Custom Kitchens
Bespoke kitchen cabinetry designed around how you cook, gather, and entertain — from statement islands to floor-to-ceiling pantries.
Canada, USA.Contact
Halifax · Nova Scotia
Custom Kitchen Cabinets from a Cabinet Maker in Halifax
Hempston Home is a cabinet maker in Halifax. Custom kitchen cabinets, vanities and built-ins are designed and built at our Bayne St shop, 6359 Bayne St, Halifax, NS B3K 2V6. We install in Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford and across the Halifax Regional Municipality.
Halifax's Custom Cabinet Makers
Cabinetry designed for how Halifax really lives
Hempston Home is a cabinet maker in Halifax. Custom kitchen cabinets are designed and built at the Bayne St shop, then installed for homes in Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford and the rest of HRM. A South End rowhouse, a Dartmouth character house, and a newer Bedford build do not share a stock size, so every cabinet is drawn to the room.
From the first measurement to the final reveal, your project is handled by craftspeople who care about the joints you will never see as much as the doors you will open every day. The result is cabinetry that feels inevitable — like it was always meant to be there.
Built in Canada. We install across Canada and the United States.
Bayne St shop
Designed and built at 6359 Bayne St
Custom kitchen cabinets are designed and built at the Hempston Home shop in Halifax. The same shop builds vanities and built-ins for Dartmouth, Bedford and the wider HRM.
6359 Bayne St, Halifax, NS B3K 2V6Hours: Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Open the Bayne St shop in Google Maps2015
Founded
Canada
Built in Canada
8 to 14
Weeks, concept to install
5 yr
Workmanship warranty
Kitchens
$25,000 to $75,000
Vanities and built-ins
$4,000 to $12,000
Lead time
8 to 14 weeks
Warranty
5-year workmanship warranty
Halifax studio
6359 Bayne St, Halifax, NS B3K 2V6, CanadaPhone
(902) 442-0543
What We Build
Custom cabinetry for every room
Whether you are renovating a single room or building from scratch, we craft cohesive, made-to-measure cabinetry that carries your home's character from one space to the next.
Bathroom Vanities
Made-to-measure vanities, linen towers, and storage that bring spa-level calm and order to ensuites and powder rooms.
Built-Ins & Shelving
Custom bookcases, fireplace surrounds, window seats, and library walls that make a room feel finished and intentional.
Mudrooms & Laundry
Hard-working cabinetry, lockers, and benches that tame Halifax's four seasons of coats, boots, and gear.
Home Offices
Integrated desks, file storage, and display built to the millimetre for a workspace that disappears into your home.
Wine & Bar Cabinetry
Refined entertaining spaces — wine walls, dry bars, and butler's pantries crafted for collectors and hosts.
Custom Kitchens & Vanities Halifax
The heart of the home, made entirely yours
Custom kitchens are where Hempston does some of its best work. We design layouts that respect the way Maritimers actually live — generous islands for gathering, deep pot drawers, hidden appliance garages, and pantries that keep clutter out of sight.
- Made-to-measure islands, pantries, and hutches
- Inset, Shaker, slab, and beaded door styles
- Solid-wood dovetailed drawers with soft-close
- Hand-applied stains, paints, and durable finishes
Built-Ins & Millwork
Built-ins that turn awkward spaces into favourite ones
Older Halifax homes are full of character — and full of nooks, sloped ceilings, and chimney breasts that stock furniture can never fit. Our custom built-ins, fireplace surrounds, window seats, and library walls work with your home's quirks instead of against them, adding storage and a sense of permanence.
- Fireplace surrounds and floor-to-ceiling shelving
- Window seats, banquettes, and reading nooks
- Mudroom lockers, laundry storage, and home offices
- Seamless integration with existing trim and crown
Recent Work
Kitchens & cabinetry built for Halifax homes
A selection of custom kitchens, bars, and vanities designed and handcrafted for clients across Halifax and Nova Scotia — from painted inset shaker to grain-forward white oak.
