Project · 2023 · King City

King City Residence

× Montana Labelle

A study lined in sequence-matched, flat-cut white oak, a microcement kitchen built around a marble island, and a reeded white oak vanity. The grain is sequenced and matched, and the details line up from one room to the next.

Type: Custom millwork · study, kitchen, bathroom
Materials: Sequence-matched flat-cut white oak, solid white oak, microcement
Designer: Montana Labelle Design
Photography: Patrick Biller
Year: 2023
Location: King City, ON

The details here cross several materials and several trades. Making them meet as drawn was the job.

A study, a kitchen, and a bathroom for a residence in King City, in conjunction with Montana Labelle Design, photographed by Patrick Biller. The study is lined in custom-laid, sequence-matched, flat-cut white oak, from the coffered display wall to the full-height panelling and its dentil cornice. In the kitchen, the appliance columns, drawer banks, and hood are finished in microcement around a marble island, and the bathroom vanity is reeded solid white oak.

The difficulty was in the junctions. The details here pass between oak, microcement, and stone, and between several trades and the craftspeople behind each, and every one had to come together as intended. What reads first is the grain, sequenced and matched, and the continuity from one space to the next, with the details lining up as they go.

Panelling

The panelling runs full height in sequence-matched, flat-cut white oak and finishes in a dentil cornice of the same oak. At the arched opening, the oak is set out to receive the arch casing, so the casing sits into the panelled wall. Flat-cut oak carries a strong figure, which is why the sequence matters: a panel out of order reads from across the room.

The vanity at King City Residence, reeded solid white oak drawer fronts below a marble trough sink, with brass wall-mounted taps and a narrow shelf under an arched mirror. — Detail · King City · Reeded vanity, solid white oak

Reeds

The vanity is solid white oak, hand-selected for continuity of grain and colour, with reeded drawer fronts set below the stone. The reeds run across the drawer fronts in alignment, so the eye follows one reeded face rather than a row of separate drawers. In solid timber, that continuity is a matter of selection before it is a matter of machining: a board with a different tone breaks the run however well the reeds line up.

Kitchen

The appliance columns are panelled in microcement-finished millwork, flush with the overall run, and carry custom-machined, powder-coated pulls. The drawers flanking the range have integrated pulls. The island stone was machined in Europe from a single block of marble and flown in: the sink was milled out of that block, and the island's other stone components came from it too. We engineered and built the carcass and drawer bank beneath, so the stone comes together as one assembly.