Our shop builds custom kitchens, but the same machinery, finishing line, and crew also produce architectural millwork: wall paneling, feature walls, built-in casework, custom closets and vanities, and commercial fit-outs. If you are a builder or designer working a project in Vancouver and you need millwork made to your drawings, that is work we already do every week. This post is the trade-side answer to what we make and how we work with you.
A kitchen is millwork with appliances in it. Once a shop is set up to build cabinetry to that standard, the same boxes, fronts, finishes, and fittings cover a much wider range of work.
Across all of it the construction is the same one we use on kitchens. Pre-assembled boxes squared in the shop, fronts and finishes named exactly on the drawing, and the hardware specced rather than left vague. If you want the detail on how that construction is put together and why it matters, we wrote it out in cabinet construction and why it changes the quote.
We work both sides. On the residential side that is kitchens, closets, vanities, paneling, and built-ins for renovations and new homes. On the commercial side it is casework, fixtures, and fit-out millwork for offices, retail, and hospitality spaces.
The reason a single shop covers both is that the demands overlap more than they differ. A commercial reception desk and a residential island both need square boxes, a durable factory finish, clean reveals, and fittings that keep working after thousands of cycles. The materials and the tolerances change with the job. The standard does not.
Working with us as a builder or designer is different from a homeowner walking into the showroom. You arrive with drawings, a spec, or at least a clear intent, and the conversation starts at the technical level rather than at "what is a custom kitchen."
DADO serves homeowners, designers, builders, architects, and developers, and the trade relationships are a core part of how the shop runs, not an afterthought.
The design and engineering pedigree is European; the manufacturing is here in Canada. For a trade partner that combination is the practical point: you get a modern European design register and the construction standard that goes with it, made locally, which keeps lead times and coordination inside Greater Vancouver rather than across an ocean. Our standard lead time on custom work is about 4 weeks, and on a coordinated build we plan the schedule with you so the millwork arrives when your sequence needs it.
Our showroom and shop are in Vancouver, in the Armoury District at 1737 West 3rd Ave, and we work on residential and commercial projects across Greater Vancouver. You can see the full picture of the areas we serve on the areas we serve page.
If you are a builder, designer, architect, or developer with a project that needs millwork, bring your drawings or your spec and book a consultation. We will walk the scope with you, tell you plainly what fabricates well and what does not, and quote it line by line so the number is yours to read and adjust. For residential kitchen work specifically, you can also get a rough band in a couple of minutes from the Vancouver Kitchen Cost Calculator before we sit down on the detail.