23 years of his career traveling the world as a menswear buyer and merchandiser for Saks, Original Penguin, Banana Republic and more. So his interest in design and quality made SG an appealing fit, seeking functional solutions within raw spaces.
The initial meeting is a friendly chat about your needs and shopping habits. For instance, are you a Costco club member? You’ll need gliders that hold 100-200 pounds of product. Do you shop organic? You may need dividers and gliders of varying heights to accommodate “loose” bulk purchases. Do you love to cook? You’ll want what Alex calls a “lazy Susan on steroids,” a Star Trek-esque assemblage of rotating shelves with small gliders so hundreds of spices and oils are easy to locate and grab.
According to Alex, clients are surprised at all the ways in which they can improve storage. He shows photos of pantries built beneath staircases, with shelves sloped to display all manner of unseen and forgotten foodstuffs. There were gliders beneath kitchen sinks, cut to accommodate whatever permanent things lurk beneath kitchen sinks, and new cabinet interiors SG created behind original mid-century facades.
By the end of meeting, he’s already whipped up design possibilities for you with a proprietary 3D design tool.
After you’ve approved the designs, his team schedules a time to measure the spaces. While your cabinet doors remain intact, you don’t need to be a slave to their dimensions. If you want more interior room, he can consolidate spaces behind them, giving the outward effect of multiple cupboards but increasing the internal storage space.
Next, the shelves are created in their studio, then installed in your home. The entire process takes around eight weeks depending on the scope of the project.
And, then, he waits for you to experience the special ShelfGenie joy.
“[SG] makes your life so easy. When I say it, it sounds like a marketing line, but clients tell me that all that time,” Alex admits. “One client told me, ‘I think of you every day.’”
To paraphrase Beyonce: Happiness comes from you. No one else can make you happy. Except, perhaps, someone who can help you find everything in your cabinet.
Which is why ShelfGenie’s custom cabinet interiors—with pull-outs, dividers and sloping shelves—will make you more excited than, perhaps, a cabinet should.
