Custom cabinetry cut to the wall you actually have

Made-to-measure joinery for Oakleigh kitchens: carcasses sized to the room rather than to a catalogue, door profiles and finishes chosen for how the kitchen is used, and hardware specified to carry loaded drawers for years.

See the thirteen-stage process

REFERENCE IMAGE · SETTING OUT AND MARKING BEFORE ANYTHING IS CUT

SCOPE · 300 / 450 / 600 MODULES

Bases · Talls
Overheads · Islands
Pantry internals
Fillers and scribes

What the joinery covers

Base and tall cabinetry, overheads and bulkhead infills, island carcasses, appliance housings, and the internals that make a run usable — drawer boxes, pull-outs, cutlery inserts and adjustable shelving. The same shop drawing continues into the pantry and storage solutions and, where the rooms adjoin, into laundry cabinetry, so finishes and hardware match across the home.

Cabinetry can be supplied as part of a complete renovation or made to an existing plan and fitted under kitchen installation.

3600 WALL · MEASURED AT THREE HEIGHTS

Why custom sizing beats modular on an awkward wall

Modular ranges step in fixed widths, so a wall that measures somewhere between two sizes is closed out with filler panels — usually at the end of the run, sometimes either side of the cooktop. In a period Oakleigh home or a 1970s unit, walls are rarely square and floors rarely level, which turns those fillers into visible wedges.

Custom carcasses are cut to the surveyed dimension instead. The run fills the wall, the end panel is scribed to the plaster, and the drawer widths are set by what goes in them rather than by what the catalogue offers. Bench height is adjusted to the people who cook there, and returns are resolved on the drawing before manufacture begins.

SET OUT ON SITE

Wall lengths — measured at floor, bench and overhead height, because they differ.

Square and plumb — checked across corners so scribes are cut, not forced.

Services — waste, gas and power positions recorded before cabinetry is drawn.

Clearances — door swings, appliance openings and walkways confirmed on the plan.

FINISHES · 04 FAMILIES

Finishes available on custom fronts

Four finish families cover almost every kitchen we draw, and most runs combine two of them — one on the doors that are seen, another inside the cabinets and in the pantry.

01 · SPRAYED

Polyurethane

Sprayed over routed MDF. Seamless faces, shaker or flat profiles, matte through to gloss, and colour matched to a paint sample. Repairable if knocked.

02 · BOARD FINISHED

Melamine and laminate

Hard-wearing surfaces in solid colours, textured woodgrains and stone looks. The detail that decides longevity is the edge: laser or hot-melt banding, and how it is finished at the top of a drawer front.

03 · REAL GRAIN

Timber veneer

Sequenced so grain runs continuously across a bank of doors. Warm against stone, and best kept out of long direct sun, which shifts the tone over time.

04 · MIXED

Combined

Veneer on the island, sprayed doors on the wall run, melamine inside. Cost and wear land where each belongs.

HARDWARE · 5 MM SHADOWLINE · FULL EXTENSION

Hinges, runners and how the fronts are opened

Drawers do the work in a modern kitchen, so the runner matters more than the door. Concealed undermount runners with full extension bring the back of a deep pot drawer out to the bench edge; soft-close hinges and drawer damping stop the slam that loosens fixings over years. Internal dividers are set out to the utensils that will live there, not left to a tray that half fits.

Handleless fronts are detailed three ways: a routed J-pull in the door itself, a shadowline rail set behind the face, or push-to-open catches where the run must read as a flat plane. Each changes the gap between fronts, which is why the choice is made on the drawing rather than at installation. The same detailing carries into modern kitchens and bespoke joinery for larger renovations.

QUESTIONS · 04

Asked before the doors are ordered

When are the final measurements taken?

A survey is taken at design stage to draw the layout, then checked again after strip-out when the walls are bare. Manufacture follows that second check, so nothing is cut against plaster that is about to be removed.

Can I keep the existing carcasses and change only the doors?

Where the boxes are sound, square and the layout still works, new fronts and hardware transform a kitchen without a rebuild — that scope is covered under kitchen makeovers. Swollen board, failed runners or a layout that fights the room point back to new cabinetry.

Polyurethane or melamine?

Polyurethane suits profiled doors, exact colour matching and faces you want seamless. Melamine suits flat fronts, textured grains and heavy daily use. Many kitchens use both — sprayed fronts where they are seen, board finishes inside and in the pantry.

How are the finishes cared for?

Warm water and a soft cloth for everything; no abrasive pads or solvent cleaners on sprayed or veneered faces. Wipe spills from edges rather than letting them sit at a join, and let steam from a kettle or dishwasher vent away from overhead fronts.

NEXT · ONE DRAWING · 13 STAGES

Send the wall dimensions and we will set the joinery out

Rough wall dimensions, the appliances you are keeping and a note about what you store are enough to begin. Cabinetry is quoted against a drawing, so the conversation starts with the room rather than with a price list.

READ ALONGSIDE

A Guide to Custom Cabinetry — carcass materials, hinges and runners, flat-pack against custom joinery.

Custom Kitchen Design — the layout work that sets cabinet widths before manufacture.

Kitchen Benchtops — how the surface choice affects cabinet construction underneath.

Contact — ask a joinery question about your Oakleigh kitchen.