Western Living Magazine
This Galiano Island Cabin Brings Two Families Together Outdoors
6 Homes with Beautiful Window Seats
Inside a Light-Filled West Vancouver Waterfront Home Built for Serious Fun
Recipe: Dry-Aged Duck Breast with Beet Pavé, Rainbow Chard and Blackberry Jus
The Wine List: 3 Garden-Inspired Summer Pairings
How to Set a Wildly Beautiful Outdoor Table
The Best Okanagan Wineries for Architecture Lovers
Inside the $100-Million Reinvention of Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge
This Remote Texada Island Retreat Has Tiny Homes, Treehouses and a Forest Spa
The Unsettling Wallpaper in A24’s ‘Backrooms’ Has a Very Vancouver Backstory
New in Stores: 11 Home Decor Finds We Love Right Now
These Designer Dads Share What They Really Want For Father’s Day
Photos: Western Living Designers of the Year Finalists Reveal Party 2026
The 2026 Western Living People’s Choice Awards: Voting Is Now Open
Announcing the Finalists for the 2026 Western Living Designers of the Year Awards
Sponsored Content
It's all about the cabinets.
Invite the beauty of the West Coast into your home with these natural finishes for cabinets by Merit Kitchens. As seen on everyone’s favourite home decorating show, Love It Or List It, Merit Kitchens can give you the home of your dreams with custom kitchen cabinetry. Always on top of the latest trends, Merit Kitchens’ manager of product development, Julie Johnstone, shares some tips on how you can transform your kitchen into a West Coast oasis that you’ll never want to leave.
Bring British Columbia’s great outdoors inside. “More natural wood colours and textures are reminiscent of those you would find in nature around us,” says Johnstone. “No enhanced or furniture-like colours or finishes here for kitchen cabinets.” To create a modern and comfortable feel, swap out dark-stained woods on cabinetry with more natural finishes on maple or oak. This subdued look is not only easy on the eyes, but it gives off a more refined rustic look.
Perfect the West Coast contemporary look by incorporating off-white hues into your kitchen. “Off-white blends restfully with the natural wood tones of the eco-veneer walnut slab door,” says Johnstone. To create some pop, try adding gloss. “The high gloss of the painted cabinetry door adds a bit of shine,” says Johnstone. And instead of having large handles on the cabinets, you can get fully-integrated pulls built right into the doors themselves, like the ones above, creating clean and simple lines throughout the kitchen.
Finishing kitchen cabinets with a grey stain is a great way to create an earthy feel. “Calming, subdued grey tones complement the natural wood post and beams of this home’s architecture,” says Johnstone. And if you want to go for a bit warmer grey, try one of our new favourite colours, ‘griege’ — a shade of grey that’s between grey and beige.
Visit us online to learn more about cabinetry.
The editorial team at Western Living loves nothing more than a perfectly designed space, place or thing: and we’re here to tell you about it. Email us your pitches at [email protected].
Are you over 18 years of age?
Get the latest headlines delivered to your inbox 3 times a week.