Custom cabinetry.
It's the original trade. It's where the company's name comes from.
Our workshop
Kitchens, bathrooms, built-in furniture, storage walls, bookcases, partition units, commercial reception desks. Designed, drawn and assembled in our shop, then installed by the same team that built it.
It's a rare thing in a general renovation company, and it's the historical order of things here: ASA started as a cabinetry workshop. Renovation came afterwards, because the clients who ordered a kitchen ended up asking who was going to open the wall.
What custom does that ready-to-assemble doesn't
The real measurement
A wall is never perfectly square, and it's never out of square the same way from one building to the next. A standard module gets compensated with trim strips and gaps you end up seeing. A piece drawn from a survey installs to the millimetre.
Choosing the material for the project
Not for the catalogue. The right question isn't which material is the most beautiful, but which material matches the budget, the real use and the expected lifespan of the place.
Integration
The furniture that has to go around a column, follow a roof slope, hide a duct that couldn't be moved. That's where custom stops being a luxury and becomes the only solution.
A concrete example
At Adviso, a Montreal digital agency, the architect's plan called for a thirteen-foot reception desk with two partition walls, one for documentation, the other perforated to display the company's awards. In hardwood, the piece was far over budget, for offices leased for four to five years.
The other cabinetmakers were quoting up to four times our price.
We proposed finish-grade plywood, doubled to create a false thickness. The doubling served two purposes: giving the visual mass of a solid piece, and hiding every fastening point entirely within the thickness. The whole thing was assembled in blocks at the workshop then glued together on site, which made delivering a piece of that size possible.
The piece lasted the whole lease. It was bought by the company that took over the premises, and it's now part of the place.
It isn't a technical invention. It's a known assembly, used in the right place to keep the cost to a minimum and the visual result to a maximum.
Adviso offices
A thirteen-foot reception desk, delivered on budget, bought by the next tenant.
Offices leased for four to five years, an agency that knew it would keep growing: investing in hardwood made no economic sense. The other cabinetmakers were quoting up to four times our price.
Finish-grade plywood, doubled to give the mass of a solid piece and hide every fastening point within the thickness. Assembled in blocks at the workshop, put together and glued on site. The piece lasted the whole lease, and the next company bought it rather than have it removed.
Read the case
So, what are we working on?
Eight questions, two minutes. We call you back to talk it through, and we tell you frankly whether it's a project for us or whether you'd be better served elsewhere.