MONROE, Conn. — Whitney Cabinet, a kitchen remodeling business, was housed inside a 20-by-40 foot storage bin in the brick Conti building on Howe Avenue in Shelton for over three years, before growing and moving to a larger space with a showroom and design center at Clock Tower Square at 477 Main St. in Monroe.
Michael Putnam’s business of refurbishing and painting cabinets began in 2020, before Whitney Cabinet expanded to carrying its own cabinet doors and new drawer fronts, and offering full kitchen restorations, including countertops, backsplashes and hardware.
Putnam, a Monroe native, said Whitney Cabinet is significantly less expensive than replacing your cabinets and more efficient, completing a typical project within four days.
“While we take a ton of pride in being experts in cabinet painting and refacing, Whitney Cabinet has been built on a daily commitment to customer service,” he said during an interview at his store Friday morning. “We continue to raise our standards on each and every kitchen. Communication, planning and premium products allow us to deliver exceptional results.”
Whitney Cabinet uses Vadara quartz for countertops and backslashes, Top Knobs for the hardware and imports ICRO coatings from Italy.
“ICRO is much stronger than traditional paint and a much more beautiful finish,” Putnam said. “It’s an extremely durable and long lasting coating. I built my business around it.”
On Friday morning, town and state officials, and members of the Monroe Chamber of Commerce and Monroe Economic Development Commission (EDC) celebrated the grand opening of Whitney Cabinet with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
State Sen. Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, D-Bridgeport, First Selectman Terry Rooney, Economic and Community Development Director William Holsworth and Monroe Chamber President Ray Giovanni, who is also chai
rman of the EDC, attended the ceremony with Chamber and EDC members.
Putnam and his wife, Lisa, invited family members to the occasion, including Putnam’s mother, Mary-Ellen Sokol, father, Stuart Putnam, and stepmother, Theresa Putnam.
Michael Putnam is a member of Masuk High School’s Class of 1995. He and his wife have a son, Ryan, 19, who is playing football at Endicott College, and daughter, Meghan, 16, a junior at Masuk.
“We live in Whitney Farms. That’s where the name comes from,” Putnam said of Whitney Cabinets.
After cutting the ribbon, Rooney said, “we wish your business a lot of future success.”
“Mike has done a great job with his team,” Giovanni said. “Some of our folks in town have already come and bragged to me how wonderful the results were, so he not only does volume but, more importantly to him and his family, he does quality.”
Giovanni welcomed Putnam’s business to town. “You shine well for Monroe, so thank you so much for being here with us,” he said.
“I’d like to thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules,” Putnam said. “We really appreciate your support and are excited for the year ahead.”
Whitney Cabinet’s process
When a customer contacts Putnam about a kitchen project, he visits their home to take measurements. Then a week is scheduled for the painting of the cabinet boxes and preparation and painting of the cabinet doors, which is done simultaneously in the work area of Whitney Cabinet.
An appointment is made to visit the showroom and design center. “It allows them to coordinate their entire project in one place with a single point of contact,” Putnam said of his customers.
Customers can choose from updated styles for their cabinet doors, including slab, slim, shaker, panel, chamfer, beaded and step.
“We can do any color and any design,” Putnam said. “Our doors are chemical and moisture resistant, so they’re an ideal product for the kitchen. We’re coming up on almost 600 kitchens, so we’re able to buy materials at a more affordable level.”
He said this enables Whitney Cabinet to pass the savings onto its customers.
When cabinet boxes are being painted at a customer’s home, work on the doors is done in the backroom of the business.
On Friday, several cabinet doors had been placed on drying racks. Nearby, is a work table where the sanding is done.
“It comes to us primed,” Putnam said of the new doors. “We sand it and paint it, sand it again and put on the finishing coat. We take the extra step to sand it before the finished coat, because it gives another layer of durability and it’s a top of the line finish at that point. Once they have their door style and color, we pick out the hardware.”
For information about Whitney Cabinet, call 203-820-4754, visit its website, or follow the business on Facebook and Instagram.
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