Opening the cabinet door for Canadian innovation
Modern styling paired with quality a surprise hit
Good design for small spaces rests on three elements, says Jonathan Glick, president and co-owner of the Cutler Group.
“Big or small, style, functionality and quality are fundamental, especially in kitchens and baths. I don’t think people should settle for one without the others,” says Glick. Originally from South Africa, Glick did stints in marketing with such high-profile brands as Calvin Klein before joining Cutler, which manufactures kitchen and bath cabinetry, as well as media and storage units, in Mississauga.
When he came on board in 1999, the company had been in business for almost 30 years as a distributor of raw panel materials to kitchen and store fixture manufacturers, and later as a cut-to-size fabricator, doing large custom orders of tabletops and other components.
Cutler Kitchen and Bath was born in 2007, prompted by what Glick saw as a lack of widely available modern designs at affordable prices. The initial plan was to sell high-quality, high-design product to the trade and independent retailers.
“We wanted to educate the consumer that a lot of the stuff from offshore just wasn’t going to last. A year after buying it, it’s falling apart, and cracking and warping because the wood wasn’t being properly kiln-dried in China. There was something wrong with the picture.”
The sell-through strategy did not go according to plan. “A lot of them (boutique retailers) were bringing in items from overseas for very low prices and marking them way up. They were making some very big margins, and they weren’t content with the kind of margins we could offer,” says Glick.
It was a design-savvy buyer from Lowe’s who first saw the potential for selling Cutler products to end users through a mass chain. Price was initially a concern — at the time the average price of a vanity in Lowe’s was about $200 dollars, says Glick, while Cutler’s was about $500.
But he was betting that style was first and foremost in consumers’ minds.
“If everyone is buying skinny jeans, you don’t go out and buy pink bellbottoms because they’re cheap. I felt that the same was true of kitchens and baths,” he says.
“We took off pretty quickly, so there was obviously a very big need for something modern, well-made and relatively affordable,” he adds.
Another plus, says Glick, was that his was the only Canadian-made product in the aisle.
“We had been through a recession and I think people wanted to support local industry. Greed got us where we are — we want more and we want it cheaper, and it doesn’t matter where it comes from,” he says.
“Well, it turns out it does matter if you are taking jobs away from Canada and stifling Canadian innovation.”
Since then, Cutler Kitchen and Bath has moved into several big box stores, including Home Depot and Home Hardware, as well as independent retailers.
While he’s not a designer, Glick handles much of the design duty. Sleek and economical, his work evokes the kind of streamlined functionality found in higher-end European brands, a look Glick thinks is particularly well-suited to smaller spaces.
“It’s clutter-free. I tend to gravitate toward contemporary because that’s what I like and what I understand, and I think it’s really well-suited to our Canadian lifestyle.”
A great eye and innate design sensibility must run in the family: Glick’s sister, Denise Zidel, owns Snob, one of Toronto’s most beautiful décor/design shops.
Glick says the North American movement toward small spaces, accelerated by intensification in urban areas, will mean further expansion to his lines.
In addition to several standard-sized kitchen and bath cabinets there is, for example, a space-conscious “Boutique” bath line that features a space-saving, 18-inch vanity that comes in a variety of finishes, including a crisp linen-look and a chic matte black.
A new line of storage units, perfect for condo use, has also been launched under the Cutler Modern Living flag.
“Storage is especially important in smaller spaces and condos, and this line makes it possible to combine storage with a style statement.”
The fixtures will sell for 30 to 50 per cent less than comparable European products and have a significantly shorter lead time, says Glick.
Still, prices for the units, and the utility cabinets he’s also planning to add to the mix, will not be on the lowest rung of the price ladder.
“If you are looking for cheap products, we’re not for you. It’s not in our makeup to make crappy product — it’s not what we do, or have ever done.
“Fortunately, consumers are getting more sophisticated all the time — they know you get what you pay for.”
Right place, wrong ward: Massey Hall and Massey Tower, discussed in the July 26 column, are in Toronto’s Ward 27 and not Ward 28.
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