Key Takeaways
- Custom kitchen cabinets Toronto typically cost $275–$450 per linear foot installed in 2026, depending on material — MDF at the lower end, solid wood at the upper end.
- A standard 10×10 kitchen usually lands between $20,000 and $35,000 for fully custom cabinetry; high-end builds exceed $50,000.
- Cabinetry is 30–40% of a full kitchen renovation budget — the largest single line item.
- Three things drive the price more than anything else: linear footage, door and finish selection, and box material.
- In Ontario, 13% HST applies to both labour and materials, and a written estimate inside a contract legally caps the final price at 10% over — a protection most homeowners don’t know they have.
The short answer:
what custom kitchen cabinets Toronto costs?
Custom kitchen cabinets Toronto cost between $275 and $450 per linear foot installed as of 2026. MDF-box cabinets with a prefinished door sit near the bottom of that range at roughly $275 per linear foot. Solid maple or cherry construction sits near $450 and can climb past $600 per linear foot for premium species, specialty finishes, and complex millwork.
For a typical Toronto kitchen, that translates to:
| Kitchen size | Approx. linear feet | Typical installed cost (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Galley / small condo | 12–16 ft | $3,300 – $7,200 |
| Standard 10×10 | 20 ft | $5,500 – $9,000 (cabinets only) |
| Mid-size with island | 28–34 ft | $7,700 – $15,300 |
| Large open-concept | 40–50 ft | $11,000 – $22,500 |
| Luxury custom build | 50+ ft | $25,000 – $50,000+ |
Solid Wood vs MDF
Saeed Custom Kitchen Cabinet (SCKC) manufactures cabinetry in-house at our Concord facility and installs across Toronto and the GTA. Because we cut, edge, and finish on our own equipment rather than reselling imported boxes, we can quote against your actual drawings instead of a catalogue. You can request a free measured quote and get a real number rather than a range.
What "per linear foot" actually means
A linear foot is one foot of horizontal cabinet run measured along the wall, not square footage of the room, and not the number of cabinet boxes. If you have a 12-foot wall of base cabinets and 10 feet of uppers above it, that’s counted as 12 linear feet with uppers included in the rate, not 22.
This trips up almost every homeowner comparing quotes. Here’s how to avoid getting burned:
| Ask the estimator | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| "Does your linear-foot price include uppers and bases?" | Some shops quote them separately, which makes their headline number look 40% cheaper. |
| "Is the island counted in the linear footage?" | Islands are usually priced separately because they're finished on all four sides. |
| "Does the price include installation?" | "Supply only" quotes can be 25–30% lower and leave you hiring an installer. |
| "Are hardware and soft-close mechanisms included?" | Quality hinges and undermount slides can add $40–$90 per cabinet. |
| "Is HST included or extra?" | On a $25,000 cabinet order, 13% HST is $3,250. |
When two quotes are $80 per linear foot apart, the difference is almost never the wood. It’s what’s been quietly excluded.
Cost by cabinet material
Box material and door material are separate decisions, and both affect the price. Here’s how the common options compare in the Toronto market.
| Material | Installed cost/linear ft | Moisture resistance | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MDF (medium-density fibreboard) | $250 – $325 | Moderate | Painted doors, flat slab fronts, condos | Heavier; damaged by standing water if the edge seal fails |
| Plywood box with veneer | $300 – $400 | Good | Long-term durability, humid basements | Costs more; visible edge grain unless banded |
| Solid wood (maple, oak) | $400 – $500 | Good | Traditional and classic door profiles | Expands and contracts with humidity; can show seasonal gaps |
| Solid wood (cherry, walnut) | $500 – $650+ | Good | Premium stained finishes | Highest cost; colour deepens over time |
| Thermofoil / laminate | $200 – $280 | Good | Budget-conscious builds, rentals | Can delaminate near heat sources like ovens |
MDF deserves a defence here. It has a reputation as the “cheap” option, but for painted cabinetry it is genuinely the better material — it has no grain to telegraph through paint and no seasonal movement to crack the finish at the joints. A painted solid-wood door will eventually show hairline cracks at the stile-and-rail joints. A painted MDF door won’t. If you want painted cabinets, MDF is the professional choice, not the compromise.
