Cabinet Outlet gives DIYers more options

Keith Lawrence, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
·2 min read

Jul. 25—Keith Haynes started H & H Construction in Henderson in 1978 and began selling cabinets seven years ago.

But the company wasn't getting as much business from Owensboro as it expected.

So, in January 2021, Josh Haynes, Keith's son, came to Owensboro and opened Cabinet Outlet in the former Wetzel's Super Market at 1601 Triplett St.

"When you open a business during a pandemic, you either look like a hero or an idiot," Josh Haynes said this week.

So far, business is good, and he's looking like a hero.

Cabinet Outlet is a store for do-it-yourselfers and people who have a contractor to install the cabinets they select.

"We're trying to fix people up with cabinets that are better than the stock cabinets the big box stores sell," Haynes said. "This is the best bang for your buck."

So far, he's worked with customers from most area counties and in a broader area from Richland, Indiana, to Lake Barkley and Rough River.

"I've sold eight or 10 cabinets to people from here who now live in Florida," Haynes said. "They can buy them cheaper here and have them shipped cheaper than what they can buy them for down there."

He even delivered cabinets to a friend in Florida, he said.

Haynes said, "We only have one line of cabinets and two colors — white and gray."

Those colors have been the most popular in the country for years, he said.

But Haynes said changes are starting to come on both the east and west coasts.

The store stocks cabinets with kitchen sinks and bathroom sinks, traditional kitchen cabinets and 7-foot raised panel cabinets.

"We carry flooring as well," Haynes said.

He said, "Business has changed a lot in the past 10 years. A lot of what used to work doesn't anymore. You have to keep changing to stay in business."

And what people want in cabinets today has changed a lot in the past decade as well, Haynes said.

The National Kitchen & Bath Association says the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association has reported that cabinet sales were up 15% last year.

The national cabinet market is said to be about $18.4 billion this year, according to IBISWorld.

Keith Lawrence, 270-691-7301, klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com