Kitchen Cabinets Kitchener
Made to measure in our own workshop, installed by the people who built them
Kitchen cabinets for Kitchener homes, built for one room only: yours. We measure the walls you actually have, draw every box and drawer, build them in our workshop and install, level and adjust them ourselves. No catalogue sizes, no filler strips hiding the gaps.
Why made-to-measure cabinets suit Kitchener kitchens
Custom kitchen cabinets from Kitchen Renovation Kitchener are built to the measurements of one kitchen in the company's own workshop in Mississauga, Ontario, then delivered to Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge or Guelph and installed, levelled and adjusted by the same team. Boxes, doors, drawers, panels and trim are made to the agreed construction, door style and finish, with pantry, island and pull-out storage planned around the room and its appliances.
Walls in real houses are not straight, floors are not level, and corners are rarely ninety degrees. Catalogue cabinets deal with that with filler strips, shims and scribe moulding that never quite hides the problem. Cabinets built for the room deal with it in the drawing: a box that is 2 cm narrower at the top of an out-of-plumb wall, an end panel scribed to a bowed plaster wall, a tall pantry that actually reaches the ceiling.
Why it matters in Waterloo Region houses
It matters most in the houses we see across Waterloo Region: the post-war kitchen with a chimney breast, the side-split with a soffit hiding a duct, the new build where the island was placed for a show home rather than for cooking. Building the cabinets ourselves means the solution can be designed into the box instead of patched on site.
What is the difference between custom, semi-custom and stock cabinets?
Stock cabinets come in fixed sizes and finishes from a catalogue; fillers close the gaps. Semi-custom lines offer more sizes and options inside a fixed system. Custom cabinets are built for one kitchen, to its exact measurements, so they fit wall to wall, ceiling to counter, around whatever the room throws at them.
- Made
- In our own workshop in Mississauga, Ontario
- Installed by
- The same team that builds them
- Delivered to
- Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, the townships; Guelph by arrangement
- Drawings
- Layout proposal and cabinet drawings before anything is built
- Quote
- In writing and line by line, in CAD plus HST
How we build a kitchen's cabinets
Measured and drawn first
The room, the appliances and what you need to keep, worked into a layout proposal and cabinet drawings before a single board is cut.
Built to the drawings
Boxes, doors, drawers, panels, fillers and trim made to the agreed construction, door profile and finish.
Storage that is planned in
Pantry towers, island cabinets, pull-outs, waste and recycling units and drawer organisers, with clearances worked out around every appliance.
Fitted properly
Hinges, slides, pulls and knobs (soft-close if you want it), then delivery, installation, levelling, fixing to the studs and a final adjustment of every door.
How long do custom cabinets take to build?
They are made to order once the drawings are signed off, so the build happens before installation day. Our current lead time from approved drawings to delivery is [TBC: cabinet lead time]. The countertop is templated after the cabinets are installed, so it is cut to the real boxes rather than to a drawing.
Choosing a door style and a finish
The door is most of what you see, so it is where most of the decisions are. Three families cover nearly every kitchen: slab doors, flat and modern, at home in a minimal or a mid-century room; shaker doors, a recessed centre panel inside a square frame, the most versatile door there is and the one in our Kitchener project; and raised-panel doors, with a shaped centre panel, for a traditional room.
Finishes, glass and lighting
The finish matters as much as the profile. Painted finishes give any colour you like and can be touched up; melamine and thermofoil are hard-wearing and economical; wood veneer shows real grain. Which finishes our workshop produces, and our most popular combinations, are [TBC: door profiles and finishes made in-house]. The honest way to choose is with samples in your own kitchen's light, which is one more reason the consultation happens in your home.
Glass, lighting and the details
Glass-front uppers, inside lighting, under-cabinet lighting and a decorative hood surround turn a run of boxes into a kitchen people remember. They also add cost and need power in the right places, so they are decided before the electrician arrives, not after.
