Textured lacquer cabinets sit in an awkward place in most project packages: the finish is specified early, but the drawings that support it are often still moving. A renderer can make a textured lacquer door look convincing at any size, and a sample board tells you how the surface behaves in your hand under showroom light. Neither one tells the workshop what to build. The difference between a cabinetry package that comes back with a clear quotation and one that comes back with a list of questions is usually the set of measurements and inputs you attach before the first email is sent.

The Textured Lacquer Cabinets in our Lacquer Kitchen Cabinet collection are made to measure, with the finish, layout and dimensions specified per project. That flexibility is the point of the range, and it is also why the information you send matters more than the product name on the enquiry.

The measurements that drive everything else

Send the room as it exists on site, not as it appears on an architectural plan. New builds rarely finish at their nominal dimensions, and in a renovation the existing floor, ceiling and wall lines are what the carcasses have to meet.

• Run the length of every wall the cabinetry will sit against, at three heights — near the floor, at worktop level and near the ceiling. A spread between those three readings is your out-of-plumb allowance, and it changes how scribes, filler panels and toe-kick returns are built.
• Record floor to ceiling at each corner and at the mid-point of the run. Ceilings in particular tend to ｄｒｏｐ toward the middle of a span.
• Note the position of every fixed element: windows, skirting, architraves, radiators, switches, sockets, soil and waste stacks, flues, and any beam that runs through the room.
• Give clear opening widths for doorways and corridors along the delivery route, not just inside the kitchen. A single tall carcass that will not pass a stairwell turn or a lift lobby is a redesign, not an adjustment.

For kitchens, add the working dimensions that decide layout rather than fit: worktop depth and the set-back of wall units, the aisle between facing runs, and the height you want the work surface to sit at. Where an appliance is already selected, send the model number and its installation drawing. Built-in ovens, dishwashers and column fridges each have their own ventilation and hinge requirements, and those details change carcass widths before any door style is chosen.

What to specify about the finish itself

With a textured lacquer, "textured" is not one specification. Two rooms can both be called textured lacquer and arrive with completely different surfaces. Four inputs settle it:

• Texture direction and depth. Grain runs vertically or horizontally, and it can be fine or pronounced. State the direction for each door type, because a grain direction that changes across a run reads as an error even when every panel is correct.
• Sheen band. Say whether you want the surface reading flat, satin or reflective, and keep the same band across doors, drawer fronts and any matching panels. Our Lacquer Kitchen Cabinet range also covers Matte Lacquer Cabinets, which is a useful reference point when you are narrowing down how flat the sheen should read.
• Colour identification. A photograph is a starting point, never an approval. Send a physical reference where one exists — a sample board, a competitor door, a laminate offcut from another part of the build — and state whether the reference is meant to be matched exactly or only read as close.
• Where the panels are going. A kitchen run, a bathroom vanity and a wardrobe elevation take different wear. The Matte Lacquer Panels in our paneling systems are specified for wall elevations, so when cabinets and wall panels are meant to read as one surface, send both together and say so.

Inputs that stop the quotation from drifting

Layout drawings are where most of the cost sits, so treat them as a deliverable rather than an attachment. A usable set shows each run with its overall length and height, identifies tall units and appliance housings, marks corner conditions, and states whether end panels are visible on one side or both. Sketches photographed on site are acceptable for a renovation; what is not acceptable is a drawing that leaves the return condition undefined.

Then set out the interior, because doors and carcasses are quoted separately. List drawer stacks and their widths, tall pull-outs, corner mechanisms, cutlery organisation, bin housings and any integrated lighting. Interior fitments are the easiest place to cut cost late in a project, and equally the easiest place to lose a client's confidence on site when they are missing.

Hardware belongs in the same conversation. Hinge type, soft-close requirement, drawer runner series, handle or handleless — integrated profiles and push-to-open both change door machining, so a decision made after production starts carries a cost. If your project already has a hardware schedule, send it as written; if not, say which of our other ranges you are comparing, since shaker lacquer cabinets and two tone lacquer cabinets use different door profiles and therefore different machining notes.

For multi-unit and hospitality work

Repeat units change the useful inputs. Instead of one detailed kitchen, send the unit types with their counts, mark which rooms are mirror images of each other, and confirm whether every unit carries the same finish or whether the palette varies by floor or apartment type. Sample approvals should be agreed once, against a reference that stays in your file, so that later batches can be checked against the same board rather than against a photograph someone took on site.

Send delivery terms and access details with the drawings — port or site address, loading constraints, lift availability, and the sequence in which rooms need to be completed. Our services run from design consultation and production coordination through logistics and door-to-door delivery to on-site installation support, but the sequencing only works if the site programme is part of the original brief.

A short pre-submission check

• Wall, floor and ceiling dimensions taken on site, with the variance between readings noted.
• Fixed obstacles, services and clear opening widths marked on a sketch or drawing.
• Appliance list with model numbers and installation drawings where built-in.
• Texture direction, sheen band and a physical colour reference identified for each surface.
• Interior fitments, hardware type and handle or handleless decision recorded.
• Unit counts, sample-approval reference, delivery terms and site access for multi-unit work.

Dimensions, finish references and the interior schedule are what let a workshop quote once instead of three times. Send them with the drawings and the textured lacquer specification stops being an assumption on both sides.

SANTERSON supplies custom cabinetry and interior fixtures for residential, villa and hospitality projects. Send your drawings, dimensions and finish references to discuss a specification for your project.