A ‘Built-In’ is a term used in construction that is right up there with the best of them in terms of those that can be confusing for whomever may be hearing it for the first time.

When someone thinks of something being ‘built in’, their mind may automatically gravitate toward something as simple as the cupholder in their car.

“I have a built in cupholder in my car” you may hear from an excited friend.

“Oooooooo…fancy…” you may think in your head (or perhaps not).

The concept is very similar in home construction.

But whereas a built in cupholder (to keep with this example) may be something that is fairly standard in the way that it is done across a variety of lines of cars, a ‘built-in’ in someone’s home tends to be a bit more custom.

Though there certainly are instances in home building where a ‘built-in’ feature may be one selected from a line which the builder typically provides to their clients upon request, the built-ins that I happen to more consistently run into align with something which is truly designed and constructed for the specific home that I come across them in.

While built-ins certainly may have elaborate designs behind them and take hours upon hours to create, built-ins are much more often (at least in my world) crafted by master craftspeople and cabinet folks who, although might have a set of basic drawings that they are following as they are building the built-in, they may also not even have a plan at all and simply rely on their intrinsic vision & talent for craftsmanship that is beyond what the average person may own.

The built-in units I typically see are those that are more so on the cabinetry side which often boast some type of shelving system, sometimes even a window seat.

The imagination definitely is the limit however in terms of what the concept of the built-in is limited by.

I have seen built-in beds that drop down from a wall, built-in aquariums, built-in tables, etc.

The possibilities are endless for intertwining a variety of possible tracts for this cool feature in peoples’ homes.

Not as common as a built-in bookshelf or dining room cabinet, built-ins such as the aquarium idea are usually SUPER AWESOME (the aquarium is my personal favorite!)!!

Built-ins can be worked into the design of one’s home (as we have pointed out earlier) or they can be built along the way as someone is simply trying to more efficiently use a space that for a period of time, they have had no idea what to do with.

Built-ins can be painted or finished with some type of stain & polyurethane system. If you need a fresh coat of paint, contact Lopco contracting today!

Whatever the finish coat system happens to be, it should be quite durable (think along the lines of something that will provide an enamel-type finish), similar to what you would find associated with a solid kitchen cabinetry system.

Sometimes built-ins blend so well with the natural state of a room that one may never even realize that the built-in was a built-in.

Other times built-ins are meant to be the focal point of a given room (back to the aquarium example).

Whether a built-in is something you are simply looking to help out with for extra storage in the kitchen or if it was for a huge room with high ceilings whose walls (floor-to-ceiling) themselves consist of bookshelves to form a library, the two-fold purpose of usefulness and cosmetic appeal of built-ins are an age-old phenomenon which add unique character to whatever home they happen to grace.