Quick answer
To standardise kitchen types across a development, read every lot plan for its cabinet runs, group lots whose runs match within a module or mirror flip, and collapse the set into two or three named types. Type A, B and C then repeat through procurement, manufacture and QA, and the type schedule becomes the document everyone prices and builds against.
Key points
- Typing turns nine different lot plans into two or three kitchens that repeat. The lots stay different; the kitchens stop being.
- Read plans for run lengths, layout shape, service positions and handing. Lots that match within a 600 mm module or a mirror flip are the same type.
- A genuine one-off type is allowed. Nine of them is not a typed package, it is nine one-offs wearing labels.
- Repetition is what moves price and programme: discounts step in as the identical count climbs, the workshop sets up once per type, and QA checks a type rather than a lot.
- The type schedule, one page of types, lots, counts and handing, is the contract artefact. Unsigned, every lot is still bespoke in someone's head.
A nine-lot subdivision lands on your desk as nine architectural packs, nine kitchen sheets, nine slightly different runs of joinery. Read them properly and the picture changes: three of the kitchens are the same galley mirrored, four differ from each other by one cabinet and a window position, and the last two share a corner layout. Nobody drew them to repeat. They repeat anyway, because townhouse plans keep arriving at the same handful of kitchen shapes.
Typing is the exercise of making that repetition official: collapsing a set of mixed lot plans into two or three kitchen types, call them A, B and C, that procurement can price, a workshop can batch and QA can check against one page. It is the highest-value hour of desk work on a multi-lot kitchen package, and this is how to do it.
What a kitchen type actually is
A type is one fully specified kitchen: layout, every cabinet width in millimetres, benchtop runs, sink and appliance positions, hardware and finishes. Lots then map to types. The package stops being nine kitchens and becomes three kitchens with a distribution list: Type A in lots 1 to 3, Type B in lots 4, 5, 6 and 8, Type C in lots 7 and 9. Procurement prices three things multiplied by counts. Manufacture sets up three times instead of nine. QA compares each install against its type sheet instead of rereading a lot plan on the bonnet of a ute.
The lots themselves stay different. Nobody is redesigning the architecture; bathrooms, bedrooms and claddings vary as they like. Typing only asserts that the kitchens inside those lots do not need to vary with them, and on most NZ townhouse and terrace product built around standard kitchen sizes and layouts, that assertion holds with room to spare.
How to read mixed plans for the common runs
Lay all the kitchen sheets out at once, because typing is a comparison exercise and comparison needs the whole set. Four things decide whether two kitchens are the same type.
- Run lengths, counted in modules. Kitchens are built from cabinets 150 to 1,000 mm wide on a 600 mm default module, so a 2,400 run in lot 2 and a 2,400 run in lot 5 are candidates for the same type regardless of the rooms around them.
- Layout shape: straight, galley or L. Same shape plus same run lengths is nearly always the same kitchen.
- Fixed positions: the sink under the window, the cooker on the services wall. Services placement is what genuinely forces kitchens apart.
- Handing. A kitchen and its mirror image are the same type flipped. Note the handing against the lot and move on.
Then hunt the near-misses, because they are where the value hides. Two runs 100 mm apart are one type: hold the module map identical and take the difference in one nominated cabinet width or an end filler, so every door, drawer and benchtop detail that costs money stays common. Differences worth a type are differences of kind, an extra full run, a pantry wall, a relocated sink. A wall being slightly shy is not one.
Nine lots into three types: a worked pattern
Here is the pattern from a recent nine-lot package south of Auckland, details anonymised. Lots 1 to 3 carried the same 2.4 m galley against the services wall, lot 2 mirrored: Type A, three off. Lots 4, 5, 6 and 8 each had an L of about 3.0 m with a 1.8 m return, differing only in window position and 100 mm of wall; one module map absorbed all four as Type B. Lots 7 and 9, the corner units, shared a longer U with a tall pantry: Type C, two off.
| Type | Lots | Run | Off |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1, 2 (mirrored), 3 | 2.4 m galley, sink under window | 3 |
| B | 4, 5, 6, 8 | 3.0 m L with 1.8 m return | 4 |
| C | 7, 9 | U with tall pantry, corner lots | 2 |
Nine drawings became one page. That page carried the pricing conversation across the nine lots, set the manufacture batches and hung on the workshop wall for QA. The typing itself took a morning, which is a good return on the weeks it saved.
Nine lot plans collapse to three kitchen types.
When a lot genuinely needs its own type
Some lots resist, and forcing them costs more than admitting them. A corner lot whose services land on a different wall is a different kitchen, full stop. An accessible unit with its own bench heights and clearances is a type by definition. The test is mechanical: if bending the lot into an existing type means butchering joinery on site, cutting carcasses, remaking benchtops, dragging services across the room, then the site cost exceeds the workshop's cost of one more setup, and the lot has earned Type D.
What a lot never earns is an undocumented tweak. The failure pattern on typed packages is rarely the honest fourth type; it is quiet drift, one small change at a time, until the workshop is secretly building seven kitchens under three names.
