Kitchen landed in Adelaide

The kitchen we priced

About 8 lineal metres plus an island, 2-pac doors, moisture-resistant carcasses, Blum hinges and runners, flat-packed over 1 metre.

Landed in Adelaide, line by line

Every line from the factory gate to your site. Low, middle and high use the low, middle and high of every published rate at once. Estimate: no delivered Elje job sits behind this figure yet.

Against Adelaide prices

Supply only is the fair comparison with a landed price; installed prices include labour, which you pay either way.

No Adelaide per-lm source. WTD index puts Adelaide about 8% under Brisbane, the cheapest of the eight.

The local supply-only figure is worked out from published per-metre cabinetry rates, not a single quote, so treat it as a guide.

Is it worth it?

Yes, on the numbers we have. About $17,530 landed against $20,000 to $33,000 for local joinery, supply only, so roughly $2,470 to $15,470 less, before you add the benchtops, tapware and anything else that rides in the same shipment for far less than it would on its own. Estimate.

The Adelaide market

Adelaide is the cheapest of the eight on the cost index, about 8 percent under Brisbane: kitchens $11,050 to $41,400 installed, bathrooms $9,200 to $32,200, tiling labour $37 to $92 per m2. Stone fabrication is 15 to 20 percent cheaper per metre than in Sydney or Melbourne. Cheaper local prices mean a smaller gap to landed here than on the east coast.

How it gets to Adelaide

Foshan factory to Nansha, Shekou or Yantian, then a service to Outer Harbor, often with a stop or a transhipment on the way, then about 25 km by road to the city.

One container terminal, Flinders Adelaide Container Terminal at Outer Harbor, about 25 km north-west of the city.

Most Adelaide suburbs take a container at the kerb. Older inner-east streets can be narrow; ask before booking a 40 ft.

What moves the number

• Door finish. 2-pac and timber veneer cost more than a decorative board, at the factory and here.
• Volume. Pieces over 1 metre come flat-packed, which can halve the shipped volume. Freight is charged on cubic metres.
• What it travels with. A kitchen on its own pays a whole set of port, broker and delivery charges. In a whole-house container it shares them.
• Hardware. Name the hinge and runner brand on the quote (Blum or Hettich). Unnamed hardware is where a cheap quote gets cheap.
• Benchtops are a separate line. See stone benchtops.

What it has to comply with

• Board: E0 or E1 formaldehyde emission, with the test report for the batch.
• Timber products: as the importer you run illegal logging due diligence and answer the community protection question on the import declaration.
• Tariff 9403.40.00, general duty 5 percent, Free from China with a ChAFTA certificate of origin.

Notes for Adelaide

Hot dry summers and mild winters. Check veneers and solid timber are kiln-dried to suit dry air, and specify UV-stable finishes outdoors.

• Adelaide has fewer direct calls from South China than the east coast ports, so transit is longer and less predictable. Build the extra weeks into the program.
• Shared-container (LCL) services into Adelaide are thinner. Some forwarders route LCL through Melbourne and truck it across; ask which.
• Plumbing and building work is licensed through Consumer and Business Services SA. Imported WaterMark and RCM products go in the same way as local ones.

Questions