How are kitchens and joinery handled in a factory build?

On a conventional site, joinery is measured last. The cabinetmaker arrives after the walls are lined and takes their own dimensions, because the drawing is a starting point and the building is the truth.

That check-measure step exists because site tolerances are loose. Remove the looseness and the step becomes unnecessary.

Why it fits without scribing

A module is built to fixed dimensions, because it has to meet a foundation and a neighbouring module that were manufactured separately. The tolerance has to be tight and it has to be held.

Which means the wall is where the drawing says, square and plumb, and joinery made to that drawing fits.

The practical result is less packing, less scribing, and smaller gaps between the joinery and the building. Those gaps are the thing people notice in a finished kitchen without quite knowing why.

Installed under cover

Joinery is the most damage-prone element in a fitout.

On a site it arrives into a building that is not yet finished, gets moved through openings, sits while other trades work around it, and is exposed to dust, moisture and impact.

In a facility it is installed into a module that is already lined and protected, at a station, under cover, with no weather and no through-traffic.

Moisture matters most. Cabinetry that absorbs moisture before the building is closed in swells at the edges, and the failure appears months later at the joints.

The services are already where they need to be

Joinery is only as good as what sits behind it.

Plumbing for the sink and the dishwasher, power for the appliances, data, ventilation for the rangehood. Each has to be in exactly the right position or the joinery gets modified on site to suit, which is where the neat detail is lost.

Because the services rough-in is set out from the same documentation and inspected before the linings go on, the positions are right when the joinery arrives. That coordination is part of the [quality control process](/blog/factory-quality-control-and-tolerances) rather than something resolved by negotiation between trades.

Accessibility changes the joinery

Where the dwelling is designed to the Specialist Disability Accommodation standard, joinery carries requirements rather than preferences.

Bench heights and clearances that allow a seated approach. Knee space under a work surface and under a sink. Reachable storage rather than high cupboards. Handles and hardware operable without a firm grip. Contrast between the bench, the door and the surrounding surfaces so the room can be read quickly.

And structural backing where something may need to be fixed later, which is the same principle as the [accessible bathroom](/blog/accessible-bathroom-design-in-sda): provide for the change before the surfaces close.

These are documented at design stage and manufactured in, not adjusted afterwards.

Where the decisions have to land

Joinery is fixed early, because it is manufactured alongside the module rather than after it.

Layout, dimensions, appliance selections and service positions are settled in the [design stages](/blog/the-eight-design-stages-explained). An appliance changed after the cabinetry is made is a remake, not an adjustment.

Finishes and hardware carry a little more flexibility, depending on the stage.

That is the trade covered in [changing a design after fabrication starts](/blog/changing-a-design-after-fabrication-starts), and the kitchen is where it bites soonest.

What survives the journey

The module travels fully fitted out, so the joinery is in it for the trip.

A frame stiff enough to keep the structure square through transport is what protects the fitout. Joinery does not tolerate movement, and the doors still aligning on arrival is a consequence of the structure rather than the cabinetry.

Discuss the fitout on your project.

MADEmodular / MADEbetter.