DIY Custom Kitchens
DIY Custom Kitchens · Local to Ontario
High-end custom kitchens. Smart DIY savings.
A $50,000+ custom kitchen look — without the full-service installation price tag. We design, build and factory-finish every cabinet in our Ontario workshop, then flat-pack it for you (or your contractor) to assemble and install on site. Strictly available to local Central Ontario homeowners, owner-builders and cottagers.
Real DIY Custom Kitchen
Tricia & Jeff · New build, Kawartha Lakes region
The two extremes — and the middle ground
Custom kitchens shouldn't be either compromised or unaffordable.
Big-box flat-pack
Affordable, but limiting.
Fixed module sizes. Particle-board panels with melamine wrap. Door styles someone else picked. Forced to design around the catalogue rather than around your space.
Full-service custom
Beautiful, but $50k+.
A real cabinet shop, real materials, real custom sizing — but you're paying for their installers spending three weeks in your kitchen, their project manager, and the markups that come with a turnkey service.
DIY Custom Kitchens
Custom-quality. DIY savings.
The same shop, the same materials, the same factory finishes as the full-service kitchen — flat-packed with foolproof drawings so the assembly and install happens on your terms.
How it works
Four steps from first sketch to installed kitchen.
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01Step 1
Collaborative design
Send us your architectural drawings, a rough hand-sketch, or photos of the space — whatever you have. We work hand-in-hand with you on the layout, then build 3D renderings so you can walk through the kitchen before a single piece is cut.
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02Step 2
Approval & manufacturing
Once you approve the design, every cabinet box, door, drawer front and panel is built and finished in our 7,000 sq ft Ontario workshop. Factory paint or stain. Climate-controlled spray booth. Same shop that supplies cabinet doors to Chervin Kitchens and Belmont Custom Cabinetry.
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03Step 3
Flat-packed delivery or pickup
Your kitchen arrives flat-packed — every piece labelled, every cabinet with its own assembly drawing, and a master installation drawing showing how the whole kitchen lays out. Pick up from the shop or we deliver locally.
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04Step 4
The DIY assembly & install
You (or your on-site contractor) assemble each cabinet from the labelled flat-packed pieces using our step-by-step drawings, then install per the master layout plan. No CNC, no spray booth, no specialty tools needed — a cordless drill, a level, and the right helping hands.
Design phase · before we cut
From the 3D render to the last 13/16ths.
Every customer gets the same set of drawings: a full 3D rendering of the kitchen they're about to live in, plus a dimensioned elevation for every wall — every cabinet, every door, every part labelled and dimensioned down to the 1/16th. Drawn from your floor plan, signed off by you, before a single piece is cut on the shop floor.
Step 02 · 3D rendering
Walk the kitchen in 3D — door styles, paint colour, hood, island, layout — before approval.
Step 02 · Dimensioned elevation
Every cabinet, door and drawer numbered, sized and dimensioned — the same drawing the shop floor builds from.
Above: actual design package supplied for the Donald custom kitchen · Project 2405-006 · drawn by Ready To Paint Cabinet Doors.
Case study · #01
Tricia & Jeff — a premium new build in the Kawarthas.
Tricia and Jeff wanted a magazine-worthy custom kitchen in their new Kawartha Lakes-region build — without the full-service quote that came with it. The DIY Custom Kitchens program let them keep the budget intact, manage the install on their own build schedule, and end up with a kitchen that looks like it was made by a full custom shop. Which it was.
01
Blueprints in
Architectural drawings of the new build dropped in. We worked from the floor plans, ceiling heights and bulkhead details on day one.
02
3D rendering & approval
Layouts, door styles, paint colours, hardware — all rendered in 3D so Tricia and Jeff could walk the kitchen before a piece was cut.
03
Built & finished here
Every cabinet box, door, drawer front and panel manufactured in our 7,000 sq ft Ontario workshop. Factory-painted in our climate-controlled spray booth.
04
Flat-packed & installed
Delivered to the build site flat-packed with per-cabinet assembly drawings and a master layout drawing. Their on-site crew handled the install.
The finished kitchen · click any photo to enlarge
In Tricia & Jeff's own words
"Testimonial coming soon — Tricia and Jeff are working on a quote about the experience and the quality of work."
— Tricia & Jeff · Kawartha Lakes region, Ontario
Why custom flat-pack
The benefits of a custom shop — without the custom-shop price.
01
Truly custom — no fixed sizes
IKEA gives you a fixed module list. We mill every cabinet to your exact dimensions — corner runs, awkward bulkheads, custom hood surrounds, tall pantry stacks. Your kitchen, your sizes.
02
Factory finishes, sprayed in our booth
Every door, drawer front and exposed panel is finished in our climate-controlled spray booth with industrial-grade paint or stain. No brush marks, no roller stipple, no garage-floor finish.
03
Custom Wood Species & Door Styles
MDF in any style you've seen on our catalogue — Shaker, Slim Shaker, Belmont, Flat Panel, Raised Panel, Integrated Handle. Or Premium Veneer in Rift-Cut White Oak, Walnut, Cherry, Maple, Birch and Pine.
04
Significant cost savings
You're paying for materials and shop time — not for our installers and project managers spending three weeks in your kitchen. A magazine-worthy custom kitchen for typically much less than a full-service quote.
05
Made in Ontario, local support
Built 20 km east of Peterborough. Phone us during the build. Visit the shop. Pick up flat-packed pieces yourself. The hands building your kitchen are the hands you'll talk to.
06
Foolproof drawings
Every cabinet ships with its own per-piece assembly drawing. The whole kitchen ships with a master installation drawing. We've designed the documentation to make the DIY build as friction-free as it can be.
Service area
Local to Central Ontario.
DIY Custom Kitchens is a local program by design — we work hand-in-hand through the design phase, and we want your finished kitchen close enough that we can visit if there's ever a question on site.
Standard delivery zone: ~150 km radius from Warsaw, Ontario (just east of Peterborough).
Beyond 150 km — including the GTA, Ottawa, Kingston: we still deliver, we'll just add a separate delivery line so you know the cost up front.
Where we deliver
Standard delivery zone (~150 km)
Quoted delivery
Not on this list? Email us — if it's reasonable driving distance for a truck, we'll quote it.
Common questions
Real answers to the most common questions.
Ready to start?
Email us your plans — or just your idea of one.
Send the architectural plans for a new build, a hand-sketched layout, or just a few photos and a description of the space. We'll come back with next steps, rough scope and an estimate within a couple of business days.
Made in Ontario · Local Service · CKCA Member
