Calculator · Canada

What kitchen cabinets cost in Canada, by province.

The cabinet price is the same number wherever you land it. What changes is everything stacked on top - and in Canada that includes a 25% safeguard surtax and a provincial tax that runs from 5% to 15% depending on where the goods are sold.

By Adam Yang, Founder · Calculator · ~8 min read · Published October 16, 2026

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Start with the linear feet, not the province

Every cabinet quote in Canada the US starts the same way: a price per linear foot of run, multiplied by the run length, then adjusted for the build tier and finish. The province does not change that number - it changes what is added afterwards. So the order of work is: fix the specification, price the run, then layer the Canadian taxes on top.

Our own program is quoted at USD 249 per linear foot, duty-paid, which already carries customs duty and the surtax to the port of clearance. Where a project sits outside that band - a stock line, a value RTA line, a semi-custom run or a fully custom build-out - the per-tier figures are on the cabinet cost calculator. What follows is what Canada adds on top of whichever of those numbers you are working from.

The 25% cabinet surtax, and what it stacks on

On 31 July 2026 the Government of Canada put a provisional 25% safeguard surtax on certain wood cabinets and vanities and their subassemblies. It is levied on the value for duty and it is additional to everything already owing - customs duty, anti-dumping or countervailing duties, and taxes.

Three things about it matter when you are costing a project:

It is time-limited. The notice runs for up to 200 days from 31 July 2026 while the Canadian International Trade Tribunal inquires into whether final safeguard measures are warranted. After that, it applies only to goods the CITT finds are being imported in conditions that cause or threaten serious injury to domestic producers - and if the inquiry finds no goods meet that test, the surtax ceases on the date of the finding.
It reaches beyond finished cabinets. The scope covers particle board, plywood, strand board and block board goods, which means subassemblies and flat-pack kits are in scope alongside assembled units.
Relief programs remain open. The notice confirms CBSA's Duties Relief and Duty Drawback programs remain available for surtax paid or owed by Canadian businesses, subject to their conditions.

The full scope text, the code list and the argument-by-argument breakdown are on the Canada cabinet surtax guide, sourced from CBSA Customs Notice 26-17.

Provincial tax: 5% at the border, up to 15% at the till

This is the part most first-time importers get wrong. At the border you pay the 5% federal GST on the value for duty, whatever province the container is headed for. The CBSA does not collect provincial tax at clearance. Provincial tax arrives later, when the goods are sold, and its rate depends on the province of the buyer.

That means the same container has a different total cost depending on where it lands and who it is sold to:

Province / territory	System	Total rate
Alberta · Northwest Territories · Nunavut · Yukon	GST only	5%
Saskatchewan	GST 5% + PST 6%	11%
British Columbia	GST 5% + PST 7%	12%
Manitoba	GST 5% + RST 7%	12%
Ontario	HST	13%
Nova Scotia	HST	14%
Quebec	GST 5% + QST 9.975%	14.975%
New Brunswick · Newfoundland & Labrador · Prince Edward Island	HST	15%

Rates as published by the CRA provincial rate table for 2026. Nova Scotia's HST fell from 15% to 14% on 1 April 2025, so any figure older than that is out of date. Sales tax applies at the point of supply, so the province of delivery generally decides the rate - not the province you are invoiced from.

Two practical consequences for a cabinet order. First, the spread between the cheapest and most expensive destination is 10 percentage points - on a CAD 40,000 run that is CAD 4,000 of tax difference, before any question of registration. Second, whether it is a cost or a flow-through depends on registration: a registered business charges and remits the tax rather than absorbing it, while an unregistered business pays it and cannot recover it.

Five levers that move a Canadian quote

Once the specification is fixed, these are the five things that actually change the landed number on a Canadian project - in the order they tend to matter.