Storage that is planned, not added
Pantry towers
Floor-to-ceiling pantry cabinets with pull-outs, so the back of the shelf is never a mystery. In many kitchens one tall unit replaces three uppers.
Drawers, not doors
Deep drawers in the base cabinets hold pots and dishes better than shelves behind doors: you lift nothing out to reach the thing at the back.
Waste and recycling
A pull-out for garbage, recycling and the green bin beside the sink. Waterloo Region's curbside program sorts more than most kitchens were designed for.
Can I replace my cabinets and keep my countertop?
Rarely, and we will tell you honestly when it is possible. Stone tops are usually damaged or cracked during removal, and new boxes seldom match the old footprint to the millimetre. If the countertop is newer and the layout stays identical, we can look at it at the measure.
Delivered, levelled, anchored, adjusted
Installation is where made-to-measure cabinets show their value, and where they can be spoiled. Our installers set the base run dead level regardless of the floor, anchor every box to the studs, align the doors and drawer fronts to an even gap, and adjust the hinges and slides before the countertop templater arrives. The countertop is then cut to the cabinets that are actually there.
Because the people installing are the people who built the cabinets, a question on site gets an answer on site, with no call to a supplier and no wait for a replacement part to ship.
Part of a bigger project?
Most of our cabinet work is part of a complete kitchen renovation: strip-out, floor tile, countertop, backsplash and connections, all on one schedule. The same workshop builds closets and fitted storage, bars and media walls, custom millwork and the vanities for our bathroom renovations.
Cabinets for Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph
Waterloo
Family homes in MacGregor-Albert, Mary Allen, Beechwood and condos in Uptown: in a condo the plumbing usually stays on its stack, so the cabinets do the heavy lifting. More on our Waterloo kitchen renovation page.
Cambridge
From the old stone houses of Galt, Preston, Hespeler to newer streets, Cambridge is part of our Waterloo Region days, and its out-of-square older kitchens are where scribed panels shine.
Guelph
Guelph is close enough to build for, by arrangement. Ask in your quote request and we will tell you how the measure and delivery would work.
Cabinets from our Kitchener project
Kitchen cabinet questions
Which door styles and finishes do you make?
Common options are slab, shaker and raised-panel doors in painted, melamine, thermofoil or wood-veneer finishes; the styles and finishes our workshop produces are [TBC: door profiles and finishes made in-house]. Bring a photo of a kitchen you like and we will tell you how close we can get.
Do you supply and install the countertop too?
We coordinate it: help with the choice, arrange the templating once the cabinets are in, and schedule the fabrication and installation, so one team answers for the fit. Whether the material is supplied by us or by you is written into the scope.
Can you build an island with seating?
Yes. An island is a set of cabinets like any other, drawn with clearances for the doors and drawers around it and the overhang that makes seating comfortable. Adding a sink or cooktop to an island means running plumbing or power across the floor, which is planned and, where needed, permitted.
Do you make cabinets for laundry rooms and pantries?
Yes. The same workshop builds laundry cabinetry, pantry towers, mudroom units, built-in shelving and closets: see closets and fitted storage.
Do you sell cabinets without installation?
[TBC: whether supply-only orders are accepted] Most of our work is supplied and installed, because installation is where a made-to-measure cabinet earns its precision.
Do you deliver to Cambridge and Guelph?
Yes. Cambridge is part of our Waterloo Region days; Guelph is by arrangement. Delivery and installation are scheduled together so the cabinets never sit in your garage for a week.
What hardware do the cabinets use?
Hinges, drawer slides, handles and knobs are specified in the drawings, with soft-close where you want it. If a part ever needs adjusting after installation, that is part of the handover we walk through with you.
How do I start?
Send the room's rough size and a photo through the quote form. We measure in your home, draw the layout and the cabinets, and send a written, itemised quote.
Want cabinets built for your kitchen?
Send the rough size of the room and a photo. We measure in your home and send drawings with a written quote.
Get a cabinet quote