Charlotte high-end cabinet business works to keep prices stable for consumers

“You dream it, we do it. There’s nothing we can’t do here,” said Todd Mercer, co-owner of Forest Kitchen Design, a high-end cabinetry business in Charlotte and Greenville, South Carolina. 

Mercer and his business partner, Joel Linn, design kitchen cabinets for homes using imported wood from Germany, Italy, and Canada.

They’re working to maintain that promise to customers despite a newly imposed tariff from the Trump administration on imported kitchen cabinets, vanities, lumber, timber, and certain upholstered furniture ranging from 10% to 50%.

“That is definitely a challenge. We are still trying to figure out how to handle that. Obviously, like its dilemmas of like a client signed off at this price. We need to try and honor that price. We can proudly say we have never passed on the tariff to anyone, but now that is really becoming part of the fabric of what we’re dealing with,” Mercer said. 

President Donald Trump added a 10% tariff on softwood lumber and timber imports, and a 25% tariff on imported kitchen cabinets and vanities will double to 50% on Jan. 1. Additionally, a 25% tariff on upholstered wooden furniture will increase to 30%, unless new trade agreements are reached.

Mercer says it could drastically change what the consumer wants for their home. He says that’s a conversation they have with the client. 

“A kitchen here that you’re looking behind me can range anywhere from $60,000 to $90,000 plus, depending on the finishes,” Mercer explained. “We do have some very sleek, expensive finishes like this allure of bronze, which is the actual aluminum finish. It’s applied to the door as well as these stained veneers. Things like finger channels are a little bit more expensive, but within the same design, you can really change the price based off of what you pick.”

A Goldman Sachs report says consumers would eventually absorb about 55% of the added costs by the end of the year.

“We’re very upfront and transparent about it. If we sell a job and we have a tariff on it and then the tariff goes away, that will obviously go back to the homeowner,” Mercer said. 

In a statement sent to Queen City News from the National Association of Homebuilders Chairman Buddy Hughes, officials say:

The U.S. Commerce Department’s action to impose new tariffs on all timber, lumber, kitchen cabinet and furniture imports will create additional headwinds for an already challenged housing market by further raising construction and renovation costs. Imposing these tariffs under a “national security” pretext ignores the importance housing plays to the physical and economic security of all Americans. To bring stability to the housing market, the administration needs to seek fair, equitable deals with America’s trading partners that quickly roll back tariffs on building materials.

Our business is not built on sustaining these kinds of bills that we’re getting hit with on the back end. Luckily, we do have the ability because we have multiple trading partners, we do have the ability to pivot. So we’ve had conversations with some of our American manufacturers, like, hey, like if we get hit with this, are you able to produce this at a similar cost? But we do we do try to come up with alternatives for worst-case scenarios.