Rollingwood · West Lake Hills · Sunset Valley · Shady Hollow
Custom Cabinets in Volente, for Lake Houses Old and New
Austin Elite Cabinets makes custom cabinets in Volente, TX, and is a trusted Travis County cabinet specialist for lake-country houses, specializing in replacing builder-grade kitchen cabinets, fitting cabinetry into small out-of-square cabin kitchens and plywood base cabinets built to stand up to a damp sink run. We offer painted shaker doors and tall pantry pull-outs.
- Free in-home design visit
- Shop drawings you approve
- One firm written price
Book a free design visit
Cabinetry for Volente homes
Our team provides garage and mudroom storage, delivering kitchens that suit a weekend at the lake for homes and hard-wearing, easy-to-clean fit-outs for both residential and commercial projects. The same crew that measures your rooms builds from shop drawings you approve, installs the result and puts a written warranty in your hands.
From shimming a base run level across an old cabin floor to a full kitchen and bar for a newer lake house, our team handles every detail. Serving Volente, Steiner Ranch, Lakeway and The Hills, we plan each install around the days you can actually be at the house.
Why Austin Elite
How We Work
No catalogue boxes and no handoffs. The people who measure your room are the people who build and install it.
A Lake Village With Two Very Different Kitchens
Volente sits on the north shore of Lake Travis along Ranch Road 2769, about eighteen miles northwest of Austin in the northwestern corner of Travis County. Its history runs well past the lake itself. A post office opened here in 1886, and when Lake Travis filled behind Mansfield Dam part of the old settlement went under the water and residents moved to higher ground. Through the 1940s and into the 1950s the community went by Dodd City, after a local realtor and restaurant owner, before taking back the name Volente. The village incorporated in 2003.
Those dates explain the housing. Scattered through the village are small lake houses and cabins from the 1940s and 1950s, built when the new lake first drew weekend visitors. Around them, a large share of the homes are recent, built since 2000, many of them full-size lake houses with builder-installed kitchens that are now starting to show their age.
So a Volente cabinet job is usually one of two things, and they have almost nothing in common. The sections below take them one at a time.
Newer Lake Homes: Moving Past the Builder-Grade Kitchen
A house finished in the 2000s or 2010s often came with the kitchen its builder chose for the whole subdivision: stock-sized boxes, a particleboard carcass, a thin applied finish and fillers wherever the standard widths ran out. The layout may be perfectly good. The cabinets are simply the weakest part of an otherwise fine house.
In these homes the work tends to be one of the following:
- Full replacement with a better box. We keep the plan where it works and rebuild it in plywood, with dovetailed or doweled drawers, soft-close hinges and full-extension slides.
- A reworked island. Builder islands are often a single row of base cabinets. A deeper island with seating on one side and drawers on the other changes how the whole room is used.
- Storage the builder left out. Tall pantry cabinets with roll-out shelves, a drawer stack for pots beside the range and a proper place for trays and cutting boards.
- A bar facing the lake room. Many of these houses are built for guests, and a beverage station with its own sink and refrigerator keeps them out of the kitchen.
Where the boxes are still sound plywood and only the look has dated, new doors, drawer fronts and hardware can be enough, and we will say so at the measure.
Older Lake Cabins: Small Rooms, Walls That Are Not Square
The mid-century cabins are a different job entirely. Their kitchens are small, frequently squeezed into a corner of the main room, and the house around them has usually been added to, patched and repaired more than once. Stock cabinets rarely fit a room like that without wide fillers and visible gaps.
Custom work earns its place here. Things we plan for in an older lake cabin:
- Walls and floors that are out of square or level. We scribe end panels and toe kicks to the actual surfaces and shim base boxes so the countertop sits flat.
- Boxes sized to the room, not to a catalog. A cabinet can be built an inch narrower or a few inches shallower so a small kitchen gains a drawer stack rather than losing it.
- Open shelving and plate racks where a wall cabinet would crowd a low ceiling or a window.
- A style that suits the cabin. A simple flat or beadboard door in a painted finish or a warm stained wood keeps the character that made someone buy the place.
What is behind the old cabinets in a house this age is unknown until tear-out, so we allow for plumbing and wall repairs in the plan rather than treating them as a surprise.
Choosing Materials for a House Beside the Water
A house on the lake lives with more moisture than a house in town, and a kitchen that is closed up for days at a time does not air out between visits. That makes box material the first decision, not the last.
- Plywood boxes. Plywood resists warping and holds screws well. Particleboard, the usual builder choice, swells irreversibly once water reaches its core, and the sink base is where that happens first.
- Sealed edges and finishes. Every exposed edge and the underside of the sink base get a finish, so there is no raw core for water to find.
- Door material matched to the finish. Painted doors are usually built in MDF, which takes paint smoothly and moves less than solid wood. Stained doors in maple, oak, cherry or alder show the grain instead.
