30 Kitchen Cabinet Ideas From Real Vancouver and Calgary Kitchens
 In Kitchen Cabinets

30 Kitchen Cabinet Ideas From Real Vancouver and Calgary Kitchens

The kitchen is the heart of any home, and the cabinets play a vital role in its functionality and aesthetics. Whether you’re renovating your kitchen or simply looking to refresh its look, exploring cabinet ideas only helps if you can see how they behave in a real room.

This page is two things at once. First, a practical guide to materials, open shelving, two-tone colour, glass-front doors, and pull-out storage. Second, a 30-idea gallery photographed in kitchens Final Draft Cabinetry designed and installed in Metro Vancouver — Burnaby, South Surrey, Bowen Island, and Vancouver — using the same Merit, Lectus, and FDC Signature lines we specify for Calgary homes.

From clever storage to door styles and islands, use the ideas below to plan a kitchen that works and still looks like itself in 20 years. See finishes in person at 4533 Hastings Street, Burnaby, BC V5C 2K3, or request a free custom design and estimate.

Considerations for Cabinet Materials

Apart from style, the material of your kitchen cabinets sets durability, maintenance, and cost. These are the options we spec most in Vancouver and Calgary kitchens.

  • Wood: A timeless choice. Hardwoods like maple, oak, alder, and cherry bring warmth and take stain well. Rift-oak and walnut read more contemporary. Wood is the right call when you want grain on the island or the base run.
  • Paint-grade (maple or MDF): The workhorse for coloured shaker and slab doors. Stable, consistent, and the reason two-tone kitchens can be sage, Arctic white, or cream without fighting the grain.
  • Laminate / TFL: Affordable, low-maintenance, stain- and scratch-resistant, with a wide colour range. Useful on interiors and on budget-conscious door styles.
  • Plywood cases: Merit, Lectus, and FDC Signature kitchens we install use birch plywood boxes — the part you never photograph and the part that decides whether the doors still hang straight in year 15.
  • Glass: Rarely the whole kitchen. Used as inserts in selected uppers so you can display pieces without turning every door into a dusting job.
  • Stainless steel: A sleek, heat- and moisture-resistant look. We use it as an accent more often than as a full kitchen, unless the room is truly commercial in feel.

Locally made wood and paint-grade lines also sit outside the 2026 imported-cabinet surtax. That is a materials decision, not only an aesthetic one.

Two-tone kitchens

1. Sage bases with cream ceiling-height uppers

Sage-green shaker base cabinets and cream uppers in a Burnaby kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry, with a white quartz island and brass pulls.
Burnaby — sage bases, cream ceiling-height uppers, and a quartz island. This is the two-tone layout most homeowners ask to see first.

Project: Two-Tone Sage Kitchen, Burnaby

2. White shaker uppers with stained wood bases and island

White shaker upper cabinets over stained wood base cabinets and a matching wood island in a Vancouver kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Vancouver — white shaker uppers, stained wood lowers, and a wood island with seating. Warm two-tone without painted colour on the bases.

Project: Two-Tone Arctic & Chicory Kitchen, Vancouver

3. White shaker walls with a charcoal island

White shaker kitchen with a charcoal furniture-style island, skylights, and brass hardware in South Surrey by Final Draft Cabinetry.
South Surrey — white perimeter, charcoal island, and skylights. Classic two-tone that still reads bright.

Project: South Surrey Transitional White Kitchen

Islands and mixed materials

4. White slab and oak veneer with a stone waterfall island

White slab and oak veneer kitchen with a stone waterfall island in Leg In Boot Square, Vancouver, by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Leg In Boot, Vancouver — white slab, oak veneer, and a stone waterfall island. Mixed materials in one contemporary run.

Project: Leg In Boot Custom Millwork, Vancouver

5. Two-tone slab kitchen with a waterfall island

Steel-blue slab base cabinets, white uppers, and a waterfall quartz island with two stools in a Langley kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Langley — steel-blue bases, white uppers, and a two-seat waterfall island. Compact footprint, full stone end.

Project: Langley Two-Tone Modern Kitchen

6. Matte taupe slab kitchen

Matte taupe slab kitchen with a waterfall island, wood seating face, and floor-to-ceiling panels by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Modern Scandinavian kitchen — handle-light taupe slab, waterfall island, and a wood-lined seating side.

