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Author: Kaiyan Chen

Kitchen Cabinets 101: Cabinet Door Styles

Our beginner’s guide to custom kitchen cabinetry materials and construction. We break down the most popular door styles, including Slab, Shaker, and Integrated Pull, to help you understand how intentional design and material selection impact your kitchen’s aesthetic and durability.

Kitchen Cabinets 101: Wood Species for Wood Cabinets

Searching for the best wood for kitchen cabinets? We break down the most popular species used in high-quality cabinetry, comparing their durability and visual appeal. From timeless Walnut to modern Oak, learn the essential characteristics of the top five wood types to ensure your Bay Area kitchen remodel stands the test of time.

Garage to Workshop: A Custom Transformation

The image shows full-wall metal cabinetry for a garage remodeled as a heavy-duty workroom at home.

We designed for a garage remodel in a San Carlos (South San Francisco Bay Area, San Mateo County) home, turning it into a tailored, powerful custom workshop for heavy duty projects.

We are in Elle Decor!

The cover page of that Elle Decor Issue

A heartfelt thank you to our amazing clients, collaborators, and the community around us — your support makes everything possible.

We are so grateful and excited to share this moment with you!

G. KLEINSMID

BUILDING PROFESSIONAL

I have worked with Hellen Hsieh and her staff on multiple projects for over four years. Throughout each project Hellen has maintained her professionalism and focus on the end result. She has good design sense, but also good people sense and helps clients enjoy the design process without becoming overwhelmed with all of the available design and product choices.
No project is without its challenges and how one deals with them does much to determine the final outcome of the project. Hellen has a positive attitude, solicits input from all affected parties and works together to find the best solution to issues. She is creative, forthright and accessible.
As a contractor, I appreciate her knowledge of building construction and as a client you will appreciate her ability to listen closely and turn your words into design ideas with beautiful results.

V. RAVEENDAR

REMODEL + ADDITION | SAN JOSE, CA

We worked with Hellen and her team for helping us design the interiors of our home that involved both renovating and adding a new family room and primary suite. Hellen gave us a very interesting idea to change the layout of our old kitchen island to maximize the square footage and give us a new island that is 3 times the size of the old one. She made visits both to our home and to tile showrooms with us to pick the finishes that aligned with our aesthetics best. The new primary bathroom has come out beautiful thanks to her! In addition, she also helped us envision the exterior paint colors so the outside could match the design style of the updated interiors. Overall, we are extremely happy to have worked with Hellen and would recommend her to our friends and family!

L. WILLIAMS

REMODEL + ADDITION | MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA

We hired Hellen Hsieh, the owner of Design Loft Company, to design our 725 sq ft great room addition. We are so incredibly thrilled with the completed project, it is exactly what we had envisioned.
Our existing house was a 1200 sq ft 3 bedroom, 2 bath home. The kitchen and living area was very modest. With two teenagers at home, we needed to expand and wanted more room to entertain.
When we started the project we were uncertain if we should knock down walls and remodel the current floor plan and add a small addition or keep the footprint of the existing house exactly the same and add on one large great room. We decided to do the later, however, to get to this point, we went through several different renderings. Hellen provided us with many great options and helped us decide what would be the most economical and feasible plan. She was flexible, patient and was great about pointing out the pros and cons of each option.
Her interactions with our architect , contractor and cabinet supplier went very smoothly which helped us to meet specific deadlines. Hellen was maticulous when it came to the kitchen cabinets and made sure everything was ordered properly and our custom stain came out exactly how we wanted.
As a designer, she is very creative and knowledgeable. She understood the style and feel we were after. More importantly she was very conscious and respectful of our monetary constraints which helped us complete our entire project within budget.
What impressed us most was her understanding of the build process: from the contractors needs, the city requirements, realistic costs and time estimates, appliance installation prerequisites and inspection requirements. We couldn't be more pleased with Design Loft and Hellen's professionalism. Definitely 5 stars!!

M.Eshow

Remodel | Sunnyvale, CA

I worked with Hellen and Majo to design the remodel of the master bathroom of my condominium in Sunnyvale. They were very helpful in suggesting things I hadn't considered, like turning my French doors into a pocket door to save space. They also suggested brands and suppliers I had not found by on-line searches, which led me to a custom vanity and far more interesting fixtures than I would have found on my own. The most important thing they did for me was to prepare all the drawings and information I needed to get a permit from the city on the first try. They are very responsive and easy to work with, as well. I highly recommend Design Loft!

