A rendering of a kitchen looks convincing long before anyone knows how the doors will actually be made. Turning that rendering into a priced, makeable set of painted shaker cabinets is the step where most projects lose time: an email goes out with two pictures and a room size, the supplier replies with a number that fits nothing, and three weeks later the drawings are still not agreed. The fix is not more email. It is an enquiry that answers, in advance, the questions a cabinet factory has to ask.
Below is the sequence we use when a design brief becomes a quotation, in the order the information actually matters.
1. State the job type before the room size
The same shaker profile is built differently for a single apartment, a villa with twenty repeated units and a boutique hotel kitchen. Door tolerances, hardware grade, packaging, spare-door planning and the paperwork that travels with the containers all change with the job type. Name the project plainly on the first line of the enquiry, including the unit count and the delivery address, and say whether this is one kitchen or a repeated type. A custom built-in kitchen cabinet order for a hotel or apartment block is quoted and packed very differently from a one-off residential kitchen, and that difference should be settled before anyone opens a costing sheet.
2. Send drawings, not only mood boards
A mood board tells a factory what the kitchen should feel like. It does not tell them where the tall unit stops or how the run turns at the return wall. Attach what exists, and label it honestly: measured existing drawings, architectural joinery elevations, a sketch with dimensions, or a reference photo from a previous job. If only a concept image exists, say so in the enquiry, because the supplier's first reply should then be a space-planning proposal rather than a price. Where the layout is still open, ask for a layout proposal against your dimensions and treat the first response as a design iteration, not a quotation.
3. Specify the door and the paint as separate decisions
"Painted shaker" describes a door construction and a surface, and both need to be pinned down. For the door, send a section or a photo of the profile: rail and stile width, the depth of the recessed centre panel, and whether the corner is square or softened. If you already have a sample or a competitor's door you like, post a photo of the edge, not just the face; the edge profile is what a factory cannot reverse-engineer from a front elevation. Then state the finish separately: the colour reference (RAL, Pantone, Dulux or an actual physical sample), the sheen level, and whether the surface is a sprayed lacquer or a foil wrap. A wrapped panel and a sprayed panel can look almost identical in a photograph and behave differently around the edges and in a steamy kitchen, so do not let the quotation leave that ambiguous.
4. ｄｅｃｌａｒｅ the carcass and the substrate you expect
Enquiry emails routinely specify the door and stay silent about everything behind it, which is exactly where price gaps appear. State the substrate you want the door made on, and the panel thickness you expect; if you have no preference, ask the factory to quote two options and compare them rather than accepting one. If your project has a moisture-exposed run, an outdoor kitchen or a wet wall, flag it in the enquiry and ask which panel type is recommended for that run. Our catalogue separates these constructions for a reason: shaker style plywood cabinets and a painted MDF door are not interchangeable, and the right answer depends on the room, not on the render.
5. List the appliances, plumbing and services you already know
Cabinetry is dimensioned around the equipment it houses, so any appliance you already know belongs in the enquiry. Send model numbers and cut-out dimensions for the oven, hob, extractor, dishwasher, fridge and any integrated or built-in wine cabinet, and note the sink size, tap type and the position of water and waste. Where an appliance has not been chosen yet, write "appliance TBD, reserve standard 600 mm housing" so the quotation is explicit about the assumption instead of hiding it. Integrated appliances need ventilation and door-fixing details decided at design stage, and changing them after production starts is the most common source of rework.
6. Name the hardware, or ask for it to be quoted as an item
Hinges, slides, handles, legs, brackets and light fittings are small individually and significant in total, and a quotation that folds them into one line makes comparison impossible. Either list the hardware you want, with brand and model where you have it, and note where you want soft-close, or ask the supplier to price it as an itemised line with a standard option and a premium option. Matching cabinet hardware, including hinges, drawer slide rails, support legs and connecting brackets, is supplied with our cabinetry, so it can be quoted together with the boxes rather than bought locally at the last minute at a markup. Also settle the interior fit-out at the same stage: drawer versus door for each base unit, tall-unit pull-outs, corner solutions and any glass display section with lighting.
7. Set the delivery and site conditions early
For international projects the delivery terms belong in the enquiry, not in the last email before production. Give the delivery address, the port or site, the intended Incoterm, and any access constraints a container and a tail-lift have to deal with on arrival. Tell us the required on-site date and work backwards, so the quotation reflects a real programme instead of an optimistic one. We handle freight, customs paperwork, packaging and container loading as part of the order, and can arrange door-to-door delivery, so the enquiry should say how far you want that service to go. If the site has limited storage, mention it: a delivery plan that splits the shipment into staged drops is a design decision, and it should be made before the flat-pack is drawn.
8. Agree the sign-off sequence before production
A quotation should arrive with a named approval path: revised drawings for your check, a confirmed finish sample for the paint, a signed set of dimensions, then release to production. Put that sequence in the enquiry and ask the supplier to confirm it in the reply. Two artefacts are worth requesting in writing: an approved drawing set with every dimension initialled by your side, and a physical finish sample of the actual door, not a colour chip. Where the project repeats a kitchen type, a first-unit sample checked and signed off before the remaining units go into production removes most of the argument later. After delivery, the same discipline applies at handover: an inspection walk with a snag list, then the warranty and spare-parts terms recorded against that list. Our work covers interior design services through production, logistics and installation, so the sign-off steps can be built into one programme rather than negotiated between three parties.
What the enquiry should contain: the short version
- Job type, unit count, delivery address and required on-site date
- Drawings or measurements available, with a clear note on what is still open
- Door section, colour reference, sheen level and sprayed-versus-wrapped finish
- Substrate and panel thickness, plus any wet or humid locations
- Appliance models and cut-out dimensions, sink, tap and services
- Hardware specified or itemised, with interior fit-out choices
- Incoterm, access constraints and any staged delivery plan
- The approval sequence, including a physical finish sample
Send that in one enquiry and the reply you get back is a comparable, buildable quotation rather than a guess. If your brief is still at concept stage, send what you have and ask for a layout proposal and a finish sample first; that is a normal starting point, and it costs nobody three weeks of misunderstanding.
Ready to turn a brief into a quotation? Send your drawings, room dimensions and finish reference to SANTERSON, a one-stop furniture and building materials supplier, and we will come back with a proposal, a finish sample and an itemised price for your painted shaker cabinetry.