Kitchen Cabinet Specification Questions Checklist

Ask what the cabinet boxes are made from, and whether the material differs for units sitting beside the sink, the dishwasher or a washing machine.

Damp exposure is not the same around the room, and suppliers sometimes vary the specification only where they consider it necessary.

Any conclusion about how a material performs in a damp position should come from the manufacturer information rather than a general description.

Write down whether the unit backs are full panels or thin panels set into grooves, and ask how that affects the way units are fixed back to the wall.

Back construction influences rigidity and how the run is held in place, and it is far easier to ask now than to discover once the installer is on site.

How units are fixed to a particular wall is a matter for the installer and a qualified professional who can see the wall build-up.

Note whether the internal shelves are the same thickness as the unit sides, and ask what the supplier intends them to hold in ordinary use.

Shelves that sag are one of the most common long-term complaints, and thickness and support are usually visible on a display unit.

Ask how the edges of the cabinet boxes are finished on any side that stays visible once the run is installed and the appliances are in place.

Raw or unfinished edges beside a freestanding appliance or at the end of a run are noticed constantly once the kitchen is in use.

Ask whether the units arrive already assembled or flat, and who is responsible for assembling them if they do not arrive built.

Assembly affects the space needed in your home on delivery, how long boxes sit around, and who carries the risk if a panel is damaged.

Decide and record whether you want the same construction throughout, or a different approach only for the units around water, and say so early.

Mixing specification within one kitchen is possible but has to be written down, otherwise the order defaults to whatever is standard.

Write down which base cabinets you would rather have as drawers than as a door with a shelf behind it, and take that list to the appointment.

Reaching into the back of a low cupboard is the thing owners most often say they would change, and it is a decision made once at ordering.

Ask what the drawer boxes are made from and how the front is attached to the box, since this is where daily wear tends to show first.

A drawer front that loosens or drops slightly out of line is a visible fault across the whole run, so the fixing method is worth understanding.

Note whether the drawer runners sit concealed underneath or visibly at the sides, and ask what is involved if one ever needs replacing.

Replacement parts depend on the hardware being identifiable later, which is easier to establish while you are still choosing.

Ask whether doors and drawers are damped so they close softly, and whether that applies throughout the kitchen or only to certain units.

Damping is sometimes standard on drawers but an addition on doors, and the difference is rarely obvious on a showroom display.

Consider where a door would open into a walkway, a window reveal or another door, and write down every place you have noticed this happening now.

Collisions between two opening fronts in a corner are hard to see on a plan drawing but obvious the first time the kitchen is used.

Decide and record whether you want an internal drawer hidden inside a deeper one, and ask what that arrangement does to the usable depth above it.

Internal drawers add cutlery and utensil storage but reduce what the outer drawer can take, which is easier to judge before ordering.

List the awkward things you actually own — tall bottles, baking trays, a large stock pot, a food mixer — and bring that list rather than a general wish for storage.

Designers can solve named objects. They cannot solve a request for more storage, which usually results in standard units and the same problems.

Ask what options exist for the corner unit, and how much of what goes into the back of it will genuinely be reachable without emptying the front.

Corners swallow a large share of a kitchen and are the place where storage is most often counted on paper but unusable in practice.

Write down how many separate waste streams your household actually sorts, and whether you want them inside a cabinet or elsewhere in the room.

Waste separation varies locally and by household, and the cabinet chosen for it affects the position of the sink and dishwasher around it.

Note where cleaning products live now and whether you want them kept away from food storage or out of reach of children in the new arrangement.

This is a preference worth recording rather than assuming, because the space under the sink is often allocated to plumbing and waste instead.

Ask whether internal dividers, trays and racks are fitted at the factory or added on site, and whether they can be changed once the kitchen is in use.

Fittings that can be moved later give you room to be wrong now, which matters because storage habits change after moving in.

Consider which cabinet will hold something genuinely heavy, such as a stand mixer or cast iron pans, and mention it so shelf and fixing choices can be discussed.

Weight concentrated in one unit changes what the supplier would recommend for shelving and how the unit is supported.

Do not assume any shelf or wall fixing is adequate for a heavy item; ask the supplier and the installer to confirm what they are providing.

Note every place where a wall is visibly bowed, leaning or out of square, and ask how the cabinetry and worktop are shaped to fit against it.

Scribing is normal work, but only if it has been anticipated. Discovering it late usually means visible gaps or a hurried compromise.

Only the installer, on site, can establish what a particular wall requires; treat anything said before a survey as provisional.

Ask what filler pieces are proposed at the ends of runs and beside tall units, and mark on the drawing where each one will be visible.

Fillers are legitimate and often unavoidable, but owners are usually surprised by them because they appear only in the unit list.

