Custom Cabinets near you

With stock and semi-custom lines, you fit the room to a set of standard boxes. With custom cabinets, the boxes are fitted to the room: each one is built to the width, height and depth the space calls for, so filler strips shrink or disappear and awkward corners become usable storage.

A custom order lets you choose the box material location by location instead of accepting one for the whole job. Many owners put plywood under sinks, in vanities and in laundry rooms, where a leak is most likely, and accept melamine-faced particleboard elsewhere, where its flat, stable panels work well. Ask how the edges are sealed, since bare particleboard and MDF edges swell when they get wet, and what the shelves and drawer boxes are made of.

Composite panels raise a second question. Health Canada lists particleboard, MDF and other composite wood among the household sources of formaldehyde, especially in newly built or renovated homes. Federal regulations set emission limits for these panels, whether sold alone or built into cabinets, and require compliance labels, so a shop should buy only compliant stock. Ask to see the labels or supplier documents, and air out the room well after installation.

A custom shop measures twice: once to design and price the job, and again for fabrication once the walls, windows and often the flooring are in place. The final measure records each wall at several heights, out-of-square corners, ceiling height, window and door trim, and the exact positions of pipes, drains, vents, outlets and switches.

Custom cabinets sit in the middle of a chain of trades, and the order matters. Plumbing and electrical rough-ins, drywall and usually flooring come first; then the cabinets are set, levelled and fastened; then the countertop is templated on the installed boxes, fabricated and installed; and only then are the sink, faucet, cooktop and backsplash connected and finished. Stone and quartz tops are normally measured after the base cabinets are secured, which builds a wait into the schedule.

Custom cabinets are built after the drawings are signed, so the lead time runs from approval, not from the first visit. It depends on the shop's backlog, the size of the job, the materials and finish chosen and any hardware or specialty items that must be ordered, and sprayed finishes need curing time. Book the cabinet date into the renovation schedule early, because the countertop fabricator, plumber and electrician all wait on it.