Built-ins in Whitby
Older streets can mean tight stairs and doorways, so tall units are built in sections where one piece will not make the turn. Boxes are built and finished in the shop, delivered and scribed to the alcove over [n] days. Built-ins are cabinets and shelving fixed to the room, drawn to the walls they sit against and scribed on site.
Whitby, on the ground.
Whitby ranges from older downtown houses with plaster and narrow stairs to recent subdivisions in Brooklin and the south end. Older houses with chimney breasts and alcoves are made for built-ins; newer rooms with flat walls gain a place for them from a run of shelving with a lit centre. Kitchens, islands, mudrooms and closet build-outs are the steady work in Whitby.
Open plans in newer parts of Whitby leave cabinet backs and ends in full view, so those faces are finished like fronts.
Read more about custom cabinetry in Whitby or the full built-ins page.
On the drawings, and on the quote.
- 01Elevations of every alcove and wall, measured at several heights
- 02Closed cabinets below, open shelves above, or any mix, sized to what you own
- 03Window seats and benches with drawers or lift-up storage
- 04Scribe panels, crown and plinth details that run into the existing trim
- 05Lighting wired in the shop where shelves are lit
- 06Delivery and install by our crew, [n] days on site
No figures published. The drivers, in order.
| Driver | What we look at |
|---|---|
| Linear feet and shelf count | Open shelving is the lightest line; closed cabinets with doors and drawers add parts. |
| Site conditions | Chimney breasts, sloped ceilings and out-of-square alcoves add scribing time. |
| Door construction and finish | Painted shaker at one end, veneer or fluted fronts at the other. |
| Lighting and stone | Lit shelves and a stone top on a console add wiring and a fabricator. |
Paint colour and hardware are the smallest lines. Site conditions and what the piece hides set the number.
Asked before the first call.
Do you build alcove units in Whitby?
Yes. Alcove built-ins either side of a chimney breast are one of the most common jobs in Whitby. Each side is measured separately and drawn as a pair.
Are built-ins in Whitby painted on site?
No. Everything is sprayed in our shop, so the room stays clean and the finish is smoother. Scribe edges are touched up after fitting.
Our downtown house has a tight stair. Will a tall cabinet fit up it?
We check the stair, the turn and the ceiling height at the landing during the measure. Where a one-piece tall unit will not make the turn, we build it as two stacked sections with the joint on a reveal. It is a normal solution, it is planned in the shop, and it does not weaken the unit.
The kitchen is open to the living room. What do we do about the back of the island?
The back and the ends are treated as visible faces: finished panels, a matching plinth and the same reveal as the doors. Some clients run a slatted or shaker panel there instead of a flat one. It appears as a line item on the quote, because it takes real material and real shop time.