Quick answer
To check a kitchen company is legit in NZ, run the free Companies Office search, visit their workshop, ring two recent references, and insist on an itemised GST quote. Normal deposits run 40–50 percent, never 100. Walk away from expiring discounts, text-only quotes and any company with no physical address.
Key points
- The Companies Register is free and takes ten minutes: check the incorporation date, the directors, and what happened to the directors' previous companies.
- A manufacturer has a workshop you can stand in. No address anywhere on the website, quote or invoice is a walk-away on its own.
- Ring two references from the last six months and ask what went wrong on their job, because something always does, and the fix is the tell.
- An itemised, written GST quote with exclusions listed is the baseline. One number in a text message is not a quote.
- Deposits of 40–50 percent on order are normal for made-to-measure joinery. Demands for 100 percent up front end the conversation.
A few times a year the same phone call finds our East Tāmaki counter. Someone with half a kitchen sitting in their garage and a deposit that is not coming back. The company answered the phone right up until the money cleared. Their quote was one number in a text, and the workshop turned out to be a mobile number and a Facebook page. The sour part is that none of it was hidden; every flag was visible in about an hour of free checking that nobody had told them to do.
This is that hour, laid out as eight checks you can run in an afternoon to confirm a kitchen company is legit before any money moves. We will answer our own tests as we go, partly because you should ask us to, and partly because a supplier who sets a test ought to show they pass it. But run the checks on everyone, including us. Good companies pass them without noticing.
Run the free Companies Office search first
Before the showroom visit, before the quote, spend ten minutes on the Companies Register. Search the exact company name from the quote or website and read three things: the incorporation date, the current directors, and the directors' other companies. A business claiming 25 years of kitchens that was incorporated 14 months ago has some explaining to do. And a director whose last three companies were struck off or liquidated, each reborn under a near-identical name, is the single most reliable pattern in the horror stories we hear.
While you are at it, match the names. The company on the quote, the name on the invoice and the account you are asked to pay should all be the same legal entity, and the paperwork should carry a GST number. Money paid to a different entity than the one you contracted with is a dispute nobody wins quickly.
Walk into the workshop
A company that manufactures kitchens has a building with machines in it, and you can ask to stand in that building for ten minutes. Look for board stock in racks, cabinets mid-assembly with job labels on them, an edgebander running, staff who obviously work there. A showroom with no workshop behind it usually means a reseller, and buying through a reseller can be fine, but you should know who actually cuts your cabinets and whose door you knock on when something is wrong.
Our own answer to this one is simple: the workshop is in East Tāmaki, it runs ten-plus kitchens a week, and customers are welcome to come and see their job on the bench. Any manufacturer can offer you the equivalent. An address missing from the website, the quote and the invoice is an answer in itself. Companies that are easy to find are hard to be cheated by, and the reverse is just as true.
Eight checks before any money moves.
Ring two recent references and ask three questions
Ask for two customers from the last six months with jobs like yours, and actually ring them. Reading a testimonial on a website is not this, and a supplier who cannot produce two recent phone numbers is telling you something.
- Did the final invoice match the quote, and if it moved, was the change priced in writing before the work was done?
- Something always goes sideways on a build. What went wrong on yours, and what did the company do about it?
- Did they turn up on the dates they gave you, and when a date slipped, how much notice did you get?
You are listening for patterns; politeness is noise. A supplier who had a wrong door remade inside a week is a better bet than one whose referee insists nothing went wrong at all, because either that job was a miracle or the referee is the owner's cousin.
Insist on an itemised, written GST quote
One number beside the words 'kitchen, supply and install' is not a quote, it is a hope with a dollar sign. An itemised quote prices the cabinetry line by line, the benchtop by material and length, the hardware by brand pattern, the install as its own number, and states the exclusions in writing: electrical, plumbing, disposal, flooring. That structure is what lets you compare two suppliers honestly and dispute a variation later, and how to read a kitchen quote breaks down where the soft numbers usually hide.
Itemising is our answer here too. Ask any volume supplier for the same discipline.
A company that will not put line items on paper is asking you to buy a number, not a kitchen.
What deposit is normal for a kitchen in NZ?
Made-to-measure joinery commonly runs a 40–50 percent deposit on order, with the balance at delivery or completion; some firms split the balance across delivery and install. The deposit itself is fair, because your kitchen is cut to your walls and cannot be resold if you vanish. What tells you about risk is the shape of the schedule. Ask two things: what event triggers each payment, and what you can see with your own eyes at that trigger. Cabinets built and photographed is an event. A calendar date is not. The full picture, including progress payments on bigger jobs, is in kitchen deposits and progress payments.
Ask who installs, and who owns the warranty
Employees and subcontractors both put in good kitchens, so this is not about the badge on the van. The question that matters is who you call in month eleven when a hinge drops or an edge lifts, and whose name is on the warranty for the seam between supply and install. Split arrangements, cabinets from one company and install arranged separately, work until a problem lands in the gap and each side points at the other. Joinery callbacks are dominated by hinge and runner adjustment and edge lifts, and commercial work commonly carries a 12-month defects period for exactly that reason, so put the same question to a residential supplier: what is covered, for how long, and who physically turns up. What kitchen warranties in NZ actually cover goes deeper on the wording.