Project: Modern Scandinavian Kitchen

Shaker and slab door styles

7. Classic painted shaker, close up

Close-up of sage-green painted shaker cabinet doors and drawers with brass bar pulls in a Burnaby kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Burnaby — painted shaker doors and drawers up close. Same profile we use on islands and perimeter runs.

Project: Two-Tone Sage Kitchen, Burnaby

8. Shaker drawer stack with brass pulls

Sage-green shaker three-drawer stack beside a shaker door with brass pulls in a Burnaby kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Burnaby — drawer bank beside a door. Use this when you want to see rail width and hardware scale.

Project: Two-Tone Sage Kitchen, Burnaby

9. Flat-panel slab doors with lit wood niches

Matte taupe flat-panel slab cabinets with lit wood niches and a long quartz countertop by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Slab doors with integrated wood niches. No shaker rail — just flat faces and lighting.

Project: Modern Scandinavian Kitchen

Islands

10. White shaker walls with a charcoal furniture island

Wide view of a South Surrey kitchen with white shaker walls, a charcoal island, glass bar cabinets, and an island sink by Final Draft Cabinetry.
South Surrey from the sink wall — white shaker on the perimeter, charcoal on the island, glass bar in the background.

Project: South Surrey Transitional White Kitchen

11. Nine-drawer island bank

Nine-drawer sage-green shaker island bank with brass pulls in a Burnaby kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Burnaby — island packed with drawers instead of doors. Pots and utensils live here, not in deep base cupboards.

Project: Two-Tone Sage Kitchen, Burnaby

12. Two-tone slab kitchen in steel blue and white

Steel-blue slab bases and white slab uppers along a cooktop wall in a Langley kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Langley working wall — two-tone slab, black hardware, and drawers flanking the oven.

Project: Langley Two-Tone Modern Kitchen

13. Wood-lined island seating niche

Waterfall island with a wood-lined seating niche and three stools in a taupe slab kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Seating cut into the island, lined in wood. Knees go under the stone; the cabinet box stays clean.

Project: Modern Scandinavian Kitchen

14. Furniture island with concealed power

Charcoal furniture-style kitchen island with seating, drawers, and a side-panel outlet in South Surrey by Final Draft Cabinetry.
South Surrey island — furniture legs, seating overhang, and power on the end panel so cords are not on the counter.

Project: South Surrey Transitional White Kitchen

Pull-outs and hidden storage

15. Steel-blue slab bases with deep drawers around the cooktop

Steel-blue slab kitchen drawers flanking a cooktop and wall oven with white slab uppers in Langley by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Langley — deep slab drawers around the cooktop. Better than base doors for pans and small appliances.

Project: Langley Two-Tone Modern Kitchen

16. Four-tier spice pull-outs at the cooktop

Four-tier pull-out spice rack inside a sage-green shaker cabinet beside a cooktop in Burnaby by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Burnaby — spice pull-out at the cooktop. Jars stay off the counter and in reach while you cook.

Project: Two-Tone Sage Kitchen, Burnaby

17. Blind-corner pull-out

Blind-corner pull-out shelves inside sage-green shaker cabinets next to a wall-oven tower in Burnaby by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Burnaby — corner cabinet on pull-outs instead of a dead zone. Same idea as a lazy Susan, easier to see.

Project: Two-Tone Sage Kitchen, Burnaby

18. Waste and recycling pull-out beside the cooktop

Spice pull-out and waste pull-out open under a cooktop in a sage-green Burnaby kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Burnaby — spice rack and waste/recycling pull-out beside the cooktop. Prep and cleanup in one run.

Project: Two-Tone Sage Kitchen, Burnaby

19. Maple pantry roll-outs

Floor-to-ceiling white pantry cabinets with maple roll-out shelves open in a Burnaby kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Burnaby — pantry wall with maple roll-outs. Full visibility, no digging through a dark cupboard.