One thing worth verifying with any supplier: composite panels used in cabinetry should meet the EPA’s formaldehyde emission standards for composite wood products (TSCA Title VI, equivalent to CARB Phase 2). SCKC uses compliant panels across all MDF door and prefinished door production.
Kitchen size drives cost more predictably than any other single variable. These are realistic 2026 Toronto figures for cabinetry supply and installation, before countertops or appliances.
Small kitchen or condo galley (under 100 sq ft)
$4,000 – $9,000. Usually 12–18 linear feet. Downtown Toronto condos frequently fall here. The constraint isn’t budget — it’s the elevator booking, the condo board’s contractor insurance requirements, and the fact that every panel has to fit through a standard door.
Standard 10×10 kitchen (about 100 sq ft)
$5,500 – $12,000. The industry benchmark layout: roughly 20 linear feet, no island. Most detached homes in East York, Scarborough, and the older Etobicoke pockets fall in this band.
Mid-size kitchen with island (150–200 sq ft)
$10,000 – $20,000. Adding an island typically adds $2,500–$6,000 on its own because it’s finished on four sides and often carries a sink, dishwasher, or seating overhang.
Large open-concept kitchen (250+ sq ft)
$18,000 – $40,000. Toronto’s post-2015 renovation trend toward removing the kitchen/dining wall lands most projects here. Full-height pantry runs, appliance garages, and integrated panel-ready fridge surrounds push the top of this range.
A note on Toronto specifically: Toronto renovation costs run higher than surrounding GTA municipalities, and it’s not because contractors charge Toronto customers more for fun. Older housing stock means out-of-square walls and unexpected structural surprises. Downtown jobs mean parking permits, restricted delivery windows, no driveway to stage material, and condo elevator fees. Those logistics are real line items.
You can see finished Toronto work in our project archive — including this custom kitchen cabinet installation in Toronto and this full custom cabinetry build in Toronto.
Where cabinets sit in a full renovation budget
Cabinetry accounts for roughly 30–40% of a total kitchen renovation cost. Full kitchen renovations in Toronto in 2026 commonly run $25,000–$75,000 for a mid-range project, with basic cosmetic updates starting around $8,000 and luxury builds exceeding $150,000.
Here’s a realistic breakdown of a $60,000 Toronto kitchen renovation:
| Line item | Typical share | On a $60,000 project |
|---|---|---|
| Cabinetry | 35% | $21,000 |
| Countertops | 12% | $7,200 |
| Appliances | 15% | $9,000 |
| Labour (demo, install, trades) | 18% | $10,800 |
| Plumbing & electrical | 8% | $4,800 |
| Flooring | 6% | $3,600 |
| Backsplash, paint, lighting, finishes | 6% | $3,600 |
Where the money is best spent: cabinets and layout. Countertops can be upgraded later. Appliances get replaced in ten years anyway. Cabinet boxes and the layout they enforce are the one thing you genuinely cannot change without starting over. If the budget is tight, buy better cabinets and cheaper counters — not the reverse.
Design trends support this. The Houzz 2026 Kitchen Trends Study found wood cabinet finishes overtook white for the first time among renovating homeowners, and that nearly six in ten renovators either added or updated a kitchen island — both decisions that live or die on the cabinetry, not the countertop.
The seven factors that move your number
1. Linear footage. The single biggest driver. Every additional foot of run adds material, hardware, finishing, and install time.
2. Door style. A flat slab door is the cheapest thing a shop can make. A five-piece shaker adds machining. A raised-panel or applied-moulding traditional door can double the door cost. Browse traditional, classic, and modern kitchen door treatments to see where your taste lands before you set a budget.
3. Finish. Prefinished melamine is cheapest. Sprayed lacquer costs more. Multi-step stains, glazes, and distressed finishes cost the most because each pass is a separate labour cycle with drying time between.
4. Ceiling height. Toronto’s older homes often have 9- or 10-foot ceilings. Running cabinets to the ceiling looks dramatically better and adds 15–25% to the cabinet cost. Stopping short and building a soffit is cheaper but dates the kitchen.
