# Kitchen assembly, every brand

For non-IKEA kitchens we work through the manufacturer's manual. Appliances are built in and connected to an existing outlet; gas we leave to a certified installer and new pipework to a plumber.

With a kitchen from any maker other than IKEA, the first question is always the same: does it arrive assembled or flat. A German manufacturer delivers cabinets already built with the fronts hung; a DIY chain or an online supplier delivers a flat pack. That difference decides the whole day — the time, the space in the room, and even the order in which the cabinets enter the kitchen.

**Price: On request**

## Scope of work
- **Every kitchen brand** — Keller, Bruynzeel, Mandemakers, Brugman and Praxis: we work through your manufacturer's manual as it was meant to be followed. IKEA METOD has a page of its own.
- **Assembled or flat** — If your kitchen arrives as assembled carcasses, we are levelling quickly. If it arrives flat, the first half day is screwdriving. What your supplier sends is on the delivery note, and it sets the shape of the day.
- **Hardware** — Blum, Hettich or Grass, depending on the manufacturer. Each system adjusts differently, and we only set the doors once every cabinet is standing.
- **Built-in appliances** — We fit the appliance and plug it into an existing socket or an existing three-phase cooker outlet. A hard-wired connection is work for an electrician, gas for a certified installer.
- **Worktop** — Laminate and timber we cut on site with a plunge saw on a guide rail, openings marked out with the manufacturer's template and every cut sealed. Composite, quartz, ceramic and granite are measured on site by the stone supplier and cut in their workshop.
- **Surveying** — Who surveys is set out in your purchase agreement: with a showroom kitchen the supplier usually does it and carries the dimensional risk. If the room differs from the plan, you hear that from us before anything is cut or drilled.
- **Finish** — Plinths, kickboards and tile edges tidied away, filler panels scribed against the wall, sealant only where it belongs.

## Why every kitchen supplier produces a different day

### Delivered assembled is not automatically faster
An assembled cabinet saves build time, but it takes up its full volume from the start and it is heavy. Six tall cabinets already built fill an average kitchen so completely that barely any working space remains, and they do not always pass the door a flat pack slides through. So we ask for the delivery note beforehand and agree where the cabinets will be set down when the lorry arrives. A flat pack is the opposite: plenty of build time, little space needed. How this runs at IKEA is set out under [IKEA kitchen assembly](/en/ikea-keuken-montage).

### Every brand has its own hanging system
IKEA hangs everything on one continuous rail; most other brands use individual cabinet hangers with an adjusting screw at the back of each unit. That changes the method: with individual hangers each cabinet is aligned on its own, and only once all four or five hang are they drawn together with connecting screws until the fronts form one continuous line. The play you need for that sits in those adjusting screws, and they are no longer reachable once the cabinet is filled. The same hardware thinking appears under [wardrobes of every brand](/en/kasten-montage-alle-merken).

### An out-of-true wall always costs a filler
In an existing home the wall rarely runs true and the floor is rarely level, and across four metres of kitchen that shows itself without mercy: on one side the worktop closes tight, on the other a gap opens. We solve that with a filler strip against the wall and with the levelling feet under the cabinets, never by setting the cabinets askew — because the worktop will later lie across every cabinet and betray any difference. We mark out with a laser line over the full length before a single unit is hung.

### What the day after fitting still asks for
A kitchen is not finished when the last cabinet hangs. The fronts are adjusted at the very end, once everything is fixed and loaded, and the silicone along the worktop and the sink then needs curing time before water reaches it. At the end we walk you past every door and every drawer, show where the adjusting screws sit and where the sealant may not yet be loaded. If you are combining the kitchen with other rooms we plan those on a separate day; see [office and living room assembly](/en/kantoor-en-woonkamer-montage) and [bed assembly for every brand](/en/bed-montage-service).

## How a kitchen arrives decides the fitting day. The middle column is what we check first on arrival; the last is where that type of delivery usually runs aground.

| Origin | Delivered as | What that means for the fitting | What to watch |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IKEA (METOD) | Flat, in dozens of parcels | Everything is built on site and hung on one rail | Completeness of the delivery against the note |
| German manufacturer | Cabinets assembled, fronts already on | Little build time, much volume and weight in the room | Whether a tall unit passes the door and the turn |
| Dutch kitchen retailer | Usually assembled, worktop separate | Stone top follows later, measured onto the cabinets | Cabinets must stand true and ready for the surveyor |
| DIY chain | Flat pack, standard sizes | Plenty of build time, little space needed | Hardware quality and the thickness of the back panel |
| Online or imported | Flat, manual sometimes in another language | Identify the hardware first, then build | Missing parts with no service point nearby |
| Second-hand kitchen | Dismantled, often without its hardware | Every cabinet checked first for usability | Blown-out screw holes and damaged cabinet bases |

## Frequently asked questions
### Do you also assemble a Mandemakers showroom kitchen?
Yes, provided it is delivered complete. We work through the manufacturer's manual. If a part turns out to be missing or not to fit, we stop that section and consult the supplier before anything is cut or drilled.

### How is it different from assembling an IKEA kitchen?
Mainly the box. A brand kitchen often arrives as assembled carcasses that go on adjustable feet and hang on a wall rail with a cabinet hanger; IKEA METOD arrives flat and is put together first. That shifts the shape of the day and the number of boxes coming into your house. IKEA METOD has a page of its own.

### Do you connect the built-in appliances, gas included?
We fit the appliance, align it and plug it into an existing socket or an existing three-phase cooker outlet. If the hob is supplied without a plug or cable it is a hard-wired connection, and that has to be made by an electrician on a dedicated cooker circuit to NEN 1010. Gas we do not do: for that we always refer you to a certified installer. Water we connect to existing inlets.

### Do you cut composite or granite worktops as well?
Not at your home. Composite and quartz are largely quartz, and cutting them dry produces a fine dust your lungs do not recover from. Stone worktops are measured on site and cut in the workshop, wet and with extraction, which puts the dimensional risk with the stone supplier. Laminate and timber we do cut on site.

### Who surveys the kitchen?
With a showroom kitchen the supplier usually does it, and what was agreed is set out in your purchase agreement. We assemble to the dimensions stated there. If the room differs from the plan we report it before anything is fixed, because a dimension can only be corrected while nothing has been cut.

### My walls are out of square and my floor falls away. Is that a problem?
That is the rule rather than the exception. We measure from the highest point of the floor, take up a bulging wall with packers behind the rail, and cover the gap between the last cabinet and the wall with a filler panel scribed along the wall using a block of wood and a pencil. The adjustable feet have a limited range; if your floor falls away further than that, you hear it in advance.

### How long does it take?
A full day, sometimes two. Assembled carcasses go faster than flat packs, and a corner run, an island or a stone worktop that only arrives after the survey splits the work across two visits.

### What determines the price?
The number of base, wall and tall units and the number of drawers, whether there is a corner or an island, how many built-in appliances there are, which worktop you have and how many cut-outs it needs, how many filler panels your walls call for, what the cabinets will hang on, whether the room is ready, and which floor you live on and whether there is a lift. That is why we only calculate a fixed amount once we have seen your order list and a few photographs. Whatever is not included we say straight away: gas, new pipework, a hard-wired connection, tiling and plastering.