10/15/2026
Custom and semi-custom cabinets can produce two kitchens that look identical in a photograph. The difference shows up at the edges: where the run meets a wall, a low sink window, a sloped ceiling, or a chimney chase that hasn’t moved since the house was built. One approach fits. The other fills.
Semi-custom comes from a catalog, in fixed sizes, and it’s often the right call. We specify it regularly, and we’d rather see excellent semi-custom boxes under real lighting design than custom boxes under a single ceiling fixture. But Seattle’s 1910s–1940s houses weren’t built to catalog dimensions, and a century of settling hasn’t made them more regular. Low windows, plaster walls that wander, a pantry under a dormer: that’s where custom earns its place, sometimes for just one run.
One thing custom doesn’t mean is better built. How a cabinet is dimensioned and how it’s constructed are two separate questions, and we judge them separately.
How we make the call: https://www.nordesignandconstruction.com/2026/07/07/custom-cabinets-vs-semi-custom/
Or call 206-979-3420 and tell us what your kitchen is fighting with.