The build tier. This is the largest single lever and it has nothing to do with Canada. Box construction, door style and finish decide which band the per-foot figure lands in.
Whether the surtax applies to your goods. At 25% of the value for duty, it is the biggest Canada-specific line on the page. Confirm scope against the notice rather than assuming assembled units are treated the same as flat-pack kits.
The destination province. A 10-point spread between the lowest and highest, and it moves with the province of supply rather than the port of entry.
The format. Flat-pack loads more cabinets into the same container, which spreads freight and duty across more linear feet. The arithmetic is set out on the container yield comparison.
When it is ordered. The surtax is provisional and time-limited, so the same specification can carry a different total depending on the entry date. Any quote should say which notice and which entry date it was priced against.

What this estimate leaves out

Worth stating plainly, because a cabinet price is not a project price. These are outside any per-linear-foot figure and outside a DDP number:

Installation labour. Local and market-rate; a flat-pack order carries more of it than an assembled one.
Countertops, sinks and appliances unless the quote names them.
Site work - plumbing relocation, electrical, wall repair, and any making-good after removal.
Freight beyond the port of clearance to an inland address, and any storage if the schedule slips.
The provincial tax question above, which depends on your registration status rather than on the supplier.

Our quotes are explicit about which of these are in and which are out, because the number that matters for a bid is the one that will not move. How to read a cabinet quotation covers the five places where a per-foot figure stops including things.

Canada cabinet cost questions

What does a kitchen cost in Canada, per linear foot?

Cabinets-only pricing is quoted per linear foot and depends on the build tier rather than the province - a stock line, a value RTA line, a semi-custom run and a fully custom run sit in different bands, and the spread comes from box construction, door style and finish. The province changes what you pay on top of that number, not the number itself. Our own program is quoted at USD 249 per linear foot duty-paid, and the per-tier bands for other build levels are set out on the cabinet cost calculator.

Is the 25% cabinet surtax included in a duty-paid quote?

On a DDP (delivered duty paid) quote, yes - the seller carries customs duty and the surtax to the port of clearance, so the number you approve is the number that lands. What a DDP quote does not normally carry is the provincial sales tax you charge when the goods are sold on, because that depends on where you sell them and whether you are registered. That is the line Canadian importers most often miss when they budget from the DDP figure alone.

Do I pay HST or GST when importing cabinets into Canada?

At the border you pay the 5% federal GST on the value for duty, regardless of which province the shipment is headed for. Provincial tax is not collected by the CBSA at the border - it applies later, when the goods are sold, and it depends on the province of the buyer. So a container destined for Ontario does not attract 13% HST at clearance; it attracts 5% GST, and the HST question arrives at the point of sale.

Which province has the lowest total cost?

Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon charge only the 5% federal GST, which makes them the lowest-tax destinations. Ontario is next at 13% HST, then Nova Scotia at 14%. British Columbia and Manitoba land at 12% through GST plus provincial tax, Saskatchewan at 11%, Quebec at 14.975%, and New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island are highest at 15% HST. The spread between the cheapest and most expensive destination is 10 percentage points.

Can I recover the provincial tax I pay?

It depends on the province. GST and HST paid on business inputs are generally recoverable as input tax credits. Provincial sales tax in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba is generally not recoverable that way - it becomes a cost of doing business rather than a credit. Quebec administers its own QST separately from the CRA, so a business selling into Quebec may need a separate registration and filing schedule. For a reseller, the registration status matters more than the rate, because a registered business charges and remits tax rather than absorbing it.

Why is the Canadian number different from the US number?

Three separate layers differ. The first is the tariff position: Canada imposed a 25% provisional safeguard surtax on certain wood cabinets and vanities on 31 July 2026, which is a Canada-specific measure and does not apply to US imports. The second is the sales tax structure, where Canada taxes at the point of sale by province rather than the US state-by-state model. The third is currency - Canadian quotes are in CAD and US quotes in USD, so a straight comparison of two numbers without converting is comparing two different units.

Send the plan, get the landed number

The estimate above is a structure, not a price. Send the floor plan and the delivery province and the answer comes back as one duty-paid figure to the port of clearance, with the surtax position confirmed against the entry date and the tariff lines named. If you would rather send the plan by file, use the contact page.

A painted sample door travels with the first quote, and there is no minimum at the sample stage - see the door before the container. For the import side in detail, the Canada program page covers the surtax, the customs classification and how a duty-paid quote handles the border.