The total tells you least; the lines tell you everything
Ask two fabricators for a price guide on custom kitchen cabinets and you will get two totals that differ by more than either of them expects. That gap is almost never explained by greed, and it is rarely explained by material. It is explained by which cost lines each of them put weight on, and by how much of the room had to be drawn around instead of measured up.
This guide breaks a custom quotation into the seven lines that actually make it up, in the order they accumulate. For each line it shows what sits inside it, roughly what share of a finished kitchen it carries, and which variable makes it move. Then it looks at one-off work, the most misquoted area of all, before turning to the two sections that save the most money: knowing where to spend and where to economise honestly.
One caveat before the numbers. A custom kitchen is priced against a room, not against a catalogue, so any share given here is a band instead of a figure. What the bands are good for is proportion: once you can see that the front and the panel build together carry about a third of a typical order. It becomes obvious why a small change in those two lines outweighs a large change anywhere else.
Seven lines make up almost every custom quotation, and only three of them move much
A custom kitchen is priced from sheet and gauge, cutting and welding time, the core and panel build, front finishing, hardware and interiors, the worktop with its welded sink, and crating with freight. Three of those lines do most of the moving: the front system, the panel build and the amount of one-off shaping. The rest are broadly stable, which means a quotation that swings by forty percent between two suppliers is usually swinging on those three, and it is worth asking which.
Custom kitchen cabinets: where the money actually goes
The seven lines below are the whole of a custom quotation in most cases. A supplier who presents a single figure is not being secretive, usually; they have simply internalised these lines into a rate. Getting them separated is the single most useful thing you can ask for, because it turns a comparison from an argument about totals into a comparison about specification.
The share column is deliberately broad. A highly decorated kitchen pushes the front line up and the hardware line down; a kitchen with a long welded top and a curved island pushes the worktop and one-off lines up and the interiors down. The shares are there to show relative weight, and the last column tells you which lever changes each one.
| Cost line | What sits inside it | Typical share of the order | What moves it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sheet and gauge | The 304 body sheet, the pressed front skin, the brushed door face, mill certification | Around a tenth | Gauge, and whether the brushed face is natural instead of pattern-transferred |
| Cutting, folding and welding | Laser cutting, grooving, folding, seam welding, hand dressing and finishing of joints | Around a fifth | How many awkward conditions the drawing has to resolve |
| Core and panel build | Honeycomb core, adhesive cure, pressing, edge closure and panel thickness control | Around a seventh | Whether the fronts are built panels or flat skins on a framework |
| Front finishing | Electrostatic spraying, cure cycles, texture direction, colour change downtime | Around a sixth | The range chosen, and whether the colour is a house colour or a mixed one |
| Hardware and interiors | Hinges, runners, inserts, trays, carousels, bin units, load ratings | Around a seventh | The load class, and how much of the interior is planned instead of standard |
| Worktop and sink | Top sheet, welded sink, upstand, drainage fall, hob cut-out, polishing | Around an eighth | Whether the sink is welded in or set into a cut opening |
| Crating and freight | Pearl wool, corner guards, crate splitting for access, sea packing, freight terms | Around a tenth | Volume, crate count and whether the run has to be split for a stair or a lift |
What moves the number, and in which direction
Two of those rows are worth a sentence each because they are the ones buyers most often misread. The sink arrangement is a step instead of a slope: moving a sink from a cut opening to a welded one is not a small increment. It is a different piece of work with a different failure mode, and the price reflects that. The run geometry row is the one that explains why two rooms of identical floor area can be quoted forty percent apart: one is a rectangle. The other has a chimney breast, a low ceiling line and a corner that is not square.
