“I wanted to show the full range, not only of REHAU products, but of high gloss to super matte. I wanted to push the limits of how you think about designing kitchens,” he says.

-- Nic Frost, owner of Nic Frost Cabinetry

Nic Frost cabinetry | Timber & Tulip showroom | Mineapolis

A Hobby Turned Into A Career Leads to a Kitchen for Our Times

When Nic Frost, a chemistry professor at the University of Minnesota, left his teaching job in January 2017 to pursue his hobby of cabinetry work full time, he was confident his passion for woodworking would see him through any challenges that his new business, Nic Frost Cabinetry, would experience.

It seemed almost fate that the same month, Frost met Brianne Boettner at a home remodeling show. Boettner had left a career in accounting and finance in 2016 to follow her passion for furniture making. She was looking for someone who could design components for a showcase kitchen she wanted to create for her business, Timber & Tulip, in its Northeast Minneapolis Warehouse District showroom.

Boettner wanted to begin offering custom kitchen islands and Frost assured her he knew just what she needed for the island’s drawers and side panels – RAUVISIO brilliant Bianco. (The kitchen’s backsplash is RAUVISIO brilliant as well.) When the project expanded into creating a full model kitchen, Frost knew he wanted to counter the high-gloss finish of RAUVISIO brilliant with REHAU’s Italian-made FENIX NTM nanotech matt material for the cabinetry.

Project	Timber & Tulip
Project Type	Model kitchen in furniture showroom
Manufacturer	Nic Frost Cabinetry
Distributor	Holdahl Company
REHAU Products	REHAU Cabinet Doors in RAUVISIO brilliant™ and FENIX NTM^®
Photography	Alyssa Lee Photography

“I wanted to show the full range, not only of REHAU products, but of high gloss to super matte. I wanted to push the limits of how you think about designing kitchens,” he says.

Boettner adds, “The materials themselves are beautiful and low-maintenance. The range of textures and colors opened my eyes to options I never had access to.”

Frost especially likes the seamless edging REHAU offers with RAUVISIO brilliant. The adhesive-free laser edging technology perfectly matches the laminate and edgeband. “It is the best edgebanding technology in the world today,” Frost says. “I couldn’t do as good of a job as they do by hand even if I wanted to. A lot of cabinet shops have a hard time not doing everything in-house. In my opinion, there is no reason to add steps and increase overhead when you get such a good price and the product shows up done for you.”

Of course, Frost’s bread and butter is his cabinetry work, and he says REHAU delivers in spades there as well with its FENIX surfaces. For the Timber & Tulip kitchen, Frost chose Nero Ingo (black). “I wasn’t thrilled with the spray-on finishes I was getting with another company in terms of sheen,” he explains. “REHAU laminates are a perfect answer for that. The ability to go super matte or super glossy, combined with the durability, makes it a glorious product.”

Frost says his appreciation for the products offered by REHAU cabinet doors is enhanced by the exceptional service he receives from his REHAU rep, Mike McCormick. Samples are available at a moment’s notice and solutions are quickly developed whenever snags occur. “They make it easy on a small cabinet shop like mine that focuses on cutting edge, high-end projects.”