Design by31 Westgate
Coastal Cottage
Custom Overlay
Design byDB Architecture
Dark Oak Island Kitchen
Painted + Stained Oak
Design by31 Westgate
Painted Shaker Kitchen
White Painted Cabinetry
Design byDB Architecture
Inset Oak Island Kitchen
Inset Cabinetry + Oak Island
Design by31 Westgate
White Panelled Kitchen
White Painted Cabinetry
Design byDB Architecture
Timber-Ceiling Kitchen
Open-Concept Cabinetry
Design by31 Westgate
White Oak Island Kitchen
White Oak Island Cabinetry
Design byDB Architecture
Painted Entry Built-Ins
Custom Built-In Cabinetry
Design by31 Westgate
Painted & Stained Oak Island
Painted & Stained Oak
Design byHempston
Modern Oak Kitchen
Light Oak Cabinetry
Design by31 Westgate
Light Oak Double Vanity
Light Oak Vanity Cabinetry
Design byDB Architecture
Hidden Coffee Station
Inset Custom Cabinetry
Featured Doors
A few favourite door + finish combinations
The doors below are a small sample of the styles, profiles, and finishes we regularly build for Halifax and Nova Scotia homes. Because we're 100% custom, every profile can be adapted to your preferred wood species, paint colour, or stain — or we can start from a reference photo and build something entirely new.
Etna
White Oak Slab — Smoked Oak
Marseille
Walnut Shaker — Driftwood
Noto
Inset Raised Panel — Setting Plaster
Tenerife
Walnut Slab — Ebony Walnut Stain
Cefalù
Cerused Washed Oak — White Oak
Tracadie
Inset Raised Panel — School House White
Lanzarote
White Oak Slab — Ebony Oak
Devon
Walnut Shaker — Antique Walnut
Torquay
Inset Raised Panel — Hague Blue
Aeolian
Painted Slab — Hague Blue
Palermo
Slim Shaker — Black Magic
La Gomera
Inset Raised Panel — Charleston Green
Inset Face Frame Cabinetry
Furniture-grade inset face frame construction
Inset cabinetry — where the door sits flush within a solid face frame — is the hallmark of heirloom, furniture-quality millwork. It demands precise tolerances and expert hands, and it's a signature of the finest custom kitchens across Nova Scotia's heritage homes and coastal builds. Several inset examples are mixed into the Featured Doors gallery above alongside our slab and shaker profiles. Every project is fully bespoke, so you're never limited to a catalogue.
Endless Possibilities
Every door you've seen here is just the beginning
The door profiles, inset styles, colours, and finishes shown across this page are a small sample of what we've built — not a menu you have to choose from. Hempston is a 100% custom cabinet maker. There are no fixed sizes, no locked-in door catalogues, and no standard colours. Whatever style, profile, wood species, paint, stain, or hardware you have in mind — whether it's a modern handleless slab, a classic beaded inset, or something you saw in a magazine — we design and build it from scratch, to the millimetre, for your home.
Planning Your Project
Kitchen design, cabinet making & renovation in Halifax
Renovating a kitchen or building a new home in Nova Scotia is one of the biggest investments you'll make. Here's how thoughtful kitchen design and true custom cabinet making come together to create a space that works beautifully for decades.
Working with a kitchen designer
A great kitchen designer does far more than pick cabinet doors. They study how you cook, entertain, and move through your space, then plan the layout — work triangle, island placement, traffic flow, lighting, and storage zones — so everything falls to hand. At Hempston, design and cabinet making live under one roof, so the person planning your Halifax kitchen is connected directly to the workshop building it. Nothing gets lost between a showroom drawing and the finished room.
Every project starts with an in-home consultation and precise measurements, followed by scaled drawings, 3D renderings, and real material samples. You'll see cabinet heights, appliance clearances, countertop overhangs, and door swings before a single board is cut — the surest way to avoid the costly surprises that derail so many kitchen renovations.
What custom cabinet making really means
Custom cabinet making is the craft of building cabinetry specifically for your room rather than assembling factory boxes in fixed sizes. That means no filler panels, no wasted inches, and storage engineered around your exact needs — deep pot drawers, hidden appliance garages, pull-out pantries, spice dividers, and toe-kick storage. It also means real materials: solid hardwoods, dovetailed drawer boxes, furniture-grade plywood casework, and durable conversion finishes that stand up to Maritime humidity and salt air.
The difference shows in the details you touch every day — the weight of a door, the whisper of a soft-close drawer, the perfectly aligned grain across a run of cabinets. It's the gap between flat-pack furniture and cabinetry that becomes an heirloom.