| Variable | Effect on the price | Rough scale of the effect | Why it behaves that way |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front system: flat skin against built panel | Up for built panels | One of the largest single steps | A built panel carries core, adhesive and pressing time that a plain skin does not |
| Quantity of one-off shaping | Up with every curve or wrap | Adds sharply and non-linearly | Each shape is quoted from its own drawing, so there is no rate to spread it across |
| Gauge of the brushed front face | Up with thickness | Modest but visible | Thicker sheet costs more and takes more time to form a clean return |
| Interior planning | Up with variety | Small in the order, large in daily use | Non-standard drawer heights and inserts break a repeating pattern on the line |
| Sink arrangement | Up sharply when welded | A clear step, not a slope | Welding, dressing and testing a seam is bench time that a drop-in sink does not need |
| Colour and texture | Up for mixed or textured finishes | Modest per order | A mixed colour means a separate spray setup and a separate cure cycle |
| Run geometry | Up with obstructions | Can double the drawing effort | Every obstruction is a drawing decision and an extra hand-finished joint |
| Access and crate count | Up with difficult access | Small but easily underestimated | A run that will not turn a stair has to be split, which means more joints |
| Hardware load class | Up with the rating | Small per unit, real per run | A hinge rated for a heavy door costs more across every door on the order |
Curves, wrapped panels and the rest of the one-off work
One-off work is where a custom quotation is most likely to be misread, because it is the only part of the order that genuinely cannot be quoted from a rate. A curve has to be drawn, formed, welded, dressed and checked as a single piece, and the hours involved cannot be recovered on the next order.
That is not a reason to avoid one-off work, but it is a reason to decide it early and to decide it with a number. A radius given as a measurement on a drawing costs nothing to price; a radius given as a photograph costs a drawing cycle before the quotation can even start.
- One-off item: What it needs. How it is priced. When it is worth avoiding
- Curved island face: Radius as a number, a forming plan, a template check before finishing. From the drawing, by hours and forming passes. Where a break-front run gives the same look from standing height
- Wrapped end panel: The measured angle of the wall, a folded return, a hand-dressed seam. From the drawing, by seam length. Where a scribed straight panel would close the gap invisibly
- Stepped ceiling closure: A scribed line taken on site before cutting. From the drawing, plus a measured check. Where a filler detail is already part of the design language
- Angled corner unit: The measured angle, worktop welded to suit, two finished edges. From the drawing, by joint count. Rarely: an out-of-square corner has to be resolved somehow
- Waste or water pipe notch: Service positions recorded before cutting. By operation, usually modest. Never, if the services are staying where they are
- one-off interior: An inventory of what the storage has to hold. By unit, at order stage. Where a standard insert already fits what you own
Where the money is honestly saved
There is no trick to spending less on a custom kitchen, but there are places where a saving costs you nothing you will notice, and places where a saving comes back as a repair. The distinction is almost always between the surface and the structure.
Structures are where economies are a false friend. Gauge, core and hardware rating are the three things that decide whether a custom body is still square in eight years, and a body that has gone out of square cannot be fixed by adjusting a door. Surfaces are the opposite: the front range and the grip detail can be reviewed at the panel-set level with no structural consequence at all.
The strongest honest saving on a custom order is scope discipline instead of specification. A brief that fixes the appliance schedule before drawing, sends every wall measurement, and resolves the obstructions in one pass removes drawing cycles, protects the queue position, and rarely fails to be the cheapest option in the end.
| Element | Economise here | Protect here | Why it divides that way |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body sheet | Keep to the gauge range the drawing actually needs | Do not accept an unnamed grade | A grade written per part is the only way to know what is behind the fixings |
| Panel build | Choose a flat front system where the design allows it | Keep the core and the cure cycle | Core and bonding decide how flat the panel stays at the edges |
| Interiors | Standardise drawer heights where the contents allow | Specify the drawers you actually use daily | A standard box costs less and works if the inventory says it fits |
| Hardware | Use one grip detail throughout instead of three | Do not drop below the load class for the door weight | Under-rated hinges fail at the fixing, the one repair that damages panels |
| Worktop | Set the sink in where a welded seam adds nothing | Keep the fall and the upstand resolution | Drainage and scribing decide whether water stays on the worktop |
| One-off shaping | Confine curves to the single element that is seen | Draw every curve you do buy | An undrawn curve is an unpriced curve |
| Freight | Crate the run in the order it will be installed | Do not economise on corner guards | Damage in transit lands as a delay at the worst point of the programme |
Reading a per-metre rate without being misled
Provisional sums deserve the extra line in that table because they are the one format that can change after the order has begun. An allowance is reasonable where a service position is genuinely unknown, and unreasonable where the information could have been measured at survey. The test is whether the missing fact is something the buyer controls, an appliance choice, a service that the plumber has not yet moved, or something the survey simply did not capture.
