White Balance - Modern Contemporary Whole Home in Toronto

Project Overview

This comprehensive whole-home cabinetry project in Toronto represents a complete new build transformation titled “White Balance.” The project explores how a predominantly white color palette can create a home that feels bright, minimal, and contemporary while remaining warm and inviting.

Working closely with the client from the earliest design phases, we developed a cohesive cabinetry package spanning the kitchen, multiple bathrooms, and custom closet systems - creating a unified modern design that flows seamlessly throughout the entire home.

The Design Vision

The client’s vision was to create a modern contemporary home centered around white as the primary color, but ensure the space feels warm, textured, and livable rather than cold and clinical. They wanted a home that would feel comfortable and inviting for everyday family living while maintaining clean lines and a minimal aesthetic.

Our challenge was to introduce sufficient warmth, depth, and visual interest within the constraints of a predominantly white palette - requiring thoughtful use of texture, architectural detailing, and strategic introduction of contrast elements.

The Power of Fluted Detailing

Throughout the main living spaces, we introduced distinctive fluted paneling that serves multiple design purposes. The vertical grooves create visual rhythm and movement, preventing large white surfaces from feeling flat or monotonous. The fluting catches and reflects light throughout the day, creating subtle shadows and depth that bring the white surfaces to life.

The fluted details add crucial tactile and visual texture to the white palette. Rather than smooth, uninterrupted surfaces, the grooves create dimensional interest that engages the eye and adds architectural sophistication.

Premium Lacquer Finishes

All cabinetry features premium white lacquer finishes that bring a contemporary luxury far beyond standard painted cabinets. The lacquer creates a glass-like, reflective surface that reflects natural and artificial light, brightening spaces and adding depth through subtle reflections and highlights.

From the kitchen to bathrooms to bedroom closets, the consistent lacquer finish creates visual continuity that unifies the entire home. This consistency is essential in whole-home projects, creating a cohesive design language that flows from room to room.

The Kitchen Centerpiece

The kitchen serves as the home’s centerpiece, featuring floor-to-ceiling white lacquer cabinetry and a fluted island detail that creates an architectural focal point. The design maintains the airy, open feeling essential to modern living while providing ample storage and functional workspace.

Custom Bathroom Vanities

Each bathroom received custom vanity design tailored to its specific size, layout, and function. The bathrooms provided opportunities to introduce subtle color variation and contrast through sophisticated tile selections, adding visual interest and personality to individual spaces while complementing the white cabinetry.

Integrated Handle Closet Systems

The custom closet systems throughout the bedrooms feature innovative integrated handle design - a departure from traditional hardware that maintains the sleek, minimal aesthetic. Handles are machined directly into cabinet edges, creating a seamless look with no protruding hardware breaking the clean lines.

Each closet was custom-designed for its specific room and user needs, incorporating hanging rods, adjustable shelving, custom drawers, and maximized vertical space utilization.

Whole-Home Cohesion

The most remarkable aspect of this project is the seamless flow of design throughout the entire home. The consistent use of white lacquer finishes, repeated fluted details, and coordinated design creates a cohesive aesthetic that makes the home feel intentionally designed rather than pieced together.

While maintaining consistency, we introduced appropriate variation through different tile selections in each bathroom, varied cabinet configurations suited to each space, and adjusted detailing scale for different room sizes.

Creating Warmth in White

Despite the predominantly white palette, the home feels warm and inviting through texture from fluted details and varied tile, light play from reflective lacquer catching and bouncing light, scale variation in different cabinet and panel sizes, and quality materials adding tactile luxury.

The Result

The completed home stands as a testament to how white can be both beautiful and inviting when executed with attention to detail and texture. Every room flows seamlessly into the next while maintaining its individual character and function. The white lacquer cabinetry creates a bright, open feeling while the fluted details and varied textures prevent any sense of sterility.

The clients now have a complete modern home where every closet, every cabinet, and every storage solution was custom-designed and professionally crafted specifically for their space - a level of customization that transforms a new build house into a carefully curated home.