Quick answer
A kitchen shop drawing set needs a to-scale plan and elevation, every cabinet width in millimetres, the standard heights (150 mm toe kick, 720 mm carcass, 900 mm bench, 600 mm splashback zone, 720 mm uppers, 2,220 mm overall), appliance gaps named to models, services marked, and a finish schedule. Missing any of those, it goes back unsigned.
Key points
- A shop drawing is the last cheap place to catch an error. On paper a wrong width is a note. In melamine it is a remake and a programme hit.
- Check five things in order: scale, widths, heights, appliance gaps, services. Ten minutes covers a standard kitchen.
- The heights barely move in NZ: 150 toe kick, 720 carcass, 900 finished bench, 600 splashback zone, 720 uppers, 2,220 overall. Anything else needs a written reason on the drawing.
- Appliance gaps are the most common failure. The drawing must name the model, not leave a hole.
- Sign-off is a chain: the joiner certifies buildability, the main contractor certifies coordination, the client certifies selections. Know which signature you are giving.
The shop drawings for eleven kitchens land in your inbox on a Friday, marked for approval by Wednesday because the workshop needs the lead time and the install window is already booked. Somebody on your side now has to sign them. Whatever is on those pages when you do becomes the contract: not the architect's plans, not the showroom conversation, the shop drawings.
That sounds like pressure, and it is, but the review itself is short once you know what you are looking for. A kitchen is a standardised object. The heights are fixed by convention, the widths are a finite list, and the failure points repeat on nearly every job: appliance gaps, services, and the dimension nobody checked against the actual room. Ten focused minutes per kitchen catches almost all of it.
What a full shop drawing set contains
A set you can sign has six things on it. Anything less is a sketch wearing a title block.
- A to-scale plan of the kitchen in its room, with the run dimensioned wall to wall
- An elevation of every run, with each cabinet's width marked in millimetres
- The vertical dimensions: toe kick, carcass, finished bench height, splashback zone, uppers, overall height
- Appliance gaps dimensioned and named to a model, not left as empty rectangles
- Services marked: sink waste, water, power outlets, the cooker circuit and the rangehood duct
- A finish schedule: door and panel finish, edging, benchtop material, hardware, and who supplies what
If the set arrived without one of these, send it back before you start reviewing. Half-checking an incomplete set wastes the ten minutes and buys nothing. Where the drawings came out of a configurator rather than a drawing office, the same list applies, and a browser-produced set can carry all six, which is why a full kitchen spec no longer needs CAD software.
The heights that should never surprise you
New Zealand kitchens are built to a settled vertical stack: a 150 mm toe kick, a 720 mm base carcass, and the benchtop landing at 900 mm finished height. Above that sits a 600 mm splashback zone, then 720 mm of upper cabinet, for an overall elevation of 2,220 mm. Base cabinets run from 150 mm to 1,000 mm wide with 600 mm as the default module, and the bench is 600 mm deep.
Those numbers should appear on the elevation, dimensioned, every time. A drawing that shows different heights is not automatically wrong: a bench dropped for accessibility or raised for a tall household is legitimate. It is legitimate only when it is deliberate, and deliberate means a note on the drawing saying so. An unexplained 870 mm bench is a drafting error travelling toward a benchtop remake.
The standard vertical stack, the way it should read on the elevation.
| Element | Dimension | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Toe kick | 150 mm | Sets the base of the stack |
| Base carcass | 720 mm | Carcass only, benchtop excluded |
| Finished bench | 900 mm | Toe kick plus carcass plus benchtop |
| Splashback zone | 600 mm | Bench to underside of uppers |
| Upper cabinets | 720 mm | Standard overhead height |
| Overall elevation | 2,220 mm | Check against ceiling and windows |
How do you check kitchen shop drawings in ten minutes?
In this order, because each check catches a different class of error.
- Scale and room: the dimensioned run must match the site measure, not the plan measure, because framing and lining move walls
- Widths: add every cabinet width plus fillers along each run; the sum must equal the run dimension exactly
- Heights: confirm the standard stack, and that any departure carries a written reason
- Appliance gaps: each gap dimensioned and named to a model somebody has actually ordered
- Services: sink centred on the waste, outlets clear of drawer banks, a duct path that exists
- Finish schedule: matches what was agreed, edging and hardware included, supply responsibilities stated
The width addition is the check people skip and the one that bites. Cabinets are made to the millimetre. Rooms are not. The difference lives in fillers and scribes, and if the drawing does not show where they go, the installer decides on the day, in front of the flooring.
