Quick answer
On kitchen installation day a good installer lays floor protection first, strikes a level datum line, isolates water and power, then works in order: bases, benchtops, uppers, doors, kickboards, silicone. Cabinets and tops of a standard kitchen commonly take two to three days. Check doors, drawers and the under-sink connections before sign-off.
Key points
- Read the first ten minutes: floor protection down before any tools is the most reliable single tell of a careful installer.
- Everything hangs off a level datum line struck from the floor's high point, so the bench lands at 900 mm and nothing runs downhill.
- The sequence barely varies: bases, tops, uppers, doors and adjustment, kickboards, silicone. Doors and silicone always come last.
- A good installer asks questions: handle positions, door swings, whether the real appliances are on site. Silence all day is a flag.
- Before they leave: sight the door gaps, cycle every drawer, run the sink hard and put a dry hand around the trap.
Half past seven, and the first thing out of the van is not a toolbox. It is floor protection: corflute sheets and tape, laid seam to seam from the front door to the kitchen before a single cabinet crosses the threshold. Then the drop sheets, then the laser. You can read the whole day from those first ten minutes, because an installer who protects the path before touching the job is an installer who works in the right order all day.
Most homeowners see one kitchen install every fifteen or twenty years, which means no baseline for what good looks like while it is happening in your house. Our crews fit kitchens out of the East Tāmaki workshop week in, week out, so treat this as the baseline: what a good installer does on day one of kitchen installation, what to expect as the day runs, the questions you should be asked, and the checks worth running before anyone drives away.
The first hour: protection, datum, square
After the floor protection comes measurement. The installer finds the highest point of your floor with a laser level and strikes a level datum line around the room; every base cabinet gets packed up to that line so the finished bench lands at 900 mm above the floor at its highest point and dead level everywhere else. Floors are never flat. The datum is what stops your bench quietly running downhill toward the window.
Walls get the same treatment: checked for plumb and square, because they never are either, and the out-of-square gets a plan before it gets a cabinet. Which end takes the scribed panel, where a filler hides the taper, which corner the run gets set from. Five minutes with a laser and a notebook here saves an hour of dismantling at three o'clock.
Services off before anything moves
Before anything heavy moves, the water goes off at the isolating valves or the toby, the kitchen's power circuits are identified and off wherever walls are being worked on, and the old appliances are disconnected by the right people. The installer sets cabinets and tops; reconnecting the mixer and dishwasher and altering any wiring is licensed work for the plumber and electrician, and a good company has those trades booked before day one. That sequencing is its own craft, covered in coordinating a kitchen install with other trades.
If your installer shrugs when you ask who reconnects the water, you have found a scheduling problem today and possibly a leak in a fortnight. Ask on day one.
The order of operations
There is a reason the sequence barely varies from house to house: bases, then benchtops, then uppers, then doors and adjustment, then kickboards, then silicone. Bases go first because everything references them; they get packed to the datum, screwed to each other through the side panels, and fixed back to the wall framing. Tops go onto level bases, joins pulled tight. Uppers follow, set square to the runs below with the 600 mm splashback zone between bench and underside. Doors go on late so they are not knocked while heavy work continues, then get adjusted so gaps run an even 2–3 mm. The kick clips on. Silicone runs last, after the dust, because it is a finishing seal.
Some crews hang uppers before tops to keep their weight off a finished benchtop, and that is fine too. The order that matters is the end of the list. Doors before level boxes, or silicone before scribes, is how a bad day hides itself.
The install sequence, and what done looks like at day's end.
What a good installer asks you
- Handle positions, confirmed against the drawing before anything is drilled: vertical or horizontal, and at which corner of the door. Holes commonly drill at 96 or 128 mm centres, and they are forever.
- Door swings: which side the corner unit hinges, which way the under-sink pair opens against the dishwasher.
- Appliances: whether the actual dishwasher and fridge are on site, because a dishwasher is 600 mm wide and 820–850 mm tall on adjustable feet, and cavities get set to the machine standing in the room.
- The kick height, standard 150 mm, confirmed before it is cut, because changing it after the bench is on is nobody's favourite afternoon.
If a whole day passes and nobody asks you anything, they are either working from a very complete spec sheet or guessing. One of those is fine. It is worth finding out which one you have.
What tidy looks like at five o'clock
A good day ends legibly. Floor protection still down and swept. Offcuts, shrink wrap and cardboard gone into the trailer or a builder's bag, leaving your wheelie bin alone. Tools stacked in one corner, nothing half-fixed left hanging, and the water back on overnight wherever the plumbing allows. You also get a one-minute rundown without asking for it: what happened today, what happens tomorrow, and any decision they need from you by morning. If you are living in the house through the work, that nightly water-and-power reset is the difference between disruption and misery, and living at home during a kitchen replacement covers the wider survival plan.
