“How long will it take?” is almost always the first question after the design discussion wraps up. Many homeowners arrive at this conversation expecting an answer similar to what they’d get from a furniture shop: a few days, maybe a week for delivery. The reality of full custom joinery is different — and understanding why it takes the time it does will help you plan your renovation far more effectively.

A well-made custom cabinet, from confirmed drawings to completed installation, typically requires approximately one week. Here’s what happens during that time, and why each stage matters.

Factory Production: Why Does It Take 2–3 Days?

Once the drawings are signed off and all materials are confirmed and in stock, the factory production phase begins. For a standard design, this runs 2–3 days. For complex designs involving multiple materials, shaped panels, or intricate configurations, expect 3–5 days or more.

The production phase consists of several distinct stages:

Stage 1: Panel Cutting Using the confirmed drawings as input, a CNC cutting machine cuts each panel to its exact specified dimensions. Every board is cut to a specific wall length, depth, or height — there are no standard sizes here. The precision of this stage determines how well everything fits together on-site.

Stage 2: Edge Banding Once panels are cut, their exposed cross-sections are banded using ABS or PVC edge strip material. This step serves two purposes: it finishes the appearance of the panel edge, and it protects the substrate from moisture ingress at what is otherwise a vulnerable point. Quality edge banding requires a dedicated machine and a skilled operator — a poorly applied edge banding strip will peel or separate within months.

Stage 3: Drilling and Hardware Pre-Assembly Hinge cups, connector holes, and drawer runner mounting points are drilled in the factory, not on-site. Hardware components — hinges, clips, runner brackets — are pre-installed where possible. This reduces on-site work time and, more importantly, ensures drilling accuracy that would be harder to achieve in the more constrained on-site environment.

Stage 4: Trial Assembly and Quality Check A good workshop will do a dry assembly of the cabinet in the factory before it goes to the client’s home. This is the chance to catch any dimensional errors, verify that doors hang straight, and confirm drawer operation before the pieces leave the building. It adds time, but it prevents the frustration of discovering problems only after everything has been carried into a kitchen or bedroom.

On-Site Installation: Why 1–2 Additional Days?

Some homeowners picture the installation as simply bolting pre-made boxes to a wall. In practice, the installation phase involves considerably more nuance.

Volume and Complexity A full kitchen installation — upper cabinets, lower cabinets, tall cabinets — naturally takes longer than a single bedroom wardrobe. The more pieces, the more time.

Site Conditions No wall is perfectly plumb; no floor is perfectly level. The installer must measure, shim, and adjust each cabinet unit to ensure everything sits level and aligned, regardless of what the underlying surfaces do. A skilled installer working on an uneven floor will take longer than one working on a perfect surface — but the result will function correctly.

Hardware Commissioning After the cabinet bodies are secured, every hinge needs to be adjusted so doors close flush and square. Every drawer runner needs to be tested for smooth, rattle-free operation. Every pull-out basket, every soft-close mechanism, every adjustable shelf needs to be verified. This commissioning phase is not optional — it’s what separates an installation that works from one that merely looks installed.

The Full Renovation Timeline: Where Cabinets Fit In

Understanding the cabinet lead time is useful; understanding where it sits in your broader renovation sequence is essential. There is one critical constraint: cabinets must not be installed until all painting is complete and fully dried.

Installing cabinets before paint is dry creates two problems. First, fresh paint off-gassing can affect the dimensional stability of wood-based panels. Second, any paint touch-up work after cabinet installation risks dripping or smearing onto new joinery.

The correct sequence for the renovation phases that affect cabinetry:

Wet works completed: tiling, plastering, waterproofing, partition walls
Painting completed and fully cured: typically at least 7 days after final coat
Cabinets installed: joinery team arrives on-site
Ancillary installations: lighting, ceiling fans, air-conditioning units can be installed concurrently with or after cabinets

Knowing this sequence allows you to build a renovation schedule that doesn’t force one trade to wait on another unnecessarily.

Custom vs Ready-Made: The Time Trade-Off Explained

The natural follow-up question is: if custom joinery takes a week, why can ready-made furniture be ordered and delivered in days?

The answer is straightforward. Ready-made furniture is manufactured in standard sizes at scale, held in warehouse stock, and delivered as a finished unit. Its speed advantage is real. So is its limitation: it only fits your space well if your space happens to conform to standard dimensions — which most real homes do not.

Full custom joinery begins with your space’s actual measurements. Every panel cut corresponds to a specific wall, corner, or ceiling height in your home. The result is a cabinet that fits without gaps, reaches the ceiling to eliminate dust-collecting ledges, and is configured around your actual storage needs.

We do not optimise for speed. We optimise for precision and craftsmanship. The week that custom production requires is not delay — it is the time that precision takes.

Planning Your Renovation Timeline Around Cabinet Lead Times

Using the framework above, here is a practical approach to scheduling the joinery component of your renovation:

Measurement: Take measurements after wet works are complete, when wall and floor surfaces are finalised
Drawing confirmation: Allow 3–5 days for drawings to be produced and reviewed
Production: Allow 5–7 working days for standard designs; 10–14 for complex ones
Installation trigger: Confirm that all painting has been completed and dried before scheduling installation
Installation: 1–2 days, followed by hardware commissioning and sign-off

Building this into your overall renovation schedule from the start — rather than discovering the lead time when you’re already mid-project — makes the difference between a renovation that flows and one that stalls.

Conclusion: The Lead Time Is the Quality

Every step in the custom cabinet production process represents a deliberate quality checkpoint. The cutting must be accurate. The banding must be properly fused. The drilling must be precisely positioned. The trial assembly must catch what the drawings couldn’t predict. None of these can be rushed without compromising the result.

A contractor who tells you your cabinets can be ready in two days has either a very small and simple order or is cutting one of these stages. Understanding the process gives you the context to assess those claims correctly — and to plan your renovation with the confidence that comes from working with accurate information.