Popular kitchen styles in Nova Scotia homes
Across Halifax and the province we build everything from timeless Shaker kitchens and heritage inset cabinetry to warm white oak kitchens, two-tone islands, and sleek modern handleless designs. Popular choices right now include painted navy and sage-green cabinetry (see our custom paint colours and stains), natural rift-cut oak, brass and matte-black hardware, reeded and fluted detailing, integrated appliance panels, and butler's pantries. Whatever direction you lean — traditional, transitional, or contemporary — every finish is fully bespoke.
Planning a kitchen renovation or new build
Whether you're renovating a kitchen, remodelling a bathroom, or building a new home, the earlier custom cabinetry enters the conversation, the smoother the project runs. Involving your cabinet maker during design lets us coordinate with your builder, electrician, and plumber on appliance placement, outlet locations, and lighting so the finished cabinetry fits perfectly the first time. Learn more about our design, shop drawings, and site-measure services, or explore the hardware and finish brands we specify.
Most full custom kitchens in Halifax run from concept to installation in about 8 to 14 weeks, with an honest budget range shared up front and an itemised, written quote before any deposit — so you can plan your renovation with confidence.
Why Hempston
Why Halifax homeowners choose custom over stock
Anyone can sell you boxes. We build cabinetry that fits your home perfectly, performs for decades, and looks like it belongs.
Built to Last Generations
Solid-wood construction, dovetailed drawers, and conversion finishes engineered to weather Halifax humidity and salt air.
Built in Canada
Cabinets are built in Halifax at our Bayne St shop. Toronto and the Long Beach area facility are studios and service bases.
On-Time, On-Budget
Written timelines and itemised quotes before any deposit. No vague estimates, no moving targets.
Heirloom Craftsmanship
Decades of combined cabinetmaking experience poured into every joint, edge, and finished surface.
How It Works
Our custom cabinetry process, start to finish
A clear, four-step path from idea to installation — with honest budgets and written timelines at every stage.
01
Design Consultation
We visit your Halifax home, take precise measurements, and learn how you live. You leave with a clear direction and an honest budget range.
02
Detailed Design
You receive scaled drawings, 3D renderings, and curated material samples so you can see and feel every decision before we build.
03
Built at the Bayne St shop
Your cabinetry is built in Halifax at our Bayne St shop, using solid hardwoods, dovetailed drawers, and conversion-grade finishes.
04
White-Glove Installation
Our installers fit, level, and finish every detail on site, then walk you through care so your investment lasts for generations.
"We obsess over the dovetail you'll never see and the drawer you'll open ten thousand times. That's the difference between furniture and cabinetry that lasts a lifetime."
The Hempston Workshop
Materials & Finishes
Honest materials, finished to endure the Maritime climate
Coastal humidity and salt air are hard on poorly built cabinetry. We specify and finish every project to stand up to Halifax weather for the long haul.
Solid Hardwoods
Walnut, white oak, maple, cherry, and ash — selected for grain, stability, and longevity.
Painted & Inset Styles
Furniture-grade MDF and hardwood frames for crisp, durable painted finishes that resist chipping.
Conversion Finishes
Catalysed lacquers and conversion varnishes that shrug off moisture, heat, and daily wear.
Dovetailed Drawers
Solid-wood, dovetailed drawer boxes with full-extension soft-close runners as standard.
Premium Hardware
Concealed hinges, soft-close mechanisms, and tactile pulls from trusted European makers.
Smart Storage
Pull-outs, dividers, spice racks, and appliance garages engineered around your daily routine.
Where We Work
Serving Halifax and homes across Nova Scotia
Hempston is proud to be a Nova Scotia custom cabinet maker. While Halifax and the wider HRM are home, we design and install bespoke kitchens, vanities, and built-ins for homeowners right across the province — from South Shore cottages and Annapolis Valley farmhouses to new builds in Truro, Pictou County, and Cape Breton.
Halifax Regional Municipality
- Downtown Halifax
- South End
- North End
- Clayton Park
- Dartmouth
- Bedford
- Sackville
- Hammonds Plains
- Fall River
- St. Margaret's Bay
Across Nova Scotia
- Halifax Regional Municipality
- South Shore
- Chester & Mahone Bay
- Lunenburg
- Annapolis Valley
- Wolfville
- Truro & Colchester
- New Glasgow & Pictou
- Cape Breton
- Antigonish
- Bridgewater
- Kentville
Questions, Answered
Custom cabinetry in Halifax: FAQ
How much does custom cabinetry cost in Halifax?
