When a kitchen package reaches the approval stage, the submittal is what stands between a nice rendering and a cabinet that actually gets made, shipped and installed. For a wood grain pvc cabinet, the file has to answer two very different questions at once: does the wood look read correctly on a PVC-wrapped door, and will the door, carcass and hardware survive daily use in the room you are putting them in. A submittal that only shows a picture will pass the designer's desk and then fail on site. Below is the checklist we use on our own projects, in the order reviewers tend to ask for it.

1. The door schedule, not just the door photo

Start with a table that lists every door in the package by reference number, and for each one records the exact profile, the wrap or foil construction, the PVC film decoration (wood species look, grain direction, gloss level) and the panel edge treatment. A wood grain finish that looks convincing on a flat panel can read differently on a routed profile, so the schedule should name each profile the film is specified for. If your package mixes styles, say so explicitly: our shaker style PVC cabinets and our high gloss PVC cabinets cover the same functional role, but the surface finish and the way light falls across them are not the same. Put both in the schedule and let the reviewer choose deliberately rather than by accident.

2. Substrate and construction details

A PVC surface only describes the outside, so the submittal has to state what is underneath: the door core, its thickness, how the film is applied to faces and edges, and whether the edge banding or wrap matches the face film. For wet zones — sink runs, tall housing next to a dishwasher, an outdoor or poolside kitchen — this is where we slow the conversation down. We publish an outdoor-ready PVC cabinet line because exposure changes the construction requirement, not just the colour. State the board thickness, the moisture strategy and the hardware interface, and let the engineer confirm the assembly for your situation rather than assuming a standard indoor build will carry the load.

3. Dimensions taken from site, not from the drawing

Our cabinets are made to measure, which means the submittal should carry the dimensions taken from the completed space, not from a drawing issued before the floor and wall finishes were set. Tolerance and setting-out have to be stated in the same package. Include the setting-out drawing for the full run, the scribe and filler widths, the appliance recess sizes, and the clearance around handles and doors that open into an aisle. Record the finished floor level as its own line item, because that datum drives every height in the run, and note who measured, when, and which drawing revision the dimensions belong to.

4. Interior fit-out and hardware

Reviewers approve the outside and then use the inside every day, so list the carcass finish, drawer boxes, runners, hinges, soft-close specification, and any integrated lighting or tall storage module. If the wood grain carries into other joinery, cross-reference it, for example the wood grain melamine cabinets or matching bedroom storage such as wood grain melamine wardrobes. Matching a film across kitchens and wardrobes is easier to do at submittal stage than after the first batch is pressed, and the schedule should say which items share one decoration reference.

5. Finish proof you can hold in your hand

Screens do not carry gloss level, embossing depth or grain scale, so the submittal should be backed by a physical sample of the door: the actual film, the actual profile, the actual edge. In the document, note the sample reference, the date it was issued, and which line items it governs. Where a design calls for a specific tone — a warm oak against a dark worktop, for instance — state the neighbour finishes in the same table so the comparison is on record. It prevents the very common dispute where the cabinet is right and the counter is wrong.

6. Project identity, handling and sign-off

The last page is administrative, and it is the one that gets missed: project name and address, drawing revision, package breakdown by room or unit, packaging and pallet marking, delivery sequence, and named signature blocks for the designer, the contractor and the manufacturer. For an export job, the packaging mark should match what will appear on the container documents, and the delivery sequence should match the install programme, not the production convenience. State the after-sales contact and how spares are ordered, because a single replacement door years later is only traceable if the film, profile and revision were recorded properly on the day.

A short pre-submission check

Before it leaves your desk, read the submittal back against three questions. Does every door reference appear in the schedule and on the setting-out drawing? Is every claim in the text supported by a specification line, a dimension, or an issued sample? And does the document say what has not been decided, so it is resolved now rather than on site? A submittal that answers those three gets approved faster, and it protects the wood grain look you specified from the pressing line to the installed kitchen.

Planning a kitchen or wider joinery package for a villa or hotel project? Send us the drawings and the room list, and we will prepare the door schedule, material specification and setting-out details as part of the quotation, so the submittal is ready for approval rather than reconstructed after order. Contact our project team to start the specification.