Materials & Sustainability
What We Build With
Quality materials, locally sourced where possible, specified for durability and the demands of each project.
Sheet Goods
Most cabinet carcasses are built from melamine-faced or prefinished plywood and MDF substrates. We source from local and regional distributors and specify material to match the project's durability, finish, and budget requirements.
Prefinished Birch Veneer Plywood
Cabinet Carcasses
Balanced construction, excellent screw-holding, clean pre-finished interior. Preferred for exposed interiors in residential and commercial work.
Melamine & TFL (Thermally Fused Laminate)
Commercial / High-Volume
Consistent, dimensionally stable, and cost-effective for high-volume commercial runs. Available in hundreds of colors and textures in either particle core or MDF core.
HPL (High-Pressure Laminate)
Doors & Exposed Surfaces
Durable surface for door faces, countertops, and high-wear applications. Wide range of colors, wood grains, and specialty finishes.
MDF
Paint-Grade Work
Smooth, consistent substrate for painted applications. Used for door frames, face frames, and architectural millwork profiles.
Hardwood Veneer Plywood
Furniture & Fine Cabinetry
Domestic grade veneer core plywood with hardwood face veneers. Available in red oak, white oak, walnut, birch, maple, hickory, cherry, and the full range of commercially available hardwood veneers.
Europly Multiply Birch Core Veneer Plywood
Premium Applications
Also known as apple ply or Baltic birch. Void-free multiply birch core with consistent, stable construction. Preferred for high-quality cabinet interiors, wood drawers, furniture, and visible edge applications.
Solid Wood
We use solid wood for furniture, architectural millwork, face frames, and projects where the material itself is part of the design. We source from local custom sawmills and various suppliers across Canada.
Maple
Cabinets, Furniture, Benches
Hard, consistent, takes stain and paint well. Our go-to for painted cabinets and institutional benches.
Walnut
Custom Furniture
Rich color and grain. Preferred for dining tables, feature pieces, and premium residential work.
Birch
Cabinets, Millwork
Available from #1 Select through rustic grades, with character variations including mineral stains, pitch pockets, knots, and spalting. Northern BC birch ranges from clean and uniform in select grades to richly figured at the rustic end — ideal for both painted cabinetry and natural finishes.
Cherry
Furniture & Fine Cabinetry
Warm reddish-brown tone that deepens with age. A classic hardwood for furniture and high-end cabinetry.
White Oak & Red Oak
Staircases, Furniture, Flooring
Distinctive open grain and excellent hardness. White oak is particularly popular for contemporary staircases and furniture due to its neutral tone.
Hickory
Rustic & Character Work
One of the hardest domestic hardwoods. Strong contrast between heartwood and sapwood gives hickory its distinctive character.
Countertops & Surfaces
Solid Surface (Corian, Meganite)
We fabricate and install solid surface countertops for residential and commercial applications. Non-porous, repairable, heat-formable for curved work, and available in a wide range of colors. Particularly suited to healthcare facilities and high-sanitation environments.
Quartz
Engineered stone composed of natural quartz crystals and polymer resins. Extremely hard, non-porous, and highly scratch and stain resistant. Available in a wide range of colors and finishes including high-gloss polish. Widely regarded as a premium countertop choice for residential kitchens and bathrooms, and occasionally specified for commercial and institutional projects. RSA coordinates supply and installation through our supplier network.
Solid Maple Butcher Block
Properly sealed and coated solid wood countertops are safe, durable, and warm to the touch. Suitable for use around sink openings and island tops. Maple is the preferred species for its hardness, tight grain, and resistance to moisture when properly finished. Can be refinished and restored over time — a distinct advantage over synthetic surfaces.
High-Pressure Laminate (HPL)
Post-form and flat-lay laminate countertops for cost-effective residential and light commercial installations. Thousands of color and pattern options including woodgrain, stone, and solid colors.
Also available is FENIX NTM — a premium colour-core laminate using nanotechnology developed by Arpa Industriale. Unlike standard HPL, FENIX has a matching solid colour throughout its core, eliminating the dark edge lines typical of conventional laminate. The surface is extremely matte, soft to the touch, anti-fingerprint, and highly resistant to scratches and household cleaners. Micro-scratches can be thermally repaired with a household iron. Particularly suited to commercial and institutional applications where a seamless, refined appearance is required.
Stainless Steel
Fabricated and installed for commercial kitchens, laboratories, healthcare facilities, and industrial applications requiring sanitary, durable work surfaces.
Hardware
We specify and supply hardware from major manufacturers including Blum, Häfele, and Richelieu. For commercial projects, anti-microbial hardware is available for infection-sensitive environments. We stock Blum soft-close hinges and drawer systems as standard.
- Blum — The industry benchmark for cabinet motion hardware, and our default specification on most projects. Soft-close hinges, drawer systems, the AVENTOS lift system range, Space Tower pull-out pantry, and Space Step integrated toe-kick step are all part of their lineup. SERVO-DRIVE adds electric touch-to-open for handle-less kitchens, and their newest REVEGO pocket door system allows entire workspaces to be revealed or concealed with a single touch. All Blum systems close with integrated BLUMOTION soft-close as standard.
- Häfele — A global hardware manufacturer with an extensive range of functional and architectural hardware. Known for precision engineering and commercial-grade quality, their pocket door and sliding door systems are among the best available. Well suited to both residential and institutional projects.
- Richelieu — One of North America's largest hardware distributors. Their range covers decorative pulls and knobs, kitchen and bathroom accessories, closet systems and organizers, mechanisms, LED lighting solutions, and furniture fittings for residential and commercial cabinetry.
Finishing
All finishing is done in-house with our Kremlin Rexson air-assisted airless system as well as Graco airless spray equipment. We apply both waterborne and solvent-borne catalyzed lacquers, polyurethanes, and conversion varnishes for durability in residential and commercial environments. Acrylic waterborne finishes are standard for institutional millwork requiring cleanability and longevity.