Project: Two-Tone Sage Kitchen, Burnaby

Floor-to-ceiling cabinets, pantries and appliance towers

20. Tall pantry flanking the fridge

Tall white shaker pantry cabinet with drawers beside a refrigerator in a South Surrey kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry.
South Surrey — tall pantry and drawers flanking the fridge. Dry goods stay in the kitchen, not the hallway.

Project: South Surrey Transitional White Kitchen

21. Deep drawers in a charcoal furniture island

Charcoal kitchen island with stacked drawers and furniture-style panels in South Surrey by Final Draft Cabinetry.
South Surrey — island end as a drawer stack. This is the storage that replaces lower cabinet doors.

Project: South Surrey Transitional White Kitchen

22. Cream uppers taken all the way to the ceiling

Cream kitchen cabinets taken to the ceiling in a sage-and-cream Burnaby kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Burnaby — uppers tight to the ceiling. No dust shelf, more storage, cleaner line.

Project: Two-Tone Sage Kitchen, Burnaby

23. Closed floor-to-ceiling pantry wall with a beverage bar

Closed floor-to-ceiling white pantry wall beside a sage-green beverage bar and wine fridge in Burnaby by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Burnaby — pantry closed, beverage bar on the right. Same wall does storage and a drinks station.

Project: Two-Tone Sage Kitchen, Burnaby

24. Wall-oven tower

Stainless wall ovens built into a tall cabinet run with cream uppers and sage bases in Burnaby by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Burnaby — wall-oven tower. Keeps the range off the island and puts ovens at standing height.

Project: Two-Tone Sage Kitchen, Burnaby

25. Tall panel-ready fridge and pantry wall

Floor-to-ceiling taupe slab pantry and refrigerator panels in a modern kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Tall slab wall — fridge and pantry read as one piece of millwork, not a stainless box in a gap.

Project: Modern Scandinavian Kitchen

26. Painted shaker lined up with the dishwasher

Sage-green shaker cabinet doors and drawers beside a stainless dishwasher under a window in Burnaby by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Burnaby sink run — painted shaker lined up with the dishwasher. Toe-kick and door reveals stay even.

Project: Two-Tone Sage Kitchen, Burnaby

Glass fronts, bars and lighting

27. Glass-front beverage station

White shaker glass-front cabinets over a beverage counter and under-counter wine fridge in South Surrey by Final Draft Cabinetry.
South Surrey — glass uppers, wine fridge, and a small bar. Stemware on display, cans in the fridge.

Project: South Surrey Transitional White Kitchen

28. Glass wine column with a matching display cabinet

Floor-to-ceiling glass wine column and display cabinet with lit wood shelves in a modern kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Wine column and glass display in one tall run, with open shelves above. This is the version that shows up in image search.

Project: Modern Scandinavian Kitchen

29. Lit open shelves beside an appliance tower

Lit open wood shelves beside a tall appliance tower with built-in ovens in a taupe slab kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Appliance tower plus open shelves. Coffee, ovens, and display in one corner instead of scattered on the counter.

Project: Modern Scandinavian Kitchen

30. Under-cabinet LEDs washing a quartz splash

Under-cabinet LED lighting washing a full-height white quartz backsplash in a Burnaby kitchen by Final Draft Cabinetry.
Burnaby — LEDs under the uppers, quartz splash, cooktop in front. Lighting is part of the cabinet job, not an afterthought.

Project: Two-Tone Sage Kitchen, Burnaby

Open Shelving for a Modern Touch

One useful move in kitchen design is incorporating open shelving — in measured doses. Removing all upper cabinets can look airy in a photo and feel messy by week three. The kitchens in ideas 28 and 29 keep most storage closed and use a few lit shelves for the pieces you actually want to see.

Open shelving lets you display dishes, glassware, and a short list of everyday items. It also forces organization, because there is nowhere to hide.

To make open shelving work:

  • Keep it organized. Group by use or by colour. If it cannot stay neat, it belongs behind a door.
  • Mix with closed cabinets. Closed storage for bulk, appliances, and the ugly stuff; open shelves for the set you like.
  • Light the shelf. Under-cabinet or integrated LED is what makes a short run of shelves look intentional at night. Ideas 29 and 30 are the same principle.

Two-Tone Cabinets for a Contemporary Look

Two-tone cabinets add contrast without painting the whole kitchen a trend colour. The approach is simple: different colours or finishes on the uppers and the lowers, or a different finish on the kitchen island.

