Custom Carpentry and Built-In Cabinetry Services

Custom Carpentry and Built-Ins

Built to the Room, Not to a Standard Size

A carcass is cut square in the shop, but the wall it lands against almost never is. So the parts that actually touch the building — end panels, filler strips, scribe rails, the ledger that carries the weight — are left oversized and cut to the wall on site, where the gap can be seen and closed. The cabinet is levelled on shims off the floor rather than trusted to it, then fastened back into studs or into blocking added for the purpose, because drywall anchors will not hold a loaded bookcase for long. Materials are chosen for what each part has to do: veneer-core plywood for carcasses and long shelves, since it stays flat and holds a screw in its edge; MDF for painted doors and panels, because it takes a finish without telegraphing grain through the paint; solid stock anywhere a hand, a vacuum or a chair back will hit it. Shelf spans are set by what will sit on them — a run of books much past two and a half feet wants a thicker shelf, a stiffened front edge, or a divider — because a sagging shelf is the one detail nobody stops noticing. Anything electrical is decided before the carcass closes: LED channel and somewhere accessible for its driver, outlets inside a media unit, a switch you can still reach with the cabinet full. Where a unit wraps a fireplace, the opening is framed to the clearances the fireplace manufacturer publishes, not to whatever suits the drawing.

• Built-in bookcases, wall units and media walls, scribed to the wall
• Fireplace surrounds and mantels framed to the manufacturer's clearances
• Custom closets, mudroom benches and under-stair storage
• Floating shelves and integrated LED lighting, wired before the carcass closes
• Baseboard, casing and crown throughout a house, with coped inside corners
• Door hanging, hardware and consistent reveals across every opening
• Wainscoting, panelled walls and slat features, set out to land symmetrically
• Window seats, banquettes, bulkhead and radiator enclosures
• Stair parts — treads, risers, newels, railings and skirt boards