What typing does to price and programme
Volume pricing exists because repetition takes cost out of manufacture, and typing is what creates the repetition. Discounts step down as the identical count climbs: a few percent by the time five of the same kitchen go through, more past twenty. Three types across nine lots do not price like nine one-offs, because the workshop sets up three times, proves the first kitchen of each type once, and runs. That is the whole machinery behind what a volume kitchen actually is.
Programme gains match the price gains. Batched manufacture means lot 5's kitchen is not waiting on lot 5's drawing queries, install crews accelerate down the row fitting the same kitchen again instead of studying a new one, and variations collapse, because a change is made once to a type and flows to its lots. That discipline is most of the battle in keeping variations and RFIs off a kitchen package.
How many kitchen types should a development have?
As few as the plans allow, and usually fewer than first reading suggests. Nine lots almost always collapse to two or three once mirrors are recognised. Packages in the twenties and thirties tend to settle at three or four. The count that should trigger a rethink is types approaching lots: a twelve-lot package carrying eight types has not been typed, and it will price and build like the one-offs it still is.
The pressure to add types arrives late and politely: a purchaser upgrade here, a designer preference there. Hold the line at developed design, when a change is a conversation rather than a re-order. Changes that deserve to survive should change a type, not a lot.
The lots can be as different as the architect likes. The kitchens are only as different as the type schedule says they are.
The type schedule is the contract artefact
The output of the whole exercise is one page: each type with its elevation reference and full spec, the lot-to-type map with handing noted, and the counts. Get it signed by the developer, the builder and the kitchen supplier, and reference it in the subcontract. Quotes key to it, so a price is checkable as types times counts. Variations name a type and re-issue the page with a revision letter. Site QA carries it instead of nine lot plans. The working habit of keeping kitchen spec consistent across the units hangs off this page existing and staying current.
An unsigned type schedule is a suggestion, and suggestions do not survive contact with a live site. Signed, it is the answer to every 'which kitchen goes in lot 6' question for the length of the job, and the first progress claim reconciles against it instead of against memory.
Type first, then price
The order of operations is the point. Type the lots before anyone prices them, because a package priced as nine one-offs never gets cheaper by being typed afterwards; the quotes are already the wrong shape. Lay the kitchen sheets out, group by run and shape, mark the mirrors, write the schedule, then send that out for pricing with the counts on it.
It travels well as a working method. We type incoming multi-lot packages this way as a matter of course, and a set of plans, or photos of them, is enough to start: the online designer on our site will read an uploaded plan and draft each cabinet run left to right for checking, which makes the first pass of a typing exercise quick. However it gets done, the deliverable is the same: two or three kitchens, named, counted and signed, where nine used to be.
Frequently asked questions
How do you standardise kitchen types across a development?
Lay every lot's kitchen drawing out together and compare four things: run lengths in modules, layout shape, service positions and handing. Group lots that match within a module or a mirror flip, absorb small differences in one nominated cabinet width, and name the resulting kitchens Type A, B and C. Write the type schedule, get it signed, and price, manufacture and QA against types and counts rather than lots.
How many kitchen types should a development have?
As few as the plans allow. Nine lots almost always collapse to two or three types once mirrored pairs are recognised, and packages in the twenties and thirties usually settle at three or four. The warning sign is the type count approaching the lot count: at that point the package has not really been typed and will price and build like a set of one-offs.
Do mirrored kitchens count as the same type?
Yes. A kitchen and its mirror image use the same cabinets, the same cutting list and the same benchtop details, with handing swapped at assembly and install. Terrace developments pair lots as mirror images constantly, so treating flips as separate types doubles the type count for no manufacturing reason. Note the handing against each lot on the type schedule and keep the batch as one batch.
What if one lot doesn't fit any type?
Give it its own type, honestly and on the schedule. A corner lot with services on a different wall or an accessible unit with its own clearances is a genuine one-off, and forcing it into the wrong type costs more in site butchery than one extra workshop setup costs. What a lot never gets is an undocumented tweak, because quiet variations are how three types drift into nine.
How much does standardising kitchen types save?
Volume discounts step in as the identical count climbs, a few percent by around five of the same kitchen and more past twenty, and the programme gains stack on top: one workshop setup per type, faster install with each repeat, fewer errors and far fewer variations. The saving costs nothing but a morning of comparison work and the discipline to keep the schedule signed and current.
What goes in a kitchen type schedule?
One page: each type with its full spec and elevation reference, every cabinet width in millimetres, the lot-to-type map with handing noted, and the counts. It gets signed by the developer, builder and kitchen supplier and referenced in the subcontract, so quotes, manufacture, variations and site QA all key to the same document. If a change arrives, the schedule is amended and re-issued with a revision letter.
When should the typing exercise happen?
Before pricing, ideally at developed design while a change is still a conversation. A package priced lot by lot never gets cheaper by being typed afterwards, because the quotes are already shaped as one-offs. Type first, send the schedule and counts out for pricing, and lock the types before manufacture, when a change stops being a drawing amendment and starts being a re-order.