A kitchen cabinet enquiry rarely fails over price alone. It stalls because the buyer and the factory are describing different cabinets. Shaker fronts look simple, which is exactly why they get specified loosely: one party pictures a painted door, the other pictures a PVC-wrapped door with a different core, and the quotation that follows matches neither. If you are enquiring about Santerson Shaker Style PVC Cabinets, the preparation you do before the first message decides whether you receive a comparable quotation or another number to argue about later.
1. The drawings and measurements to send
Made-to-measure cabinetry is priced from geometry, not from a model name. You do not need a finished design package, but the supplier needs enough to draw a first layout and flag conflicts before anything is cut.
- A dimensioned kitchen layout: overall wall lengths, room height, and the position of doors, windows, radiators and any pipework or ducts that intrude into the cabinet line.
- Cabinet run lengths per wall, with your preferred tall-unit and appliance positions marked, including clearances you already know are fixed.
- Working heights: finished floor level to ceiling, the worktop height you want, and whether the run stops at the ceiling or leaves a soffit.
- Appliance schedule with model numbers and cut-out dimensions for built-in ovens, hob, extractor, dishwasher, fridge and any wine cabinet.
- Sink and tap details, plus the waste and water supply position relative to the sink base.
If drawings do not exist yet, a set of photographs with a tape measure in frame and a hand-drawn plan is enough to start. What does not work is sending only a floor area or a photograph of a show kitchen and asking for a price.
2. Specification decisions to settle before asking for a quote
Shaker is a door profile, not a material. Settle these choices on your own side first, then ask the supplier which options they produce and how each one moves the price.
| Decision | What to state in the enquiry |
| Door face and wrap | Whether you want a PVC-wrapped shaker door or another finish, and whether frame and centre panel must match exactly under side light. |
| Core board | The board type for doors and for carcasses, and the moisture-resistant grade for sink bases and any wet area. |
| Colour and grain | Reference a physical sample or a swatch number rather than a colour name; white in particular spans warm, cool and grey undertones. |
| Handle detail | Visible knobs and pulls, routed pull edges, or an integrated handle — this changes door construction, not just hardware cost. |
| Interior layout | Shelves versus drawers per unit, the corner access solution, and any integrated laundry or pantry fit-out coordinated with the same run. |
| Worktop interface | Whether the worktop is in your scope or the supplier’s, including upstand, splashback and cut-out allowances. |
The same shaker profile appears across several collections on this site — Grey Shaker Cabinets, White Shaker Cabinets and Two Tone Shaker Cabinets — so a reference image from the catalogue is a legitimate way to communicate the look you want, as long as you also state the finish and core board you are asking for.
3. Project context that changes the answer
A single villa kitchen and a repeat-unit residential scheme are not handled the same way, and neither is a hospitality fit-out. Say which one you are buying, because it drives sampling, tolerances and how the order is split.
- Quantity and repetition: one kitchen, or several identical units? Repeat units make door-matching across batches and hardware standardisation worth specifying up front.
- Site location and access: delivery address, floor level, lift or stair constraints, and whether the site takes the full order in one container or needs phased drops.
- Programme: the date the kitchen must be installed, and working back from it, the date drawings must be frozen. Cabinetry is a long-lead item on most fit-outs, and late drawing changes are what actually delay sites.
- Who installs: your own contractor or the supplier’s team. If someone else is installing, ask whether units arrive assembled or flat-packed and which shop drawings they will work from.
- Adjacent trades: tiler, electrician and plumber working to the same setting-out drawing, so sockets, isolators and waste positions land inside the carcass they belong to.
For hospitality and multi-unit work, ask what the supplier’s custom and OEM service covers in your case — bespoke finishes, prototyping before series production, and minimum order quantities — rather than assuming a prototype is included in every quotation.
4. Commercial terms worth agreeing in writing
Cabinet disputes are usually about scope boundaries rather than workmanship. Put these points in the same email chain as the quotation so they become part of the record.
| Item | Why it matters for shaker cabinetry |
| What the price includes | Doors, carcasses, worktops, plinths, scribes, toe kicks and fillers. Filler panels and scribing to an out-of-plumb wall are often quoted separately, and they are not optional on site. |
| Drawing approval stages | Layout drawing first, then production drawings after your sign-off. Anything changed after production drawings are released is a variation, not a revision. |
| Sample and colour sign-off | A physical door sample or swatch reference for the exact batch finish, especially where white or pale colours meet site lighting. |
| Packing and container loading | How doors are protected, how panels are packed against one another, and which units go in which container, so the delivery sequence matches the install sequence. |
| Delivery terms | Incoterms, named delivery point, and who handles import clearance and last-mile transport. The logistics and door-to-door delivery service listed on this site covers freight and paperwork; duties, site conditions and local requirements still need confirming project by project. |
| After-sales scope | Which replacement doors, hinges or panels can be re-ordered later and how the finish reference is recorded, since kitchens get extended years after handover. The installation and after-sales support page sets out the service stages. |
5. Pre-enquiry checklist
- Dimensioned plan, elevations, or photographs with measurements
- Appliance schedule with cut-out dimensions
- Your stated preference for door finish and core board, with unresolved questions written out instead of assumed
- Colour reference by sample or swatch number
- Quantity, delivery address and required installation date
- Who installs, and whether units are needed assembled or flat-packed
- Setting-out requirements from the adjacent trades
Send that package and a supplier can come back with a layout proposal, an honest price range and the two or three decisions that actually move cost. If you would rather start from the product page than from a drawing set, open Santerson Shaker Style PVC Cabinets and attach it to your enquiry, or review the wider custom built-in kitchen cabinets range when the kitchen is one part of a larger fit-out. Attach what you have — a rough plan is enough to begin — and ask the supplier to list the specification gaps back to you before the quotation is issued.