Doors or open shelves
Closed doors hide clutter and keep dust out. Open shelves show off books and decor and feel lighter, but whatever is on them is always on display.
Cabinetry and built ins
Custom cabinetry and built ins
Custom cabinetry in Guelph for the rest of the house: media walls, laundry rooms, pantries, coffee stations and storage, made to fit the room. Everything is built in our shop on Gordon Street and installed by our own team, for homes across Guelph, Kitchener and Cambridge.
What it includes
Storage made for the room it lives in.
Custom cabinetry and built ins are cabinets, shelves and storage designed for one particular wall or room, rather than bought in standard sizes and made to fit. They use the full width and height of the space, work around windows, bulkheads and sloped ceilings, and are finished to match the rest of your home.
They suit homeowners finishing a basement, fixing a laundry room that never works, adding storage to a family room, or carrying their kitchen cabinetry into other rooms.
- Media walls. Cabinets and shelving around a TV or fireplace, with room for wiring and equipment.
- Laundry rooms and mudrooms. Cabinets, counters and hanging space that make a small room work.
- Pantries and storage walls. Floor to ceiling storage for food, cleaning supplies or everyday clutter.
- Coffee stations and bars. A cabinet run with a counter, shelves and room for a machine or a beverage fridge.
- Basement kitchenettes. Compact kitchens for a basement or in-law suite.
- Hutches and dining built ins. Display cabinets with glass uppers and closed storage below.
Custom or off the shelf
When a built in beats store bought cabinets.
Store bought cabinets come in fixed widths and heights, so they leave gaps at the ends, stop short of the ceiling and rarely line up with windows or bulkheads. Filler strips cover the difference, but the space behind them is wasted.
A built in is made to the exact size of the wall, so every inch is usable and the finished piece looks like part of the house. It costs more than flat pack storage, but in a room you use every day, the extra storage and the finish usually make it worth it.
- Custom makes sense for odd sized walls, sloped ceilings, rooms you see every day, and storage you need to last.
- Off the shelf can work for a standard sized closet or a utility room nobody else will see.
Our process
How a custom built in comes together.
- 01
Free estimate
We look at the room, measure the space and talk through what you need it to store and how you want it to look.
- 02
Design and quote
We plan the layout, sizes and finish with you, and give you a clear quote for the work.
- 03
Built in our shop
Boxes, doors and panels are cut on our CNC, assembled, primed and painted in our Guelph shop.
- 04
Installation
Our crew installs the cabinetry and fits it tight to your walls, floors and ceilings.
- 05
Final clean
Hardware goes on, doors are adjusted and we clean up so the room is ready to use.
Options
Choosing the details, and the trade-offs.
A built in can be simple shelving or a full wall of cabinetry. These are the choices that shape most of our projects.
Floating shelves
Floating shelves beside a fireplace or TV look clean and let the wall show through, but they hold less than a cabinet and need solid anchoring.
Full height or partial
Cabinets to the ceiling store the most and look built in. Lower cabinets with a counter on top give you a surface to use and keep the room feeling open.
Glass doors
Glass fronted uppers turn a hutch or bar into a display piece. They work best where what is inside is worth seeing.
Counter surfaces
A wood top feels warm on a desk or coffee station, while a stone or quartz top stands up better to spills in a laundry room or bar.
Paint colour
Built ins can match your trim so they blend in, or take a bold colour so they become the feature of the room.
Cost
What custom cabinetry costs, and what drives it.
Built ins range from a simple set of shelves to a full wall of cabinetry, so there is no standard price. The cost comes down to how much is being built and how it is finished.
We measure your space at a free estimate and give you a written quote. These are the things that move the number most:
- Size. The width and height of the wall, and the number of cabinets and drawers.
- Doors versus shelves. Doors and drawers take more work than open shelving.
- Tricky spaces. Sloped ceilings, bulkheads and uneven walls that need custom fitting.
- Finish and hardware. The paint colour, the door style and the hardware you choose.
- Extras. Counters, glass doors, wiring for TVs or appliances, and lighting.
Our work
Built ins we have made.
Where we work
Custom built ins in Guelph, Kitchener and Cambridge.
We build every piece in our shop at 2270 Gordon Street South in Guelph. These are the three areas where most of our built ins go.
Guelph
In Guelph a lot of our built in work is in basements and family rooms, where a media wall or a wall of storage turns an unfinished space into a room people use. Our shop is in the south end, so measuring, installing and any small adjustments after the job are quick for Guelph homeowners.
Kitchener
Many Kitchener homes have laundry rooms and mudrooms that were finished with a single shelf and a rod. Custom cabinets with a counter, hanging space and closed storage make those small rooms work much harder. Kitchener is a short drive west of our shop along Highway 7.
Cambridge
The older homes in Galt, Preston and Hespeler often have alcoves, sloped ceilings and walls that are far from square. Those are the spaces where standard cabinets leave awkward gaps, and where cabinetry built to measure fits properly from wall to wall.
Also serving
- Waterloo
- Rockwood
FAQ
Custom cabinetry questions.
Is it cheaper to buy cabinets or have them built?
Buying stock cabinets is usually cheaper up front. Having them built costs more, but the cabinetry fits the space exactly, uses every inch of the wall and is finished to match your home, which matters most in rooms you use and see every day.
What is the best material for kitchen cabinets in Canada?
For painted cabinets, MDF doors and panels are a popular choice because they stay flat and take paint smoothly. The right material for the boxes depends on the room and the budget, and we will recommend what suits your space at your estimate.
What is the best custom cabinet company?
Look for a company that builds in its own shop, installs its own work and has reviews from local customers you can read. Hailey Inc has built cabinetry in Guelph since 2005, holds a 4.9 rating from 21 Google reviews and is a 10 time Readers’ Choice Award winner.
Can you build a built in to match my kitchen?
Yes. Because we build and paint everything in our own shop, we can match the door style and paint colour of your kitchen so a pantry, bar or laundry room feels like part of the same home.
Do you build laundry rooms and mudrooms?
Yes. Laundry rooms and mudrooms are some of the most useful built ins we make, with cabinets, counters and hanging space sized to the room.
Do you install custom cabinetry outside Guelph?
Yes. Along with Guelph, we build and install custom cabinetry for homeowners in Kitchener and Cambridge, and in Waterloo and Rockwood.
More services
Other work we do.
Free estimates
Tell us about your space.
Call or send a few details. We will come out, measure the room and give you a free estimate for your built in.