Appliance gaps are where drawings fail
Most shop drawing rework traces back to appliances. The joiner drew a 600 mm gap because that is the default, the client bought a 900 mm cooker, and nobody connected the two documents. Or the fridge gap is drawn tight for a model that needs ventilation clearance either side. On packages where appliances are supplied by others, the joinery contract prices cabinetry around the gaps, so the gap dimensions are the contract boundary and the risk sits exactly on that line.
Services get the same treatment in miniature. The plan should show the sink sitting on the waste position, power where the drawers are not, and a rangehood duct route that exists in the ceiling that actually got built. A drawing can be internally perfect and still wrong about the room.
Who approves what
Sign-off is a chain, and it works when each party approves only what they control. The joiner certifies that the drawn kitchen can be built and matches the dimensions taken at site measure. Coordination belongs to the main contractor: services, walls, floor levels, sequence with other trades. Selections belong to the client, or the developer standing in for one: layout, finishes, hardware, appliance models. Trouble arrives when one signature is treated as covering all three.
| Party | Approves | Does not approve |
|---|---|---|
| Joiner / manufacturer | Buildability, site-measured dimensions, carcass construction | Finish selections, appliance choices |
| Main contractor | Services coordination, walls and floors, install sequence | The look, the layout intent |
| Client / developer | Layout, finishes, hardware, appliance models | Millimetre setout, construction detail |
Drawings are how variations die
A signed shop drawing is the cheapest dispute-resolution tool on a kitchen package. When the cooktop turns out to be 900 mm, the drawing shows what was approved at 600 mm, and the change becomes a variation with a clean starting point instead of an argument about who said what in a hallway. If the bench height gets queried at handover, the elevation shows 900 mm, signed, dated. Most variation traffic on kitchen packages is really drawing traffic that never happened, which is the core of keeping variations and RFIs off a kitchen package.
The same page protects the joiner, and you want it to. A workshop building to a signed drawing builds with confidence, and confidence is speed. Our own process will not put a kitchen into production until the signed set and the site measure agree with each other; the checks behind that sit in how we quality check kitchens.
Before you sign
Run the ten-minute check per kitchen, in the order above, on the current revision. Confirm the revision number matches what the workshop is holding. Check the appliance models are on the page, the site measure has actually happened, and the finish schedule reads the way the client thinks it reads. Then sign it, date it, and return it through one channel so a single approved set exists. A kitchen with a clean signed drawing set moves faster through the workshop, faster on site, and is very hard to argue about afterwards.
Frequently asked questions
What should kitchen shop drawings include?
Six things: a to-scale plan with the run dimensioned wall to wall, an elevation with every cabinet width in millimetres, the vertical dimensions (toe kick, carcass, bench, splashback zone, uppers, overall), appliance gaps dimensioned and named to models, services marked, and a finish schedule stating who supplies what. A set missing any of these is not ready for review, let alone signature.
What are the standard kitchen heights in New Zealand?
A 150 mm toe kick, 720 mm base carcass and the benchtop give a 900 mm finished bench height, then a 600 mm splashback zone, then 720 mm upper cabinets, for a 2,220 mm overall elevation. Bench depth is 600 mm and base cabinets run 150 mm to 1,000 mm wide with 600 mm the default module. Departures are fine when they are deliberate and noted on the drawing.
Who approves kitchen shop drawings?
It is a chain, not one signature. The joiner certifies the kitchen can be built to the site-measured dimensions, the main contractor certifies coordination with services, walls, floors and other trades, and the client or developer certifies the selections: layout, finishes, hardware and appliance models. Each party should approve only what it controls, in writing, on the same revision.
Can shop drawings be approved off the architect's plans alone?
No. Framing, lining and floor levels move walls, so the shop drawings must be checked against a site measure, not the consented plans. A drawing set produced before site measure is provisional by definition. Approve the layout and selections from it if you must, but hold final approval of dimensions until the measured numbers are on the page.
What happens if I sign shop drawings with a mistake on them?
The signed set governs, so the cost of the mistake usually lands with whoever approved it. A wrong width caught on paper is a revision. The same width caught at install is a remade cabinet, a programme delay and an argument. That is the whole case for the ten-minute structured check before signing rather than a glance and a signature.
How long should shop drawing review take?
About ten minutes per kitchen with a structured checklist: scale against the site measure, widths summed against the run, the standard heights, appliance gaps named to models, services, then the finish schedule. Across a multi-unit package, review the repeated type once in full and then check each unit's departures. Aim to turn the set around within a day or two so the workshop keeps its lead time.
Do shop drawings actually reduce variations?
Yes, more than any other single document. A signed drawing fixes scope in millimetres, so a later change has a clean baseline and prices as a variation instead of dissolving into dispute. It also kills the quiet variations: fillers, gaps and services get resolved on paper where they cost nothing, instead of on site where they cost a call-back.