- Quotation format: What it looks like on paper. Where the risk sits for a buyer. What to ask for instead
- A single lump sum: One figure for the kitchen. Nothing is comparable, and changes cannot be priced. A split by the seven cost lines
- A running-metre rate: One figure per metre of run. Tall units, islands and worktops may or may not be inside it. The same rate split between base, tall and island
- Per unit with line items: A price against each cabinet and each interior. Easy to read, harder to check the specification behind it. The grade, gauge, core and hinge class named against each line
- Provisional sums: An allowance for work that cannot yet be measured. The real figure can arrive after the cut is released. A written trigger date and a defined scope for each allowance
- Ex-works against delivered: A price that excludes freight, duty and unpacking. The gap between the two is where surprises live. One delivered price with packing and access notes included
Comparing two quotations line by line
Once a quotation is broken into lines, a comparison takes about twenty minutes and settles most of the argument. Put the seven lines down one side of a page, and for each line write what each supplier has actually specified. The lines that match are the ones where price is comparable; the lines that do not are the ones where you are looking at two different pieces of work.
In practice the mismatch clusters in three places: the panel build, the hardware class and whether the worktop with its sink is inside or outside the figure. Deal with those three and the totals usually reconcile. If they still do not, the remaining difference is normally in how much one-off work each supplier has allowed for the room, which is a question instead of a dispute.
It is worth saying plainly that the cheapest quoted line is not the goal. The goal is a quotation in which every line names what it contains, so that the total is a consequence of specification instead of a starting point that has to be negotiated backwards.
What a custom quotation usually does not include
The lines that are outside a custom quotation cause more friction than the lines inside it, because they surface late. In most export orders the exclusions are consistent: installation labour, the electrical and plumbing connections themselves, worktop cut-outs made on site for appliances that arrive after the cabinets, waste removal, and any local duty or clearance cost.
The one to pin down earliest is installation and access. A made-to-measure run that arrives crated in installation order is quick to assemble, but it still has to be carried in. The access notes in the brief exist precisely so that the crate plan matches the stair, the lift and the doorways. Where access was never described, the crate split is a guess, and a guess in this area arrives as extra joints or as a set that will not pass a doorway.
Terms matter for the same reason. Production runs about thirty-five working days from the approved drawing, with the fastest series at about twenty-five, on fifty percent with the order and the balance before shipment by T/T. Those two facts together, instead of the headline price, decide when a kitchen is actually usable, and a programme that slips by a fortnight usually slips because a drawing was approved three times instead of once.
Eight questions about custom kitchen prices, answered
These are the questions that come up once a quotation has been sent and someone is trying to read it properly.
Why are two quotations for the same kitchen so far apart?
Almost always because three lines differ. The front system, whether it is a flat skin on a frame or a cored built panel, the hardware load class, and the amount of one-off shaping each supplier has allowed for the room. Put those three down side by side and the totals usually reconcile within a few percent. Where they still do not, the difference is normally in whether the worktop and welded sink sit inside or outside the figure.
Is a per-metre rate a fair way to compare suppliers?
Only if you know what a metre of that rate contains. A rate is a total divided by a length, so it hides specification by design. Ask six questions of it: which gauge, which core, which front system, which hinge load class, is the worktop included, and is the sink welded. A rate that answers all six is comparable. A rate that answers fewer is a number instead of a price.
Why does a welded sink cost so much more than a set-in one?
The extra money buys different work instead of more material. A welded sink is set into the top and joined to it, then the seam is dressed and finished. The drainage fall is set into the same sheet, and the whole top is checked as one piece before it leaves the bench. A set-in sink drops into a cut opening with a seal. Both work; one is a step in price instead of a slope.
What is a provisional sum, and when is it fair?
It is an allowance for work that cannot be measured at the time of quoting, released later against a defined scope. It is fair where the missing fact is genuinely outside the fabricator control, such as a service that a plumber has not yet moved. It is not fair where the fact was available at survey. Either way, ask for a written trigger date and a defined scope so the allowance cannot drift.
Where should I not economise on a custom kitchen?
Three places: the grade of the body sheet, the core and bonding of the panels, and the load class of the hinges and runners. Those decide whether the run is still square and still aligned years later, and none of them can be corrected afterwards by adjusting a door. Almost everything else, including the front range and the grip detail, can be revisited later as a panel set with no structural consequence.