Write down whether you want the plinth to run continuously along the floor or to be set back, and whether it should match the doors or contrast with them.

The plinth is the part of the kitchen most often kicked, mopped and splashed, so both the setback and the finish are worth deciding deliberately.

Ask how the cabinetry meets the window reveal, and note how far the existing sill projects into the space the units and worktop need.

A projecting sill quietly removes depth from the run beneath it and often forces a change to the worktop detail or the unit position.

Note every pipe boxing, meter, radiator or appliance connection the cabinetry has to work around, and photograph each one from the doorway.

These items appear on almost no initial sketch and are the most common reason a proposed layout changes after the survey.

Moving or enclosing any pipework, meter or appliance connection is a matter for the relevant qualified trades and for confirming locally what applies.

Consider whether each run finishes against a wall or ends in open space, and decide how you want that exposed end to be finished.

An unfinished end panel is one of the most noticeable omissions in a completed kitchen and is easy to specify while the list is being written.

Decide and record whether you want handles at all, and if so whether the same handle is used everywhere or a different type on drawers.

Handle choice affects the door design itself in some ranges, so it is not always a decision that can be deferred to the end.

Ask to hold a sample of any handle you are considering rather than choosing it from an image, and note how it feels with wet or floured hands.

Grip, edge sharpness and how much a handle catches clothing are impossible to judge from a photograph or a small showroom section.

Note whether a handleless approach relies on a routed grip, a continuous rail or a push mechanism, and ask what each means for cleaning and for repairs.

The three approaches behave very differently in a working kitchen, and a push mechanism introduces moving parts that may need adjusting later.

Ask how the door edges are finished and what happens where a cabinet front sits next to an appliance door with a different edge treatment.

The junction between cabinetry and appliance fronts is the place where a run either reads as continuous or as an assembly of parts.

Write down whether anyone in the household finds particular handle shapes or opening actions difficult to use, and raise it at the first appointment.

Recording this early keeps it in the specification rather than leaving it as a late request once fronts are already ordered.

Where ease of use is a genuine need, ask a qualified professional about suitable arrangements rather than relying on general product descriptions.

Establish the height everyone in the household can comfortably reach without a step, and use that when discussing where wall unit shelves land.

A wall unit top shelf that needs a step is storage on the drawing and dead space in reality, particularly for everyday items.

Ask what sits above the wall units — an open gap that collects dust, a bulkhead, or units taken up to the ceiling — and record which you prefer.

This is frequently decided by default rather than chosen, and it changes both the cleaning routine and how tall the room feels.

Note whether a tall unit placed beside the doorway would narrow the entrance or block the view into the room from the hallway.

Tall units solve storage but shape how the room is entered, and the effect is much easier to judge standing in the doorway than on a plan.

Ask how tall units and wall units are fixed back, and what the installer needs to know about the wall construction before the appointment ends.

Different wall constructions call for different approaches, and the answer can affect where a loaded unit can sensibly be positioned.

Whether a particular wall suits a particular fixing arrangement must be established on site by a qualified professional, not from a drawing.

Consider whether an integrated appliance placed in a tall housing removes storage you were quietly assuming you would still have.

A tall housing usually leaves far less usable cupboard than the elevation suggests, because the appliance and its surround take the middle.

Write down where the ceiling is visibly uneven, sloping or interrupted by a bulkhead, since units taken to ceiling height are affected by all of it.

Full height cabinetry exposes every irregularity in a ceiling line, so the supplier needs to know about it before the design is agreed.

Ask for the specification to list the units individually rather than as a single grouped line, so you can match each one to a place in the room.

An itemised list lets you notice the unit that was discussed and never added, which is otherwise invisible until the delivery arrives.

Check whether appliance housings, end panels, plinths, cornice, shelving and internal fittings are itemised separately or simply assumed to be included.

These are the items most often left out of an early list, and they are exactly the items that finish the kitchen visually.

Ask what happens if a door or drawer front arrives marked or damaged, and how a replacement front is ordered and matched.

Damage in transit is common enough to plan for, and the answer tells you how the supplier handles problems generally.

Ask whether the finish you have chosen is expected to remain available if a single door needs replacing after the kitchen has been in use.

Ranges are withdrawn and finishes are reformulated, and a close match is often obvious when it sits beside the original.

Write down which items you are supplying yourself, including appliances, handles or the sink, and check the specification reflects that split clearly.

Ambiguity about who supplies what is the most common source of a missing item when the installer arrives and of disputed responsibility afterwards.

Ask who takes the final measurements the order is based on, and what happens if a unit does not fit once the old kitchen has been removed.

Knowing whose measurement the order relies on tells you who carries the risk, and it is much easier to ask before agreeing than afterwards.

A final survey needs to be carried out on site by the supplier or installer; do not let an order proceed on your own rough measurements alone.