When people hear that the lead time for a Montage Kitchen is around 10–12 weeks, the first reaction is usually surprise — sometimes even disappointment.
But when you see what actually happens between approving your concept plans and seeing your kitchen installed, it starts to make sense.
Every kitchen we build is a custom project involving multiple suppliers, sub-contractors, and skilled team members. Getting everything right takes time and coordination.
Below, we’ll walk through what happens step-by-step.
1. From Concept Plans To A Production Ready Project
Once you’ve accepted your quote and concept plans, you might think manufacturing can start. But concept drawings are only a visual guide — they’re not detailed enough to cut panels or build from.
Before we can start production drawings, we need several key details confirmed:
- Appliance model numbers: oven, hob, fridge, dishwasher, etc. Each one has unique ventilation and fitting requirements.
- Handle choices, colours, and finishes.
- Flooring type and height: this affects cabinet and bench heights.
- Final site measure: to confirm room sizes and check for any last-minute changes to walls, plumbing, or electrical.
Even small adjustments at this stage — like a wall shifting by 10 mm, changing your choice of sink/oven/dishwasher, or a flooring change — can mean hours of redrawing and recalculating. That’s why we don’t begin production drawings or confirm install dates until all this information is complete and the site is ready to measure accurately.
2. Creating Detailed Production Drawings
Once we have everything we need, our CAD engineering team can begin your production drawings.
These are precise technical plans showing every part of your kitchen down to the millimetre — including how it will be cut, joined, and installed.
They form the foundation for everything that follows and are converted into machine-ready cutting files for our CNC equipment.
Production drawings generally take around five working days to complete, but our CAD team always has a queue of jobs booked ahead.
Once finished, the drawings are sent to you for final sign-off. Any last-minute change means further redraws and delays, so we work carefully to get everything right the first time. We require production drawings to be signed off within 3 working days to keep things moving to schedule.
3. Ordering Materials and Hardware
When the production plans are approved, we start ordering all the materials and hardware needed for your kitchen.
This includes:
- Cabinet hardware: lift mechanisms, rubbish bins, drawer systems, lighting, and handles.
- Colour boards: most melamine and acrylic boards are pressed to order in your chosen finish. A 7-10 day lead time is typical, but can extend longer if a specific colour is unavailable.
- Door and panel fronts: grooved, moulded, thermowrapped, or painted panels are supplied by specialist manufacturers. Their lead times usually range from 5 to 20 days, depending on workload and material supply.
- Imported components: some high-end European hardware can take even longer if suppliers are awaiting stock or relying on sea freight.
We order these items early in the process, but some are beyond our direct control. A late shipment or supplier backlog can affect when your kitchen is ready to assemble — one reason we build buffer time into our overall lead time. With so many moving parts, we need to prepare for the unexpected.
Any extreme delays from suppliers may result in us needing to move your installation date. This is rare, we partner with reliable suppliers and sub trades, but from time-to-time unexpected things can happen outside our control. Unexpected curve balls such as international shipping delays, machinery breakdowns, or a painter breaking his leg can have large flow on effects for our production schedule.
4. Machining in the Factory
While we wait for outsourced components to arrive, we start machining the cabinet carcasses in our own workshop.
Your approved production drawings are converted into “nests” — digital layouts that guide our CNC machine to cut every panel precisely.
Each piece is then edged, labelled, and moved to the next stage.
If your kitchen uses melamine, acrylic, or veneer boards, these are also cut and edged in-house.
Machining typically takes around five working days, depending on project size and complexity.
5. Assembly and Quality Control
Once all components are ready, your kitchen moves to our assembly shop. Every cabinet is assembled, checked, and adjusted by hand to ensure perfect alignment and fit.
We aim to assign one joiner to each project or room wherever possible. It’s slower than having a group rush through it in a production line setup, but this approach gives better consistency and accountability — the joiner knows the job inside and out.