Whoever you use, get their answer in writing before the deposit; waiting until the callback is too late.
Read reviews for patterns, then check the flags
Skip the star average and read the three-star reviews, which is where honest customers live. You are looking for the same failure appearing twice: communication that dies after payment, dates that slip without notice, damage disputes that drag. One angry review means a human had a bad day. The same complaint in March and again in September means a system. A critical review answered with dates and a fix is worth more than five perfect ones, because it shows you what happens when you become the problem customer.
- A discount that expires today, or sign-now pressure of any kind.
- 100 percent up front, or anything much past half before manufacture starts.
- No physical address on the website, the quote or the invoice.
- Quotes only by text or DM: one number, no letterhead, no GST breakdown.
- Pressure to skip the site measure and build off your numbers.
- References that are old, vague, or refused outright.
| Check | Reassuring | Walk away |
|---|---|---|
| Companies Register | Years trading, stable directors | Serial strike-offs, reborn names |
| Premises | A workshop you can visit | No address anywhere |
| Quote | Itemised lines, GST, exclusions | One number by text |
| Deposit | 40–50% with a staged balance | 100% before anything is made |
| Aftercare | Named warranty, one contract | 'Ring the installer, not us' |
If it still goes wrong: the Consumer Guarantees Act backstop
The CGA sits under every residential kitchen sale in the country: goods must be of acceptable quality and fit for purpose, and services must be carried out with reasonable care and skill. Its remedy ladder runs repair, then replacement, then refund, depending on whether the failure is substantial. The practical sequence matters as much as the rights: put the problem in writing with photos and dates, name the remedy you want with a fair deadline, give the company a genuine chance to fix it, and keep every reply. If it stalls, the Disputes Tribunal hears claims up to its limit without lawyers, and the tidy paper trail is what wins there. The kitchen-specific version, letters included, is in using the Consumer Guarantees Act on kitchen problems.
One honest limit. The CGA cannot resurrect a company that has folded holding your deposit, and deposits generally sit in the queue with everyone else owed money. That is why the checks above, especially deposit size and company history, do more for you than any remedy after the fact.
One afternoon, before you sign
Book the afternoon before you sign anything. Companies Register with a coffee, ten minutes. Drive to the workshop, or discover you cannot, which is its own answer. Two phone calls to references. Then read the quote line by line with what to expect from order to install open beside it, so you know what a normal process and payment shape look like. If every check passes, sign and enjoy the build. When one fails, you have spent an afternoon instead of a deposit, and MTN Kitchens will happily be one of the companies you put through it.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check if a kitchen company is legit in NZ?
Run the free Companies Office search for the incorporation date, directors and their past companies. Visit the workshop, or confirm one exists at a real address. Ring two references from the last six months. Then insist on an itemised, written GST quote and a normal deposit of 40–50 percent. A company that passes all of that is very unlikely to be a horror story.
What deposit should I pay a kitchen company?
For made-to-measure kitchens, 40–50 percent on order is the common shape, with the balance at delivery or completion, sometimes split across delivery and install. Ask what event triggers each payment and what evidence you see at that point. Anything approaching 100 percent up front moves all the risk to you and is a recognised feature of the bad stories.
Is a big deposit safe if the company seems established?
Safer, but not safe. If any company fails, deposit-holders generally queue with the other unsecured creditors, and being established does not change that mechanism. Keep the deposit at the 40–50 percent norm, pay the entity named on the quote, and make sure each later payment follows visible progress. Company history reduces the odds of trouble; deposit discipline reduces the cost of it.
What questions should I ask a kitchen company's references?
Three cover it. Did the final invoice match the quote, and were any changes priced in writing first? What went wrong on the job, and how was it fixed, because something always goes wrong somewhere. And did they hit the dates they gave, with fair warning when one moved? A referee who describes a problem handled well is the strongest reference there is.
Are online reviews reliable for kitchen companies?
As a pattern detector, yes; as a score, no. Ignore the average, read the middling reviews, and look for the same failure appearing twice, such as communication dying after payment or dates slipping without notice. Repetition means the problem is systemic. A critical review answered with dates and a fix tells you more than a page of five-star praise.
Who fixes problems after a kitchen is installed?
Whoever the contract says, which is why you ask before paying. With supply and install on one contract, one company owns the whole job, including the seam between cabinet and fitting where most disputes live. Joinery callbacks are dominated by hinge and runner adjustments and edge lifts, and commercial work commonly carries a 12-month defects period, so ask a residential supplier to match that clarity in writing.
What can I do if a kitchen company will not fix a problem?
Use the Consumer Guarantees Act. Goods must be of acceptable quality and fit for purpose, services done with reasonable care and skill, and the remedy ladder runs repair, replacement, then refund depending on how substantial the failure is. Put the problem in writing with photos and dates, set a fair deadline, and keep everything. If it stalls, the Disputes Tribunal hears claims up to its limit without lawyers.