Elje / Guides

Buying joinery from China

Joinery is everything built in: kitchens, laundries, robes, vanities, studies, linen and media units. One factory can make all of it to one set of drawings and one board.

What to spec

  • Room-by-room shop drawings, signed before production.
  • One board and finish schedule for the house, with sample chips.
  • Hardware by brand and model, and the same brand throughout.
  • Assembly: assembled small units, flat-packed large ones.
  • A labelling scheme that matches the drawings.

What it costs landed

On the house we fitted out, every kitchen, laundry, vanity, robe and cabinet in both dwellings was $55,476 at the factory gate from one factory: 18 lines from $499 vanities to a $9,596 kitchen.

Elje estimate, October 2026. Not yet from a delivered job; replaced with real landed numbers as jobs land.

ItemFactory gateLanded estimate
Whole-house joinery, five bedrooms plus granny flat$55,476 (real quote)$72,000 to $83,000
Study joinery$1,752 (real quote)$2,300 to $2,600
Linen cupboard$1,003 (real quote)$1,300 to $1,500

What to check

  • E0 or E1 board, moisture resistant in wet areas, with test reports.
  • Illegal logging due diligence on every timber and board product.
  • Safety glass to AS 1288 in any glazed cabinet door.
  • Pre-shipment inspection room by room against the drawings.

Mistakes we have seen

  • Drawing in a hurry to make a production slot, then paying for remakes.
  • Two factories for joinery in one house: two boards, two colours, two installers' headaches.
  • No allowance for on-site scribing, fillers and kickboards.

Questions

Why one factory for all of it?

One board batch, one colour, one container, one inspection, one set of drawings. The house we fitted out used one factory for every cabinet in both dwellings.

Sources