- Hardware that tolerates a damp room. We talk through hinge and pull finishes with the house's use in mind.
- Space around the sink base. A removable panel and a clear floor under the sink make it quick to spot a slow leak before it reaches the boxes.
None of this adds much to the look of the kitchen. It adds a great deal to how long the kitchen lasts.
Scheduling a Project When You Are Not Always at the Lake
Plenty of Volente houses are weekend or second homes, and an owner who lives elsewhere cannot meet a crew on a Tuesday. We plan a project so that it needs you on as few days as possible.
- The measure and design visit happens once, with you there, and covers every room in scope.
- Shop drawings and door samples are settled after the visit, so approvals can happen from wherever you are.
- Installation days are set once the cabinets are built, and we agree in advance how the crew gets in and where materials are stored.
- At the end we walk through every door and drawer with you, in person, before the job is called finished.
If the house is let to guests between your own visits, tell us at the measure and we will plan the install around the bookings.
Village of Volente Permits for a Kitchen Remodel
Volente runs its own building and permitting. The village lists separate applications for remodels, plumbing, electrical and demolition, among many others. Applications are submitted by email to village staff, and permit fees can only be paid by check, in person or by mail to the village office on Dodd Street.
The village fire inspector reviews applications for building permits, under the fire code the village has adopted, and fire protection is provided by Travis County ESD No. 14 through the Volente Fire Department.
A like-for-like cabinet swap is a small job. Moving a sink, adding a circuit for a new appliance or taking out a wall is not. We note on the drawings where plumbing or electrical changes are planned so you can check with the village which applications your project needs before the work is scheduled.
What Moves the Cost of Custom Cabinets in Volente
A new lake house kitchen and a cabin kitchen can differ several times over in scope, so a published number would mislead almost everyone. These are the drivers:
- New layout, replacement or new fronts only. Scope is set first by what the existing boxes can still do.
- Linear footage. Base, wall, tall and island cabinets all count.
- Box material. Plywood costs more than particleboard, and at the lake it is usually worth it.
- Custom sizing. An out-of-square cabin kitchen needs boxes built to the room rather than to stock widths.
- Door style and mounting. Inset, partial overlay or full overlay, and slab, shaker or beadboard panels.
- Species and finish. Paint, stain or a two-tone plan.
- Hardware and accessories. Soft-close hinges, full-extension slides, pull-outs, bins and dividers.
- Demolition and repair. Removing the old cabinets and countertop and repairing whatever turns up behind them, which in an older cabin can be more than expected.
You get a written figure for your house after a free in-home measure.
The process
From First Measure to Final Hinge
Four steps, and nothing is built until you have signed off on the drawings and the price.
Free design visit
We measure the room, talk through how you use it and look at door styles and finishes together.
Drawings and a firm price
You get shop drawings and one written price. Nothing is built until you sign off on both.
Built to your measurements
Boxes, doors and panels are made to the dimensions taken in your home, not to catalogue sizes.
Installed and adjusted
The same crew installs, levels, scribes to your walls and adjusts every door and drawer before we leave.
Rooms We Build Cabinetry For
Questions
Volente Cabinet Questions
What will custom cabinets cost for my Volente house?
It depends on scope first, then linear footage, box material, custom sizing, door style, finish, hardware and any demolition and repair. We quote in writing after a free in-home measure.
My lake house kitchen is builder grade. Should I replace or just change the doors?
If the boxes are plywood and dry, new doors, drawer fronts and hardware may be enough. If they are particleboard, especially with a swollen sink base, replacing them is the better long-term choice. We look at the boxes before recommending either.
Can you fit cabinets into an old cabin kitchen that is not square?
Yes. We build boxes to the room's real dimensions and scribe panels to the walls and floor, so an uneven room still gets a tight, level install.
I am not at the lake house most weeks. Can you still do the job?
Yes. We need you at the measure and at the final walkthrough, and the rest can be approved remotely. Access and storage are agreed before the install days.
Do I need a village permit to redo my kitchen?
Volente lists remodel, plumbing and electrical permit applications, and fees are paid by check. A straight cabinet swap may not trigger one, but moving plumbing or wiring can, so confirm with the village before work starts.
Do you cover all of Volente?
Yes, the whole village in ZIP 78641 along Ranch Road 2769, plus Steiner Ranch, Lakeway and The Hills across the lake area.
Is there a warranty on the installation?
Yes. You receive a written warranty when the install is finished, and we explain its coverage at the design visit.
Are you licensed and insured?
Texas has no state contractor licence for cabinetry. Ask for a certificate of insurance at the design visit, from us or anyone else you are comparing.
What happens at the design visit?
We measure every wall, window and appliance, check the existing boxes and the floor and walls for level, ask how often the house is used, and bring door and finish samples. Shop drawings follow for you to approve.
Talk to us about cabinets in Volente
Free in-home design visit across Austin and the west side. We call you back to set a time.
Calls only, we do not receive text messages.