P. RAMACHANDRA

Remodel | Palo Alto, CA

We are doing some extensive remodeling of our home and we decided to work with The Design Loft after we got great comments from references. It has been a wonderful experience so far and we have loved working with Hellen Hsieh and her team. Hellen has great ideas for design and is very receptive to our ideas. She and her team are ready and come prepared for meetings and we always have very productive discussions. Her follow through is excellent and she makes sure to address everything discussed, without letting anything slip through the cracks. We heartily recommend her and The Design Loft for your projects!

B. SU

Remodel | Redwood City, CA

Hellen and her team at Design Loft helped us with the planning and design to rebuild and expand our all-original circa-1950s 2 bed/2 bath ranch tract home. Instead of closed up dark spaces, we now have a beautiful bright house that flows, large kitchen with center island, additional office/bedroom, unique powder room, and expanded floor plan to include a master suite.
Design Loft helped us with the design and architectural drawings. They brought in resources, as needed, for structural drawings, energy calculations, and getting the plans approved. When our original cabinet manufacturer became a casualty of COVID, they helped us find an alternate within the same budget and redrew the plans. When we had issues with the cabinets, they worked with the distributor to resolve the issues at no extra cost to us. Hellen was always available to consult with our contractor throughout the project.
Hellen has a wonderful patient demeanor, invaluable to saving stress, time, and money for a large project such as ours. Especially invaluable was Hellen’s design expertise, providing options, all while keeping to our budget and taste. She helped us with everything: color, tile, floors, cabinet, countertop, hardware, plumbing fixture, lighting, doors, moulding, finishes, etc. We came to absolutely trust Hellen’s judgement and advice. Our house is now completely transformed and better than what we envisioned, one that is modern, practical, and unique.

K. CLENDENIN

Remodel + Addition | San Jose, CA

We had the best experience with Hellen and her team. They really helped bring our dream bathrooms to fruition. I didn't know where to begin on making tile and design decisions. Having them come to me with a vision and a few choices really helped me figure out what it was I really wanted. I also really appreciate Hellen's outside the box thinking on design. She was able to suggest a master bath reconfiguration that we had not even imagined and turned our little bathroom into a bathroom, walk in closet and toilet closet. It was so much more functional that what we had and I am so grateful she suggested it. We will definitely be using Design Loft again. Can't wait for the next remodel :).

E. FUJITA

Material selection | Palo Alto, CA

When we first met Hellen Hsieh, we were very impressed with her knowledge, professionalism and friendliness. SHe is not only an expert in interior design, but also a good partner who understands the style and the design that works best for her clients. Hellen provided excellent service and guidance throughout the entire home decoration project. She was always very responsive when we needed her and had always given us her sincere and honest opinions. My husband and I both work full time and have very little time and experience in home decoration. Hellen took the time to understand our preferences and style. She has the ability to create a design that suits our style based on our desires and her expertise. Hellen researched thoroughly to provide us with the best choices on the styles, color, fabrics and prices which saved us a great deal of time and trouble. Hellen decorated our home as it was her own. She never once pushed us into any decisions and had always guided us through the entire decoration project with our best interest at heart. Every time when our friends compliment how beautiful our home is decorated, we could not have been more pleased for the great job that Hellen had done.

R. Alfano​

Building Professional

Design Loft is a fantastic Design Company. I have work first hand With Lauren Byrd and a little bit with Hellen Hsieh. Lauren is great at what she does and has really spoiled me when it comes to a professional and talented Designer. For a builder to watch how she interacted with the homeowner and how she related it all to us, the builder. If you are looking for a Design Firm that knows how to space plan as well as colors for the project, they are the ones! Not to mention, they work well with the building and planning Departments to ensure that your job can be done as planned.

I would recommend Design Loft not only to homeowners, but to builders and to Designers that are stuck on difficult aspects of their projects.

