Pantries, Islands & Built-Ins · Kitchener
Pantries, Islands and Built-Ins in Kitchener
The most common cabinetry job in Kitchener's newer neighbourhoods is not a new kitchen. It is one piece the builder did not supply: a bigger island, a pantry, a built-in that makes the room work.
Builder kitchens in Doon South and Huron Park are competent and generic. The island is sized to the floor plan rather than to how the family eats, the pantry is a single tall cabinet or a blank wall, and the breakfast nook is a space with a table in it. Adding or rebuilding one piece of cabinetry changes how the whole room is used, at a fraction of the cost of a new kitchen, and this is the work the cabinet maker does most often south of the 401.
Islands
A good island is deeper than a standard base cabinet so there is room for seating on one side and storage on the other; it uses drawers rather than doors on the working side because drawers are what you can actually reach into; and it has a finished panel on every exposed side. The things that complicate an island are not cabinetry. A sink or a cooktop in the island means moving plumbing or gas, which the City of Kitchener lists as permit-required work, and receptacles in the island are electrical work overseen by the Electrical Safety Authority. An island with only storage and seating needs none of that and is a cabinetry job from start to finish. We ask which you want at the first conversation because it changes the schedule and who else is involved.
Pantries
- Wall pantries are full-height cabinets, often with roll-out shelves, that take the place of a run of uppers and lowers. They are the quickest win in a kitchen short on storage.
- Walk-in pantries are a room, and the cabinetry is shelving, counters and sometimes a second fridge enclosure. If a wall has to be built or a door moved, that part belongs to the general contractor and may or may not need a permit; the shelving and millwork inside is ours.
- Appliance pantries, with a counter inside and doors that fold back, hide the toaster and the coffee machine and are a strong fit for the open-plan kitchens common in the new builds.
Built-ins
Banquette seating with storage under it, a coffee or bar station in the dining room, a mudroom wall of lockers off the garage entry, a desk niche, a media wall. These are the same materials and the same shop as the kitchen, built to fit the space exactly, and they are where custom work earns its cost even in a house whose kitchen is semi-custom.
Matching or contrasting
If the existing kitchen is a few years old and from a mainstream line, the door profile and finish can usually be matched or very closely approximated, and the measure visit includes taking a door to compare. Where an exact match is not possible, pretending otherwise produces a kitchen with one cabinet in a slightly wrong white, which is worse than a deliberate contrast. An island in a different colour or a stained wood pantry against painted runs is a recognised design move and often the better answer.
Older houses
In Stanley Park and Forest Heights the same jobs come up with an extra step: the floor and walls are rarely level, an island has to be set to the high point of the floor, and a built-in has to be scribed to walls that wander. It is routine, but it is why the install on an older house takes longer than the same piece in a new one.
Frequently asked questions
Can you add an island to my existing kitchen?
Yes, if the floor space allows the clearances around it, which is checked at the measure. An island with storage and seating only is a straightforward cabinetry job. One with a sink, cooktop or receptacles brings in plumbing, gas or electrical trades and, for plumbing, the City's permit list.
Can you match the builder's cabinets?
Often. The major lines used by Kitchener builders can usually be matched in profile and closely in finish, and we compare against one of your doors at the measure. Where the match is not close enough, a deliberate contrast is the honest alternative and we say so.
Do you build mudroom and living room built-ins too?
Yes. Built-ins anywhere in the house are the same shop and the same materials as the kitchen. Mudroom lockers, banquettes, media walls and home office built-ins are all regular work.
Serving Kitchener and surrounding areas. Contact us for a no-obligation quote specific to your property.