The entertainment center is no longer just furniture. It’s architecture.
Sponsored by Riverside Custom Cabinets
For years, the entertainment center was a fancy word for a living room shelf to hold the TV. Today it’s a full-wall interior design focal point, built around the room, that houses the family’s audio, video and Wi-Fi in a way that is as stylish as it is practical.
Donnie Kogel Jr., owner of Riverside Custom Cabinets in Baton Rouge, has watched that shift happen up close. And lately, he says, it’s accelerating.
“For the past couple years, as interest rates have risen and new home construction has slowed a bit, I find that people are trying to make what they’ve got a little more updated and a little more comfortable,” Kogel says. “And a big part of that lately means upgrading the entertainment center in the living space.”
Homeowners want room for a larger TV, layered lighting and custom cabinetry that give the space a distinctive feel. It’s a trend playing out well beyond Baton Rouge: nationally, media walls have overtaken the freestanding entertainment center, favoring built-in floor-to-ceiling cabinetry, textured surfaces like wood slats or stone, and lighting that turns movie night into something closer to a private cinema.
“The entertainment center is more of an accent wall than a piece of furniture,” Kogel says. “When I think back as a kid, I had a console TV. The entertainment center was just a box to put it on. Now it’s about both form and function.”
The primary function now includes housing home video, audio and WiFi components, plus big custom drawers within arm’s reach of the couch.
“’Look, I want these big drawers. That’s where we’re going to put all the blankets,’” Kogel says clients tell him. “They want to create a cozy theater in their living room.”
Riverside’s client base extends well past south Louisiana, with a current project list that includes custom cabinetry for clients in Florida and Mississippi. He has former customers as far away as Montana.
A recent build in Austin, Texas, shows how far the concept has come.
“They were creating a movie room for family time,” Kogel says. Riverside built the full wall around the television, with floor-to-ceiling white oak slats on either side of the cabinet and matching slats behind the TV itself backed with acoustical padding — built-in, custom, sleek, clean, optimized.
A media wall like this only works if wiring and cabinet dimensions are lined up from the start. It’s a phase where Kogel’s attention to detail gives Riverside an edge.
“When I go out and look at a job and begin the discovery phase of the project, I’m listening to what it is they’re wanting to do and giving guidance,” Kogel says. “’Hey, look, this is how tall this cabinet would be. Get your AV guy to stub out all of his component wiring right here.’”
That coordination is what separates built-in from bolted-on. And it’s why, for Capital Region homeowners investing in the home they’ve already got, the entertainment center has become one of the highest-impact rooms to get right.
Ready to turn your living room into showplace? Call (225) 755-6536 or visit RiversideCustomCabinets.net to schedule a consultation.
