Answers, in the order people ask for them.

Carcasses are prefinished birch plywood at 16mm or 18mm. Fronts are MDF at 18mm faced in PVC or PET foil for the soft touch, super matt and textured ranges, or melamine-faced chipboard at 19mm for the wider decor collection. Both the melamine line and the thermally fused laminate panels are certified to CARB2 and TSCA Title VI, the North American limits on what a panel can give off indoors — worth asking about anywhere, and worth asking about twice if somebody in the house has asthma or a small child. We will put the certification on the material cut sheets with the rest of the specification rather than leaving you to take it on trust.

A plan of the room drawn to its real dimensions, elevations of every run of cabinetry, and 3D views so you can read the height and mass of the thing before it exists. Door style, finish, hardware, appliance openings and the position of every drawer are all on the drawings, because those are the details that decide whether a room works or merely photographs well.

Slab fronts lead the range: super-matte anti-fingerprint lacquer, high-gloss acrylic, book-matched walnut and rift-cut oak veneer, textured melamine and laminate, and reeded fronts in solid ash. Painted and framed doors are still built on request. Painted finishes are specified from the Benjamin Moore range, so a colour you already live with elsewhere in the house can be carried straight through.

Prefinished birch plywood, in 16mm (5/8") or 18mm (3/4"). The choice is made cabinet by cabinet rather than as one rule for the kitchen: 18mm where a shelf has to span, a drawer bank carries weight, or hardware needs the extra bite, and 16mm where the saving in weight is worth having, such as tall doors and upper boxes. Prefinished means the birch is UV-cured on both faces before it reaches us, so the interior arrives sealed and wipes clean. If you would rather not have wood inside, interiors run in 16mm melamine in white, an oak-look texture, or any solid matte colour. Construction is dowelled and dadoed rather than stapled, and edgebanding goes on under heat and pressure so it does not lift at a corner in a year.

Blum and Hettich for hinges, runners and lift systems, with fittings and organizers from Richelieu, Häfele and Rev-A-Shelf. Panels come from Egger and the Canadian mills at Tafisa and Uniboard. The hardware is in the sample case at your consultation, so you can open and close it rather than take our word for how it feels.

Yes — that is precisely the argument for cabinetry made to size rather than chosen from a list of standard widths. Sloped ceilings, a chimney breast, the awkward 43-inch gap beside the fridge and walls that lean across a run all get drawn as they are and scribed to fit. A final check measure happens on site before production, because cabinetry is cut to the wall that exists rather than the wall on the plan. (Change is confined to the two added characters at the front; sentences two and three are untouched.)

Yes — quartz, porcelain and natural stone, with quartz most often from Caesarstone, Cambria or Silestone. Samples come to the visit when counters are part of the project. The template is taken after the cabinet boxes are set and levelled, which is why counters arrive roughly a week to ten days into the installation rather than on the first day.

Yes. The consultation, the design work, the computerized drawings and the written estimate cost nothing, and there is absolutely no obligation attached to any of it. Take the estimate away, compare it against others, think about it for a month. Nobody will chase you.

No. There is no deposit, no design fee and no retainer on the drawings or the estimate. A deposit only exists once you decide to order, at which point it confirms the order and releases the drawings into production. Nothing is charged for any of the work that happens before that decision, and the drawings do not come with strings attached.

Payments follow the work rather than arriving all at once. A deposit confirms the order and releases the drawings into production, a progress payment falls due before installation begins, and the balance is payable when the final walkthrough is complete and the deficiency list is closed. Most kitchens run 8 to 14 weeks from approved drawings to that walkthrough, so the stages sit weeks apart rather than days. Exact amounts and trigger dates are written into your contract before you sign, and no charge appears later that was not agreed at the start.

Cabinetry and installation workmanship are warranted in writing, with the term stated on your contract. Hinges, runners, lift systems and push-to-open mechanisms carry the manufacturer's own warranty, which on the hardware we specify is typically lifetime coverage under normal domestic use. Countertops and appliances are covered by their manufacturers and we hand over that paperwork at completion. Damage from moisture, misuse or later alterations by others falls outside the warranty.

Yes. We carry commercial general liability insurance, and the trades on our projects carry their own. Relocating a sink, running a circuit for an induction range or moving a hood duct is done by licensed plumbers, electricians and gas fitters, and coordinated as part of the project. Certificates are available on request before work begins, and permits are pulled where the municipality requires them.