The tells of a bad day
Most installers do tidy work, and one messy hour proves nothing. The genuine warning signs are about order and concealment, and they are consistent wherever we get called in to re-do someone else's install.
- Doors hung before the boxes are level. Hinge adjustment can tune a 2–3 mm gap; it cannot fix a leaning carcass.
- Fat silicone where a scribe should be. Silicone finishes a junction, it does not close one, and a bead doing a panel's job reappears as a gap when the bead ages.
- No datum line and no laser out of the van, with cabinets set off the floor as found.
- Packers left proud of the kick line, offcuts in your wheelie bin, screws in the lawn.
- 'We'll sort that at the end' said about the same item twice.
How long does a kitchen install take?
Setting the cabinets and a laminate benchtop for a standard kitchen commonly runs two to three days. Stone changes the shape of the week: bases go in, the slab gets templated, and the top arrives on a later visit, with the sink and hob connections following it. The full room, strip-out, trades, splashback and touch-ups included, commonly runs five to seven working days. Where your install sits in the wider programme, from deposit to sign-off, is mapped in what to expect from kitchen order to install.
The ten-minute check before they leave
Do this with the installer present, and do it kindly, because a good crew expects it and a great one walks you through it unprompted. It mirrors the checks a kitchen already passed before delivery, laid out in how kitchens are quality-checked, and it takes ten minutes.
| Check | How | Pass looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Door alignment | Stand back and sight along each run | Even 2–3 mm gaps, top edges in line |
| Drawers | Cycle every drawer to full travel | Smooth run, soft-close, no rubbing |
| Water | Run the sink hard, then dry-hand the trap and tails | Bone dry underneath |
| Bench joins | Run a fingernail across each join | Flush, sealed, no ledge |
| Kick and silicone | Sight the kick line and the beads | Clipped tight, straight, unbroken lines |
A snag list is normal. One door re-adjusted or a handle swapped on a return visit is routine joinery aftercare. What you are confirming today is the stuff that gets expensive later: level, alignment, and dry.
Your part in a good install day
Clear the room to bare walls the night before, empty a parking space for the van and trailer, and have the decisions made before the drill comes out: handles, swings, kick height. Most of those answers were actually locked weeks earlier, at the measure, and what happens at a kitchen site measure shows what that visit should have captured. Then let them work. Our installers fit what our own workshop builds, on one contract, which is why the sequence in this article is the one we run, but the baseline applies to any crew in any house. If day one at your place looks like this, you are in good hands.
Frequently asked questions
What should I expect on kitchen installation day?
Floor protection first, then a level datum line, then isolation of water and power before demolition or setting starts. Cabinets go in bases first, benchtops, uppers, then doors, kickboards and silicone last. Expect questions about handles, swings and appliances, a tidy site at day's end, and a rundown of what happens tomorrow. Cabinets and tops commonly take two to three days.
What order is a kitchen installed in?
Bases, benchtops, uppers, doors and adjustment, kickboards, then silicone. Bases are packed level to a datum line and fixed to the wall framing, tops go on level bases, and uppers set square above the 600 mm splashback zone. Some crews fit uppers before tops to protect the bench, which is fine. Doors and silicone always come last on a well-run job.
How long does a kitchen installation take?
For a standard kitchen, setting cabinets and a laminate top commonly takes two to three days. A stone benchtop adds a templating step, with the top fitted on a later visit and plumbing reconnected after it. The whole room, including strip-out, trades and splashback, commonly runs five to seven working days. Bigger kitchens and older, wonkier houses sit at the long end.
Do kitchen installers connect the plumbing and electrical?
No. Installers set cabinets, benchtops and hardware; reconnecting the mixer and dishwasher and any wiring changes are licensed work for a plumber and electrician. A well-run job has those trades booked around the install before day one. If nobody can tell you who reconnects the water, that is a scheduling gap worth raising immediately.
What should I check before signing off a kitchen install?
Five things, with the installer present: sight the door gaps for an even 2–3 mm and level top edges; cycle every drawer to full travel; run the sink hard and put a dry hand around the trap and tails; run a fingernail over benchtop joins; and check the kick is clipped tight with straight, unbroken silicone lines. Note any snags in writing before the crew leaves.
Should I be home during the kitchen install?
Be reachable rather than hovering. The valuable moments are the start of day one, when handle positions, swings and appliance details get confirmed, and the final walkthrough. In between, a good crew works faster without an audience. Leave a phone number, make decisions quickly when asked, and keep kids and dogs off the corflute.
Is silicone supposed to cover gaps in a new kitchen?
No. Silicone seals the junctions, bench to splashback, bench to wall, sink rim, in thin, straight beads. Gaps between cabinetry and an uneven wall should be closed with scribed panels or fillers, cut to follow the wall. A fat bead bridging daylight is concealment, and as the bead ages the gap comes back. Ask for the scribe while the crew is still on site.