Custom cabinetry in Halifax typically ranges from $25,000 to $75,000+ for a full kitchen, depending on the size of the space, the door style, the species of wood, hardware, and the complexity of the build. Smaller projects such as a single vanity or a built-in bookcase often start between $4,000 and $12,000. Because every Hempston project is made to measure, we provide a detailed, itemised quote after your design consultation so there are no surprises.
How long does a custom kitchen project take in Halifax?
From your first design consultation to installation, most Halifax kitchen projects take 8 to 14 weeks. Design and approvals usually take 2 to 4 weeks, fabrication in our workshop takes 4 to 8 weeks, and installation is typically completed within 3 to 7 days. We confirm your timeline in writing before any deposit is taken.
What is the difference between custom, semi-custom, and stock cabinets?
Stock cabinets come in fixed sizes off the shelf and rarely fit a room perfectly. Semi-custom cabinets offer limited modifications to standard boxes. Fully custom cabinetry — what Hempston builds — is designed and fabricated specifically for your space, your storage needs, and your chosen materials, with no filler panels or compromises. Custom cabinetry maximises every inch and lasts for decades.
Do you serve areas outside downtown Halifax?
Yes. We design and install custom cabinetry throughout the Halifax Regional Municipality, including Dartmouth, Bedford, Sackville, Clayton Park, the South End, Hammonds Plains, Fall River, St. Margaret's Bay, and surrounding communities across Nova Scotia.
What materials and finishes do you offer?
We work with solid hardwoods such as walnut, white oak, maple, and cherry, along with premium plywood casework, painted MDF for crisp Shaker and inset styles, and a wide range of hand-applied stains, lacquers, and conversion finishes. Soft-close doors and drawers, dovetailed solid-wood drawer boxes, and quality hardware are standard on every Hempston project.
Are your cabinets made locally?
Cabinets are built in Halifax, Nova Scotia at our Bayne St shop, 6359 Bayne St, Halifax, NS B3K 2V6. Toronto and the Long Beach area facility are studios and service bases, not manufacturing sites. Built in Canada. We install across Canada and the United States.
Do you work with contractors and designers?
Yes. Design and shop drawings are included in the cabinetry quote. We coordinate with your contractor, architect or interior designer, and we charge once the design is approved and the project is commissioned.
Do you offer kitchen design services?
Yes. Design is built into every Hempston project. Our kitchen designers handle the full layout — work triangle, island placement, storage zones, lighting, and appliance planning — and provide scaled drawings, 3D renderings, and material samples so you can see and feel your new kitchen before we build it. Because our design and cabinet making happen under one roof, there's no gap between the plan and the finished room.
Can you build any cabinet style or colour?
Yes. Hempston is a 100% custom cabinet maker, so you're never limited to a fixed catalogue. The door profiles, inset styles, and finishes shown on our site are just a sample. We build virtually any door style, wood species, paint colour, or stain — from modern handleless slabs to classic beaded inset — and can match a reference photo or an existing piece in your home.
Do you offer a warranty on custom cabinetry?
Every Hempston Home project includes a 5-year workmanship warranty. Manufacturer warranties on hardware and finishes are passed along. Details are in writing with your project agreement.
Do I need a permit for a kitchen renovation in Halifax?
Simply replacing cabinetry usually doesn't require a permit, but a full kitchen renovation that moves plumbing, electrical, or walls typically does need a permit from the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). We coordinate with your contractor and can point you to HRM's official building permit information at halifax.ca so the cabinetry side of your project stays fully compliant.
Can you build custom cabinetry for heritage homes in Halifax?
Absolutely — heritage and character homes are some of our favourite projects. Many South End, North End, and Dartmouth homes have out-of-square walls, sloped ceilings, and period trim that stock cabinets can't accommodate. Because every piece is scribed and built to measure in Nova Scotia, our cabinetry fits historic spaces seamlessly while respecting their original character.
Is HST included in your custom cabinetry quotes?
Our itemised, written quotes clearly show pricing and applicable Nova Scotia HST before any deposit, so you always know your total investment up front — no vague estimates or surprise add-ons.
Start Your Project
Let's design custom cabinetry for your Halifax home
Tell us about your space and we'll arrange a free, no-obligation design consultation — precise measurements, fresh ideas, and an honest budget for your Halifax project.
- Free in-home design consultation across the HRM
- Itemised, written quote before any deposit
- Built in Canada at our Bayne St shop in Halifax