M. MOFFET

Remodel | Saratoga, CA

I am very happy I hired Hellen to help design my kitchen remodel. She is professional and responsive as well as creative and up-to-date with the latest trends. I thought I didn't have many options with the limited space of my existing kitchen but Hellen came up with a creative layout that opened up my kitchen and gave it a wonderful new feel. She did great job of working with me to create a design that achieves the look I was aiming for. I appreciated her flexibility not only in her design recommendations but also in how we worked together. Hellen made special appointments during off hours to accommodated my work schedule. She communicated with me well, whether it was face-to-face conversations, on the phone or via e-mail. I thoroughly enjoy working with Hellen and highly recommend her for any remodeling project.

J. Shi & V. Ko

Remodel | Los Altos, CA

My husband and I recently completed our first home renovation, and as total beginners, we felt completely overwhelmed. Design Loft transformed this daunting process into an exciting journey. Majo and Hellen guided us every step of the way, helping us shape our Modern Spanish aesthetic while creating a detailed design plan for our contractor. With both of us working full-time, their expertise saved us countless hours and headaches. One of the biggest renovation challenges is dealing with overwhelming choices. Design Loft curated a few perfect options for everything—paint colors, light fixtures, cabinets, tiles—allowing us to make decisions efficiently while staying true to our vision. Their value went far beyond aesthetics. They caught several contractor mistakes that could have caused major issues and connected us to great vendors that helped us find the best deals. Here’s something important: without a skilled designer, contractors often take the easiest route rather than creating the high-end look you’re envisioning. At times we questioned our choices, but trust the process! Everything came together beautifully, and we couldn’t be happier with the result. If you’re planning a renovation, working with Design Loft is a no-brainer. Their professionalism, attention to detail, and ability to create designs perfectly tailored to your taste make them invaluable. Highly recommend Majo, Hellen, and the entire team!

R.&D. DUTTA

New Construction | Palo Alto, CA

We had a great experience working with Hellen and her team at Design Loft on our new construction project. Hellen optimized the floor plans for kitchen and bathrooms, and helped us on various design elements and features of the new space. We were impressed with Hellen’s creativity and eye for detail. She was able to understand our requirements and work with the constraints of our plan to recommend creative solutions. Her flexible and collaborative work style makes it easy to work with her. She always got back to us promptly on deliverables and questions. It has been a pleasure working with Hellen and her team, and we highly recommend her for interior design.

S. Zhu

Remodel + Addition | Los Altos, CA

Hellen has helped us complete several projects in our home over the last several years. She has been wonderful from beginning to end in each of the projects. She has been truly amazing in creating wonderful spaces and design for our home. Each space that she created in our home is much loved and very well used by our family of 5, with 3 kids ages 9-15, from our new family room space to laundry room converted to office/guest room space. The spaces are much admired and loved by our visiting relatives, friends and guests. She is incredibly creative but also practical and solution focused. She is patient and listens well and balances our utility, timeline, budget needs with her creative vision for the space design. She is a professional who has a sense of calm that translates to her space design. It has been amazing working with her over the years.

D. Filloux

Remodel | Redwood City, CA

Hellen and her team were instrumental in the wonderful make over of our first floor living space that included a complete kitchen re-do and an update to our family room and half bath. Her sense of color, style, and functionality were so welcome with her casual, thoughtful style. She is not dogmatic like so many design firms, but rather is excellent at listening, asking really good questions about wants vs. needs, and making suggestions for changes that are not readily apparent. Without question, some of the best features of our remodel were ideas from her that we had not even considered. And, of course, Hellen and colleague Karen are so incredibly nice (and funny!), it makes working with them a joy. We could not be happier with the result.

A. Wolf

Kitchen + Bath Remodel | Cupertino, CA

The Design Loft team, led by Hellen, are exceptional design partners. They helped us to re-imagine our master bath and kitchen with creative design and structural solutions. Hellen and Joni were great thought partners and were very attuned to our design preferences while also introducing new variations that we would not have come up with on our own. I am grateful, finally to have a walk-in closet in our master bedroom, and a state of the art kitchen that is both sophisticated and highly functional. The team is very responsive and willing to assist on all aspects of our house remodel, including finish, material, fabric, and furniture selection. I would highly recommend this team and when if there comes time for remodeling in the future, they will be first on our list to call!

V. JAIN

WHOLE HOUSE REMODEL | PALO ALTO, CA

Hellen and team have been an absolute joy for us to work with. Her team's attention to detail, understanding our preferences, modifying house structure layout, and picking decorative items has been exceptional. She transformed our house from an average remodel to a magazine-like experience. Highly recommend her services.