Does a bigger kitchen always cost proportionally more?
No, and the reason is geometry instead of size. A long straight run is the cheapest thing a custom factory can make, because the work repeats and the drawing is simple. A small room with a chimney breast, a low ceiling and a corner that is not square can cost more than a larger rectangle, because drawing time, hand-finished joints and one-off shaping all rise together. Price tracks how much of the room has to be drawn around.
How much should I expect the price to change after the order is placed?
On a properly drawn order, very little. The lines that can still move are the ones that were never settled, which in practice means the finish if you have not chosen one and any provisional sum that was genuinely open. A price that moves substantially after approval usually means a structural decision was left unresolved, and structural decisions become cutting-list changes, which are the expensive kind.
What is usually excluded that buyers forget to budget for?
Installation labour, the electrical and plumbing connections themselves, any on-site cutting for appliances that arrive late, waste removal, and local duty or clearance costs. The one that causes most trouble is installation and access, because it depends on information the buyer holds: stairs, lift dimensions and doorway widths. Send those with the brief and the crate plan can match the route instead of being a guess.
Where to go next
Send the room plan with its obstructions marked and the appliance schedule with model numbers, and the reply comes back with the lines separated instead of collapsed into one figure: sheet and gauge named per part. Panel build described, hinge and runner classes stated, and whether the top and its welded sink sit inside the number.
The product tickets show the systems those lines are priced against, the Aarhus light grey run is a made-to-measure kitchen with its appliance column drawn in. The Copenhagen pantry wall is a full-height block built as one piece. The delivered projects show the same lines on finished orders, and the quality process records what is checked before a set is crated.
If the ordering of the decisions matters more to you than the lines, the made-to-measure builds page sets out the eight commitments in sequence. The guide to how a custom build is decided separates the carcase, the interior and the front. Two more that pair with this guide: the factory price guide for what changes when you buy direct, and the 304 against 201 comparison for the grade question that sits behind the first cost line.
Ask for the Seven Lines Separately
Related pages
Custom kitchen cabinets as a ladder of commitments
The eight decisions a made-to-measure order takes, and the point at which each one stops being reversible.
How a custom kitchen build gets decided
The carcase, the interior and the front separated, and how to tell which of them a quotation is really pricing.
Buying from a cabinet factory: the cost lines
What changes in a price when the factory quotes you directly instead of through a reseller.
What a price looks like once the room has been measured
One Texas address taken from a sheet of readings to three quotations read line against line.
Content record: Written by the Bogeqi content team and reviewed by the Bogeqi export sales team on October 5, 2026; last updated October 5, 2026. The cost lines, the share bands and the variable table come from the quotation sheets and internal settlement records we use at our Foshan factory. Not from published price surveys; the share bands are deliberately wide because a price tracks geometry instead of floor area. The build those lines describe is the one we produce: a food-grade 304 body with the grade named part by part. A grade of 18/8 carrying chromium at 18 percent or more and nickel at 8 percent or more.
The core is an aluminium honeycomb bonded under a polyurethane chemical cure. It finishes at 18 to 25 mm, and it lands about a third lighter than a comparable timber-core door: about 8 kilograms per square metre against about 12. A 0.45 mm body gauge with a 0.6 mm pressed door skin and a 0.8 mm natural brushed door. A lacquer front sprayed electrostatically and cured at 220 degrees Celsius for thirty minutes at a coating of 60 to 120 micrometre and a surface hardness above 6H. Wood-grain transfer over a pressed profile on a 201 skin for the patterned range.
Formed front returns with a closed edge, pre-embedded hinge inserts with a copper core and six-sided 304 nuts, and multi-point clip-on hinges rated around 20 kg through 100,000 cycles over full-extension runners rated for the loaded drawer. Worktops are 304 with the sink welded in and the upstand formed from the same sheet. Material arrives with a mill certificate carrying a heat number, a third-party test report, and compliance with ASTM, REACH and RoHS. Standard production runs about thirty-five working days from the approved drawing, with the fastest series at about twenty-five, on fifty percent with the order and the balance before shipment by T/T. Crated to sea standard with pearl wool and corner guards under a ten-year warranty on the cabinet body written into the contract.