5. Hardware quality. Soft-close undermount slides, full-extension drawers, and quality European hinges add $40–$90 per unit. Over 30 cabinets that’s $1,200–$2,700 — and it’s the difference people notice every single day.
6. Interior fittings. Pull-out spice racks, cutlery dividers, corner carousels, pull-out garbage, and appliance lifts each add $150–$600. These are optional; they’re also usually what clients say they’d never give up.
7. Site conditions. Out-of-plumb walls, uneven floors, plaster-and-lath, or a discovered structural issue all add scribing and shimming time. Older Toronto homes are notorious for this and any honest estimator will build a contingency for it.
Custom vs. semi-custom vs. stock
| Stock | Semi-custom | Fully custom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost (10×10) | $3,000 – $8,000 | $13,000 – $18,000 | $20,000 – $50,000+ |
| Sizing | Fixed 3" increments | Some modification | Built to your exact millimetre |
| Lead time | Days to 2 weeks | 4–8 weeks | 4–8 weeks |
| Door/finish choice | Limited catalogue | Moderate catalogue | Unlimited |
| Fits odd walls | Filler strips required | Partially | Yes, by design |
| Best for | Rentals, flips, tight budgets | Standard-shaped rooms | Older homes, odd layouts, specific storage needs |
When custom is genuinely worth it: older Toronto homes with out-of-square walls, chimney breasts, radiators, angled ceilings, or awkward bulkheads. Stock cabinetry in those rooms means filler panels — dead strips of wood that cost you storage and look like a compromise. Custom cabinetry eliminates them entirely, and in a small kitchen the recovered inches are real.
When custom isn’t worth it: a newer build with a rectangular, standard-height kitchen and no unusual storage requirements. Semi-custom will get you 90% of the result for 60% of the price. An honest cabinet maker will tell you this.
Refacing vs. full replacement
Cabinet refacing replaces the doors, drawer fronts, and visible box surfaces while keeping the existing cabinet carcasses in place. It typically costs 40–60% of full replacement.
| Refacing | Full replacement | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical Toronto cost | $6,000 – $14,000 | $15,000 – $35,000+ |
| Timeline | 3–5 days | 2–5 days install, after 4–8 week build |
| Can change layout? | No | Yes |
| Fixes sagging shelves / failing boxes? | No | Yes |
| Lifespan gained | 8–12 years | 25+ years |
Reface if: the boxes are solid plywood, the layout works, and you simply dislike the doors.
Replace if: boxes are particleboard and sagging, there’s any water damage under the sink, the layout doesn’t function, or you’re changing appliance sizes. Refacing a failing box is money spent on a countdown timer.
Hidden costs Toronto homeowners forget
| Cost | Typical amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| HST (13%) | $2,600 on a $20,000 order | Applies to both labour and materials in Ontario |
| Countertop template & install | $500 – $1,500 | Separate trade, scheduled after cabinets are set |
| Plumbing disconnect/reconnect | $400 – $1,200 | Required even for a same-location sink |
| Electrical | $600 – $3,000 | Under-cabinet lighting, new outlets, appliance circuits |
| Disposal | $300 – $800 | Bin rental and permit if it sits on a Toronto street |
| Condo elevator booking / deposit | $200 – $1,000 | Common downtown; often refundable |
| Building permit | $200 – $700 | Only if the work is structural, plumbing, or electrical |
| Temporary kitchen | $0 – $2,000 | Eating out for 3 weeks costs more than people plan for |
| Contingency | 10–15% | Non-negotiable in a pre-1980 home |
On permits: swapping cabinets in the same layout generally doesn’t require one. Moving plumbing, adding circuits, or removing a wall does. Check current requirements on the City of Toronto building permit page before you commit to a layout change, retroactive permits and stop-work orders cost far more than the permit would have.
How to get an estimate you can trust
Get at least three written estimates, and make sure the estimate is written into the contract itself. Under Ontario’s Consumer Protection Act, when an estimate forms part of a home renovation contract, the final price cannot exceed it by more than 10% unless you have signed off on new work or a new price. That protection only exists if the estimate is in the contract — a verbal figure or a separate emailed PDF doesn’t count. Read the details on your rights when starting home renovations in Ontario.