This production method also results in happier, more skilled joiners (compared to companies who run a production line setup – where one person assembles the drawers, one person installing carcass cabinets, one person fitting handles etc.) This assembly method contributes to Montage’s reputation for high quality workmanship. Learn more about our approach to kitchen assembly.
At this stage we also confirm that all outsourced components — doors, drawers, panels, benchtops, and handles — have arrived and meet spec.
If something is missing or delayed, we must decide whether to:
- Deliver the kitchen incomplete and make a second trip later (which adds cost, but may help keep the rest of your subtrades on schedule), or
- Hold off delivery until all parts are ready.
We always prefer to deliver complete and correct kitchens, even if that means rescheduling the installation date. A 12-week timeframe is usually more than enough time to mitigate any unexpected delays and ensure we don’t need to change the install date. This is always a last resort and something we don’t do often.
6. Outsourced Production: Painting, Staining, and Benchtops
If your design includes painted or stained panels, they’re sent to a professional furniture painter for finishing.
Drying times, weather, and the painter’s other workload can all affect when these panels are ready to return to the factory.
For benchtops, timing depends on your chosen material:
- Stone or engineered surfaces are fabricated by specialist stonemasons
- Laminate tops are usually made locally
- Timber tops require machining, sanding, and coating
- Stainless tops are fabricated by specialist Sheetmetal engineers
Each supplier has different production schedules, so we coordinate all of them to line up as closely as possible with your installation date.
Some benchtops require templating after your kitchen is installed. This ensures a perfect fit for stone or stainless tops. So you may not receive your benchtop until after your kitchen is installed.
7. Delivery and Installation
Delivery is a mini project of its own.
Our delivery team loads each piece carefully, secures it for transport, and assesses the site for safe access. Large cabinets can weigh hundreds of kilograms and often need two people (or more) to carry — so we plan this stage thoroughly.
Once everything is on site, our installers take over. They fit your kitchen carefully, working around other trades such as plumbers, electricians, and flooring installers.
Why Lead Times (and Sometimes Delays) Matter
Our quoted lead time of 10–12 weeks isn’t about delay — it’s about setting a realistic timeframe that allows for quality control, supplier lead times, and the unexpected.
The last thing we want to do is move your install date, as we understand this also impacts other sub trades you have booked in – your plumber, electrician, potentially tiling and flooring installers too. Therefore we set a realistic date with enough time to be confident we can stick with the plan.
Every project involves dozens of people:
- Designers and estimators
- CAD technicians
- Product and scheduling coordinators
- Machine operators
- Joiners, delivery team and installers
- Painters, stonemasons, and external suppliers
Each person plays a key role in making sure your kitchen fits perfectly, functions properly, and lasts for years.
Even with tight planning, things can go wrong: a supplier’s shipment delayed, a paint batch rejected, a damaged panel needing remaking.
We’d rather fix these properly than rush to meet an unrealistic deadline and risk quality issues later.
Working to a Fixed Deadline?
If you’re working to a specific date — for example, a move-in or event — let us know early.
We can sometimes shorten the process by:
- Choosing stocked board colours and finishes,
- Using in-stock handles and drawer inners,
- Simplifying design details to avoid made-to-order or imported parts.
These options help us work within tighter timeframes without compromising quality.
Can you do it in less than 10-12 weeks?
Sometimes, yes. But there are risks.
We believe transparency is the key to avoiding disappointment and frustration with our clients. There are many situations where we can produce a kitchen/ joinery project much faster. And if you find yourself caught out with a fast approaching deadline we will always try our best to make it work for you. The purpose of this explainer article is to help you see all that goes on behind the scenes. We may agree to a shorter deadline for some projects, but these run a higher risk of needing to push back the install date if we have any unexpected issues.
The End Result
When you see your finished kitchen installed, you’re looking at the combined effort of many skilled people and weeks of careful coordination.
Taking the time to do it right ensures a better finish, fewer issues later, and a kitchen that meets the Montage standard for workmanship.
That’s why we don’t rush the process — and why those 10–12 weeks are worth the wait.
