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The flat-pack line
Ready-to-assemble cabinets, numbered to the bay.
A ready-to-assemble kitchen leaves the line flat: parts cut to your drawings, drilled and edge-banded, packed into numbered boxes by bay, assembled at your site in 1.5-2 days. Same board, same edge, same hardware as a pre-built order - a different route across the ocean.
The format
What ready-to-assemble actually means.
Flat-pack is a packing decision, not a build standard. Your kitchen runs the same ten stages as a pre-built order: 18mm E0-grade plywood cut to the drawings at ±0.5 mm, 2mm PVB hot-melt banding on every cut edge, Blum soft-close hinges rated at 50,000 cycles, trial assembly before the 40% deposit.
The difference is the last step. The boxes ship corner-protected and numbered by bay, so the crew opens bay 1, fits bay 1, then moves on - and the kitchen is adjusted on site to the room, not forced to fit as shipped.
The full comparison - container yield, freight, damage, labour, fit - is costed in the flat-pack vs assembled guide.
Why it matters
The difference, in one table.
| Factor | Flat-pack (RTA) | Assembled (pre-built) |
|---|---|---|
| Container yield | More per container - panels nest | Fewer per container - ships volume |
| Freight per linear foot | Lower (dense load) | Higher (shipping air) |
| Damage in transit | Corner-protected panels, one bay at a time | Box-level risk, dents show |
| On-site labor | Assemble - 1.5-2 d, two-person crew | Set + level - faster, heavier |
| Final fit | Adjusted on site to the room | Must fit as shipped |
| Best for | Most orders, non-standard rooms | Tight schedules, show-ready arrival |
Numbers from a packing list
One measured order, crate by crate.
Not a sample kit - a delivered program: a kitchen plus fourteen wardrobe sheets, packed and crated in one export order. Every row is the total line of its own sheet in the packing list, and the total is what the container was entered with.
| Component | Pieces | Volume (m3) |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen modules | 562 | 62.56 |
| Wardrobe modules (14 sheets) | 419 | 23.42 |
| Wood crating | 21 | 8.62 |
| Hardware packs | 10 | 0.17 |
| Total | 1,012 | 94.77 |
A flat-pack program is a list of counted pieces, not an estimate of volume.
The packing standard
How it leaves the line.
Wooden crates
Panels crated so a stack cannot shift; corner protection on the edges that take knocks.
Pallets
Bottom wood pallets under the crates - forked once, moved once, no hand-stacking on the dock.
Loading
The container loaded bay by bay against the packing list, before the seal is closed.
Stone in its own crate
Countertops crate separately on their own pallet, so stone and cabinets do not share risk.
The last step
At your site, not ours.
A two-person crew takes 1.5-2 days on a standard 20-linear-foot kitchen. Larger runs scale with linear feet; every box arrives with its install manual and the hardware pre-sorted.
Numbered, corner-protected boxes under crating, insured in transit and included inside a DDP price. Report any damage within 48 hours with photos and the order number - the box is numbered, so we know exactly which bay was affected.
The sequence, gates and photo evidence it runs through: the ten stages, deposit to delivery. The document the boxes are packed against: the frozen spec.
FAQ
The flat-pack format, asked straight.
What does ready-to-assemble mean in practice?
Can I mix flat-pack with pre-built pieces?
What is the board in a flat-pack order?
What happens if a panel arrives damaged?
Do you pack the stone and hardware with the kitchen?
Is ready-to-assemble a lower-grade option?
Once the crate is on site: the cabinet installation guide - the tool list, the hardware in the bag and the numbered sequence.
Your measured order, one floor plan away.
Send the plan. The quote comes with the packing plan - bay by bay, piece by piece, the way the container will be entered.
How the flat-pack decision is costed: flat-pack vs assembled. Start with a painted panel before the boxes: door samples. Up one level: kitchen cabinets.top 10 RTA cabinet suppliers in China.