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For this moody, masculine kitchen, McGillivray customized Ikea cabinetry. Sektion kitchen system and Laxarby cabinets in Black-Brown, ikea.ca.

Scott McGillivray

CONTRACTOR AND STAR OF HGTV CANADA’S INCOME PROPERTY Comfy, curvaceous and utterly iconic, Arne Jacobsen’s Egg chair is as fresh today as it was in 1958. The Danish Modern masterpiece can be yours for several thousand kroner—or you can simply get the look with Bouclair’s budgetfriendly homage.

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WITH MORE THAN 200 kitchen renovations under his The secret is to go above and beyond what you get in the box, customizing it to work for your kitchen. That could mean stacking upper-cabinet units to make the most of a high ceiling or flush-mounting cabinet doors to give them a more contemporary look.

tool belt, Scott McGillivray knows where to save money and where to splurge. He certainly won’t blow his budget on custom cabinetry, for instance, when flat-pack cabinets could do the job for a fraction of the price. “More than half of the kitchens I’ve installed have been Ikea kitchens,” he says. “I’ve done so many of them that I can put them together in my sleep!” Here’s what the savvy investor had to say about putting a personal spin on standard cabinetry.

Your Ikea kitchens don’t feel like they belong in an Ikea showroom. Why? — Brett Walther

What’s the best way to upgrade cabinetry that’s still in good condition? I retrofitted my own sevenyear-old kitchen this year, taking out all of the base cupboards and replacing them with drawers—a more efficient use of space. Everything gets lost in a base cupboard, which typically is two feet deep and has only two levels of storage: the bottom and a half shelf. Sliding drawers give you 25 percent more storage.

What guides the layout of your kitchen cabinetry? A lot of people talk about the “kitchen triangle,” which is the space between the oven, the sink and the fridge. Keeping that triangle tight and making sure that it isn’t blocked by an island or a peninsula is what makes a kitchen feel functional.

CHECK OUT DESIGNER

JILLIAN HARRIS’S DREAM IKEA KITCHEN AT canadianliving.com/ ikeakitchens.

SPLURGE SAVE

Egg chair, Atelier Bouclair $7,600, lounge chair, $600, dwr.com. bouclair.com.

Place cards are a staple at fussy formal dinners, but they can also help get your next party started!

WATCH HOME & GARDEN

DIRECTOR BRETT WALTHER AND RICK MERCER CRAFT THREE DIY PLACE CARDS THAT ARE GUARANTEED TO BREAK THE ICE AT canadianliving.com/placecards.

GAMECHANGER TRASH…COMPACT!

Although it’s prime real estate, that cupboard under the kitchen sink usually goes to waste—literally. Reclaim that precious storage space with the Totem: a clever new solution from Joseph Joseph that replaces wastebasket, compost bucket and recycling bin. Taking up no more room than a conventional trash can, the Totem is like a filing cabinet for all streams of kitchen waste, with various drawers for presorting recycling (glass, paper, plastic and metal), as well as a caddy for carting organic matter to the composter. The best part? The lid is fitted with a carbon odour filter, so there’s no rush to kick the contents to the curb. Joseph Joseph Intelligent Waste Totem, $249 (50 L) and $299 (60 L), danescoinc.com.