J.R. Glick devotes his time to helping clients reimagine their homes through custom cabinets made with uncompromising craftsmanship. He has been intimately involved in many memorable home-renovation and beautification projects since 2021, when he joined East Earl, Pennsylvania-based Master Design Cabinetry as a designer.
One of the more recent projects he’s had the pleasure to work on involved a newly purchased 300-acre property in Berks County. The owner sought to restore the on-site farmhouse to its days of splendor, with custom cabinetry playing a central role.
“The property is in Kempton, not far from Hawk Mountain, so it’s a really nice setting,” says Glick. “Originally they wanted to restore the house back to its original look, but they ended up tearing the house down and recreating it like it was before. I had the opportunity to work with the homeowner directly as much as a year before construction started.”
Master Design was brought into the project through Hammertown Construction LLC, a Narvon, Pennsylvania-based builder that specializes in barn restorations. Working one on one with the homeowner, in collaboration with the builder, Glick designed cabinetry for the home’s kitchen, the bathroom vanities, and a bar area.
“The homeowner wanted to keep it simple with more of a farmhouse look: functional without calling too much attention to itself,” he adds. “The white cabinets tie into a few other elements in the kitchen, including the reclaimed wood floors and reclaimed beams in the ceiling. The design also draws the eye to the stone behind the chimney of this beautiful wood-burning stove.”
With each project, Glick takes the time to learn about the homeowner’s tastes and lifestyle so he can create designs that blend elegance and functionality. For example, he designed the kitchen island at the Kempton home to include an alcove lined with weathered stainless steel for ample wood storage to feed the stove.
Glick recalls a few small challenges that arose in the course of the project. For example, a swooped hood above the range required some ingenuity from the installation team. Also, because the cabinets don’t go all the way to the ceiling, as most kitchen cabinets do, Glick used crown molding to complement his design.
The project began in February 2022 and finished in the summer of 2023. Glick says the homeowner was “very satisfied” with the finished result.
“Some projects are really big and ornate, but this one is an example of how a clean and relatively simple design can make a big statement,” he adds. “The property had been a working farm for a long time. Now it’s someone’s home, but we were able to recreate the feel of what it once was, only updated for the world we live in now.”
Master Design Cabinetry
1564 Main Street, Suite 507
East Earl, PA 17519
(610) 273-2212
masterdesigncabinetry.com
Photo by Jody Robinson
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Life magazine, September 2024.