In our installs that usually means:

  • Light or painted uppers, darker or stained bases (ideas 1 and 2)
  • A white or cream perimeter with a charcoal or wood island (ideas 3 and 5)
  • White slab plus a wood-veneer feature wall (idea 4)

To incorporate two-tone cabinets without the room splitting in half:

  • Coordinate with the counters and floor. Sage plus cream works because the quartz stays quiet. Arctic plus Chicory works because the stain is warm, not black.
  • Balance the visual weight. A dark island is enough contrast for most rooms. Dark everything on the bottom and a tiny band of white on top can feel heavy.
  • Give one piece the job of “statement.” Island, pantry wall, or wood elevation — pick one. Ideas 1, 3, and 23 show that restraint.

Glass-Front Cabinets to Showcase Your Collections

If you have dishes, glassware, or barware worth looking at, glass-front cabinets add a display line without leaving those pieces on open shelves. They protect the collection and still show it.

When we use glass, it is almost never every upper.

  • Organize what sits behind the glass. If the shelf looks busy in the cabinet, it will look busier in a photo and in daily life.
  • Add interior lighting. A dark glass door is just a reflection. Lit glass is the point.
  • Mix with solid doors. South Surrey uses glass on the beverage station only (idea 27). The Scandinavian kitchen puts glass on the wine columns and keeps the rest slab (idea 28).

Pull-Out Drawers and Hidden Storage Solutions

Maximizing storage space is not a separate style. It is how the cabinet is built on the inside. Pull-outs, tall runs, and hidden fittings use the inches a door would waste.

The ideas we install most, and the ones photographed above:

  • Pull-out spice racks next to the cooktop (idea 16) instead of a crowded cupboard or a counter tray.
  • Deep drawers in place of base doors (ideas 11 and 21) for pots, pans, and utensils, with dividers so the drawer does not become a pile.
  • Corner solutions — pull-outs rather than a lazy Susan when the corner sits beside ovens or a tall run (idea 17).
  • Waste and recycling on a soft-close pull-out beside the sink (idea 18).
  • Pantry roll-outs so bulk food comes to you (idea 19).

Specify these fittings while the boxes are being designed. They are cheap compared with living around a dead corner for 20 years.

Summary

Revamping your kitchen cabinets is still one of the highest-leverage changes you can make to the room. The decision has not changed: pick materials that survive daily use, mix open and closed storage on purpose, use two-tone contrast in one controlled place, put glass only where you want to look, and build pull-outs into the boxes.

What has changed on this page is the proof. The 30 ideas above are not mood-board theory. They are cropped from kitchens we designed and installed, which is the only version of “cabinet ideas” worth copying.

Pick two or three ideas that solve a problem — a dead corner, no pantry, an island that does not store anything — and bring those photos to the showroom. There are endless possibilities to transform your kitchen. We will match door style, colour, and interiors to Merit, Lectus, or FDC Signature.

Final Draft Cabinetry
4533 Hastings Street, Burnaby, BC V5C 2K3
(604) 293-1020

Custom design and estimate
Kitchen renovations
Kitchen cabinets

Frequently Asked Questions

What kitchen cabinet style is most popular in Vancouver and Calgary right now?
Painted shaker and slim shaker still lead family homes. Slab and flat-panel lead condos. Two-tone — paint up top, stain or a deeper colour on the bases and island — is the combination we install most.

Do I need floor-to-ceiling cabinets?
If the room has standard eight- or nine-foot ceilings, yes on the wall that holds the pantry or fridge. You gain storage and you lose the dusty ledge. Read more about kitchen cabinets to the ceiling.

Are these stock photos?
No. Every numbered idea is cropped from a kitchen Final Draft designed and installed.

Can Calgary clients spec the same cabinets?
Yes. Merit, Lectus, Access, and FDC Signature are the lines we install in both markets. Calgary island layouts are covered here: kitchen islands.

Where should I start if I only like three ideas on this page?
Start with those three. Materials, two-tone, glass, and pull-outs are supporting decisions. Bring the photos to Hastings Street and we will turn them into a custom design and a quote.

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