A trustworthy cabinet estimate should show you:
- ✅ An itemized breakdown, not one lump sum
- ✅ Linear footage stated explicitly
- ✅ Specific materials named — “3/4″ plywood box, painted MDF shaker door”, not “quality materials”
- ✅ Hardware brand and model for hinges and slides
- ✅ Whether installation is included
- ✅ HST shown as a separate line
- ✅ A payment schedule tied to milestones, not a large deposit up front
- ✅ Warranty terms in writing, with a stated duration
- ✅ A realistic timeline with a build start and install window
🚩 Walk away from: a quote given over the phone without a site measurement, a demand for more than 30–35% deposit, no written warranty, no WSIB clearance or liability insurance, or pressure to sign “today only” for a discount.
Ready for a real number? SCKC provides free measured quotes across Toronto and the GTA. We measure the room, discuss how you actually use the kitchen, and give you an itemized estimate — not a range. Get your free quote or contact our Concord showroom to see door samples and finishes in person.
Frequently asked questions
How much do custom kitchen cabinets cost in Toronto?
Custom kitchen cabinets in Toronto cost $275 to $450 per linear foot installed in 2026. MDF construction sits near the lower end and solid wood near the upper end. A standard 10×10 kitchen typically totals $20,000 to $35,000 for fully custom cabinetry, with premium builds exceeding $50,000.
Are custom cabinets worth the extra cost over stock?
Custom cabinets are worth it when your kitchen has non-standard dimensions, out-of-square walls, high ceilings, or specific storage requirements — all common in older Toronto homes. Custom cabinetry eliminates filler panels and recovers usable inches that stock cabinets waste. In a newer home with a standard rectangular kitchen, semi-custom cabinetry delivers most of the benefit at a lower price.
FAQs
How much do custom kitchen cabinets cost in Toronto?
Custom kitchen cabinets Toronto cost $275 to $450 per linear foot installed in 2026. MDF construction sits near the lower end and solid wood near the upper end. A standard 10×10 kitchen typically totals $20,000 to $35,000 for fully custom cabinetry, with premium builds exceeding $50,000.
Are custom cabinets worth the extra cost over stock?
Custom cabinets are worth it when your kitchen has non-standard dimensions, out-of-square walls, high ceilings, or specific storage requirements — all common in older Toronto homes. Custom cabinetry eliminates filler panels and recovers usable inches that stock cabinets waste. In a newer home with a standard rectangular kitchen, semi-custom cabinetry delivers most of the benefit at a lower price.
How long does a custom kitchen cabinet project take in Toronto?
A custom kitchen cabinet project typically takes 6 to 10 weeks from design approval to completed installation. That breaks down to roughly 1–2 weeks for design and final measurement, 4–8 weeks for manufacturing, and 2–5 days for installation. Rush timelines are possible but usually carry a premium.
What percentage of a kitchen renovation budget should go to cabinets?
Cabinetry should account for approximately 30% to 40% of a total kitchen renovation budget. On a $60,000 Toronto kitchen renovation, that means roughly $18,000 to $24,000 for cabinetry. Cabinets and layout are the hardest elements to change later, so they generally deserve budget priority over countertops and appliances.
Do I need a building permit to replace kitchen cabinets in Toronto?
You do not need a building permit to replace kitchen cabinets in the same layout. A permit is required if the work involves structural changes such as removing a load-bearing wall, relocating plumbing, or adding new electrical circuits. Confirm current requirements with the City of Toronto Building Division before finalizing a layout change.
Is MDF or solid wood better for kitchen cabinets?
For painted cabinets, MDF is the better material — it has no grain to show through paint and no seasonal movement to crack the finish at joints. For stained or natural-wood finishes, solid wood is the only option since it shows real grain. Many quality kitchens combine both: a plywood or MDF box with solid wood door frames.
How much does cabinet refacing cost in Toronto compared to replacement?
Cabinet refacing in Toronto costs approximately $6,000 to $14,000, roughly 40–60% of full replacement at $15,000 to $35,000. Refacing makes sense when the existing cabinet boxes are structurally sound and the layout works. It does not fix sagging boxes, water damage, or a layout problem.