Fixtures & Splashbacks — kitchen guides for Auckland
59 guides from the MTN Kitchens & Joinery workshop team on fixtures & splashbacks. 23+ years in trade · 2,000+ kitchens supplied & installed across Auckland · Laminex NZ fabricator.
Where the Money Goes in a Kitchen Quote — Auckland trade kitchen pricing broken down line by line: carcass, benchtop, appliances, install and margin, which lines scale on volume, and how to read a quote before you sign.
Rangehood and Ventilation: Ducted vs Recirculating — A working Auckland kitchen builder's guide to ducted vs recirculating rangehoods: extraction sizing, apartment and body-corp constraints, the Building Code, noise, and what to rough in early so it works on handover day.
Open-Plan Kitchen-Living Design — How to design an open-plan kitchen-living space that actually works: sightlines from the couch, hiding the mess with a scullery, taming acoustics, flooring transitions and quiet appliances. Auckland trade advice from MTN Kitchens.
Kitchen Splashback Options Compared — Tile vs glass vs stone slab vs laminate vs stainless — real Auckland trade advice on cost, cleaning, install sequencing, the compliance rules behind a cooktop, and the look each splashback gives.
Accessible and Universal Kitchen Design — A specialist Auckland guide to accessible and universal kitchen design: bench heights, wheelchair clearances, drawers and pull-outs, appliance placement, contrast and lighting, plus NZ compliance and real cost levers.
Small Apartment Kitchen Design — An Auckland kitchen maker's guide to small apartment kitchens: galley vs single-wall layouts, where integrated appliances earn their keep, and vertical storage.
Granny Flat Plumbing Rules NZ: The 30 Fixture Unit Limit — The granny flats exemption caps drainage at 30 fixture units, bans pumped systems inside the building, and sets DN100 mains at 1:60 — what that really means for your kitchen.
Whangaparāoa Kitchen Renovation: Bach to Full-Time Home — A 1970s Whangaparāoa bach kitchen was built for a fortnight in January. What to change for year-round cooking: bench, ducted extraction, pantry, salt-tolerant hardware, one delivery.
Point Chevalier Kitchen Renovation: Extension in Five Years — Renovating a Point Chevalier bungalow kitchen now and extending the back later: settle which wall the services stay on, buy carcasses you can re-front, build the island to move.
Royal Oak & Three Kings Kitchen Renovation: The Rock Below — Royal Oak and Three Kings sit on basalt lava, so moving a kitchen sink means cutting rock — what the drainage really costs, where the consent line sits, and what to spend on instead.
Rangehood Not Extracting? Filters, Ducts and Healthy Homes — Rangehood filter cleaning NZ, duct faults and the Healthy Homes ventilation standard: the 150mm and 50 litres per second rules, who cleans what, and why a compliant hood still fails.
Mouldy Kitchen Silicone at the Splashback: Reseal or Clean? — Black mould roots into the silicone, so bleach is cosmetic and it returns. Cut out and re-run the joint in neutral-cure sanitary grade, and read repeat failure as a moving joint.
Water Damage Under the Kitchen Sink: Catching It Early — The five tells of a slow leak under an Auckland kitchen sink, why melteca hides the damage longer than raw board, what your insurer will not cover, and a 30-second monthly check.
What Actually Fails First in a Rental Kitchen — The failure order in an Auckland rental kitchen: soft close, sink base swelling, the postformed edge at the sink, runners, then edge strips — and the spec line that moves each one.
Do You Need Consent to Move a Kitchen Sink in NZ? — Which kitchen sink plumbing is consent-exempt versus needs a building consent, who can legally do the pipework, and where Records of Work and Certificates of Compliance apply in NZ.
School Staffroom Kitchen Fit-Outs in Auckland — Planning a school staffroom kitchen upgrade: heavy shared use, boiling-water tap and dishwasher plumbing, robust laminate, and getting the whole job done inside a term break.
