Alcraft

12/30/2020

A year ago today I bumped into one of my first clients in Shoprite, she told me she had been in to see me about a kitchen for a condo she had made an offer on, but the deal fell through so she didn't come back.
I reminisced to my first kitchen for her in a little Old Tappan ranch, then her calling me a year later for a master bedroom and bath addition. A few years later she called me for a consult on a Bogota house she was interested in because it had a turret, during that visit she confided that since our last project she had gotten divorced, started her own business and moved to the penthouse sweet in Admiral's Walk on the Hudson. After a week she called excited for my verdict: "I don't understand why you want to spend $350K to move backward in your lifestyle?" She hung up and called back a day or so later," No one has ever talked to me like that before.
Got my realtor friend to sell her a home in Allendale which needed a kitchen and baths. She met a man of means and married him so she moved into his Mahwah home, needing a kitchen and baths, and finally the call to their recently purchased Saddle River home for one of my biggest jobs ever.
It made me think of Alcraft providing quality products and designs across three generations of repeat customers over 65+ years, I had been seeing a downward trend, clients in starter homes, becoming clients in larger "Family" homes, and becoming clients downsizing to "Empty Nestor" homes. At the same time my contractor base was starting to retire or pass away, and my work ethic was not shared as completely with younger contractors pursuing high short term profits over building a client base of satisfied customers.
Since last year this Covid 19 Pandemic has provided a s**t show beyond anything I could have imagined even with my epidemiology, virology and public health studies at Wagner. States had closed my suppliers for months as non-essential, with New Jersey demanding I, as a Licensed Home Improvement Contractor put a start and completion date on all my contracts, My insurance companies want their premiums despite not having any exposure and the widespread shortages throughout the industry causing extremely inflated prices for material when available.
It is in consideration of the above and the speculation that there will be no Jeanie once the biological effects are cured that the financial demands put on small business will make quality and integrity impossible, that Alcraft Inc. is closing its doors
Thank you all for a great run.
Bruce

11/11/2020

A throwback to 1983 when a California kitchen designer put a true commercial range in his upscale client's home. By 1985 after it was published in many "Shelter" magazines, a request was made to Alcraft to design one into an "upscale" Saddle River kitchen.
Rather than just follow the magazine pictures, Alcraft discovered that these "commercial" appliances were covered by "The National Fuel Gas Code" not residential codes.
They had to be 6 inches away from flammable surfaces, and make-up air had to be provided to prevent the 6 22,000 BTU burners, 40,000 BTU oven or 30,000 BTU Salamander broiler (whose pilot alone consumes more gas than a residential range in a year) from creating carbon-monoxide (orange flame).
Here is one of six we did with the original installation cost of $6,500.00 over residential ranges. they are still alive today, although Garland has been sued out of existence but acquired by Wellbuilt. What you see online may confuse reality, but they inspired the stainless "Zero-clearance" look-a-likes available today.

09/26/2020

Going through Alcraft's display cases today, I came across this Japanese wood painting given to us by a kitchen customer here in Upper Saddle River as an executive for a large Japanese firm. I remember him telling me that his father had learned and practiced this art before the war and seeing the meticulous care and craftsmanship his new kitchen received, we would also appreciate his father's work. We forever have as an inspiration

09/17/2020

In celebration of the start of 60 years in business and three generations of repeat customers.

09/12/2020

"A Call That Never Came"
On 9/11/2001, Alcraft Inc. was busy with different jobs in Bergen County, but as having been a husband to a Valley Hospital worker we became part of "Emergency Planning"
Some catastrophe happens, and workers and suppliers from all over the county would load and deliver to school next-door to set up triage unit, opening Hospital for emergency surgery in ER and surgical suites.
But on 9/11/2001, that call never came

08/18/2020

Makes sense

12/19/2019

For TBT, when a Montvale farmhouse owner asked me to design a new kitchen to replace their 36" range with a 48" range in the same location, replace the cabinetry with painted peripheral cabinets and dark stained island cabinetry and counters, but with structural considerations as chimney and stair landings, I thought it was time for a redesign as all of the range, sink activity was already in a major traffic thoroughfare,
So for the holidays here is Alcraft's answer for their Holiday Dreams. Proven on Thanksgiving, ready for a 3 generation Christmas.

12/18/2019

Sometimes we are brought in by a perspective home buyer to get a renovation quote, but this was Ed Gain's kitchen, with "Detective" p**n magazines and pickled body parts from some 20 victims. believe me YOU COULD NOT AFFORD US

12/01/2019

07/19/2019

Sometimes the creative use of a corner is essential when space is at a premium and traditional design would have landed this range at the end of the run with no counter to the left, and a blind corner to it's right.

03/17/2019

Always good to see our kitchens being happily used