Can You Undermount a Sink in a Laminate Benchtop? — Why a laminate benchtop is built for a top-mount sink, the exposed-edge and substrate swelling risk of undermounting, and the real NZ options if you want the undermount look.
Kitchen Shop Drawings: What to Check Before You Sign — What kitchen shop drawings must show before approval: to-scale plan and elevation, millimetre widths, standard heights, appliance gaps, and a ten-minute check.
Replacing Kitchens in Occupied Social Housing — How kitchen replacement works with tenants in place: days without a sink, sequencing services, dust and respect, and what providers should require.
Designing a Kitchen Around a Freestanding Oven in NZ — Kitchen design for a freestanding oven: getting the 600 mm gap right, benchtop junctions, the rangehood over it, and when built-in cooking earns its premium.
Glass Splashback vs Tile in Volume Rental Housing — Glass splashback vs tile for rentals and volume housing: one panel and no grout against tile's maintenance line, the real cost picture, and when tile wins.
Replacing a Kitchen in the Same Layout: What You Save — Replace a kitchen in the same layout and the cost drops: sink stays by its waste, cooker keeps its circuit, no re-pipe, no re-wire, and a far shorter programme.
Child Safety Catches on Kitchen Cupboards in NZ — Which kitchen cupboards get child safety catches in NZ social housing, what the hardware is, built-in versus retrofit cost, and what landlords should copy.
Replacing a Kitchen Benchtop: Cost and What's Involved — What replacing a benchtop costs in NZ — honest installed bands for laminate and engineered stone, why stone takes two visits, and the sink, tap and levelling costs people forget.
Kitchen Tap Repair or Replace: How to Tell — Which kitchen tap faults are worth repairing, which parts are actually replaceable, and when a new mixer is the cheaper answer.
Minimum Kitchen Size in NZ: What You Can Fit — The shortest run that still works, minimum bench either side of a sink and hob, and how small a kitchen can get before it stops functioning.
What a Garage Spice Kitchen Costs in Auckland — Where the money goes in an Auckland garage spice kitchen: a compact joinery run priced like any small kitchen, plus the plumbing, power, ducting and consent that swing with your site.
What Goes in a Spice Kitchen? The NZ Spec Guide — The item-by-item Auckland spice kitchen spec: gas wok burner vs induction, ducted extraction, benchtops that cope with turmeric, pot drawers, spice pull-outs and 20kg rice storage.
Laundry Cabinets: Fitting a Real Laundry Into a Cupboard — The machine sets the layout, not the cabinetry. Clearances for front and top loaders, why a bench over the machines needs planning, tub versus sink, and where a laundry cabinet gets wet and stays wet.
Tiling and Waterproofing That Passes: Wet Areas Done Right — Why most tiling failures are really waterproofing failures, how a wet area is built up correctly in NZ, and what to check before you sign off a bathroom, splashback or re-grout job.
A Universal-Design Teaching Kitchen for a Supported Learning Centre — How to design an accessible teaching kitchen for students with a range of physical disabilities: a bench run around the walls, an open centre for wheelchairs, roll-under stations, safe appliances and clear sightlines for staff.
Wheelchair-Accessible Kitchen Bench Heights & Clearances — The measurements that make a kitchen usable from a wheelchair: worktop and knee-clearance heights, roll-under depth, clear floor space, turning room and reach ranges, with NZS 4121 as the reference and height-adjustable options.
Accessible Appliances & Controls for a Teaching Kitchen — Choosing appliances a student with a disability can use safely: induction with safe-touch controls, front-mounted dials, side-opening ovens at reach height, lever and sensor taps, tempered water and high-contrast controls.
Kitchen Joinery, Producer Statements and CCC Consent in NZ — How kitchen joinery fits the NZ building consent and Code Compliance Certificate process, which producer statements and records of work apply, and what the main contractor needs at CCC time.
The Single-Wall Townhouse Kitchen: Layout, Dimensions and Cost — What fits on a 2.4 to 3.0 metre single-wall townhouse kitchen, where the appliances-by-others land, the one-wall work triangle, and the real Auckland supplied-and-installed price band.