How a Custom Kitchen Gets Made in Miami. Step by Step

At Kitchen and Closet Design we design it, we build it in our shop in the Miami area and we install it with our own crew, so you go to one company and one person. Almost everyone assumes something else: that the project passes through several companies that do not talk to each other. One designs and another builds it in a distant factory you are never going to see. When something does not fit, that is when the process breaks. That does not happen with our "Step by Step" working method, where each step links to the one before it.

The risk moves. When the cabinetry is ordered from an outside factory, your project enters a production queue that nobody on your side controls. We enter our own, and if needed we even correct the cuts with a second round of measurements. Working in stages like that, we can always correct if the client raises a request or a variation.

It all starts with a conversation about how you use the kitchen. How many people cook at the same time? What do you store, and how often? What bothers you every day about the kitchen you have now? Where does the light come in at dawn? And what do you imagine feeling when you walk into it. From there comes the layout, the selection of materials, colors, accessories and everything else.

Then we go measure. We measure the built space. Real ceiling height, square of the corners, plumb of the walls, position of doors and windows, and where the water supply, the drain, the gas and the electrical outlets land.

We measure the plumb of the walls and the slope of the floor because, if there is deviation, we solve it inside the cabinet. Covering it up afterward with a molding is not an option.

Professional standards exist for those clearances. The National Kitchen & Bath Association has published its Planning Guidelines since 1992, with recommendations on clearances, equipment placement and storage systems. Its fifth edition aligns with the 2024 International Residential Code. A good design starts there and is then adjusted to your home and your height.

With that survey we draw the plans. They are not a pretty render, they are the document the material is cut and optimized from. Each unit with its width, its depth, its height, its drawers, its shelves and its hardware. That is the moment to change things. After that point, changing a unit means building it again.

Our collections are built with Italian engineered wood, in panels of 2.2 cm, or 7/8 of an inch, and with finishes imported directly from Italy. The material comes from Italy and the cabinetry we build here, in Miami.

That number matters and almost nobody tells you. The thickness of the panel determines how much weight a shelf holds without bowing, how much thread a hinge or a slide grabs and whether the cabinet feels solid when you close a drawer. When you compare two quotes, ask for the panel thickness on both. If a company talks to you about quality but does not tell you the number, that is a red flag to watch.

We choose the finishes for how they hold up to humidity, for how they hold up over time and for how they clean. In a Miami kitchen that weighs more than the color. Water-repellent surfaces are designed to help repel everyday moisture. They are not fully waterproof and they must be maintained according to the manufacturer's recommendations to protect the durability of your investment.

Once the plans are approved, the panel goes into cutting and fabrication at our shop in the Miami area. There we cut the panel, we apply the edge banding, we drill for the hardware, we assemble the boxes and we adjust the fronts. We review your kitchen at every stage of the project: design, fabrication and installation. In the shop, mistakes cost less than they do on the job site.

Building here removes middlemen. Our designers and our installers work in the same place as production, so we settle the adjustments among ourselves.

You can see the material and the finishes before you decide anything. Our showroom is at 3131 NW 79th Ave #2, Doral, FL 33122.

If you live in a condominium, ask your association what approval it requires and what hours the service elevator can be used, before you set dates. That governs when material can go up and when installation can happen.

On top of your building's hours come the county's. In May 2023 the county amended sections 21-28 of its ordinance and prohibits the use of noisy construction equipment and machinery near dwellings, including multifamily ones, between 8 at night and 7 in the morning, as published by Miami-Dade County's Building and Permits division. Working outside those hours requires a variance filed separately.

The county also steps in when the work touches utilities. Moving a water line, relocating a drain or modifying an electrical circuit enters permit and inspection territory, and in Miami-Dade the electrical, mechanical and plumbing permits are pulled and inspected separately, each as its own sub-permit under the master permit. It is worth clarifying with your designer on the first visit, because it affects the layout you can afford.

The top is the countertop of the cabinets already installed and leveled. It is made after installation because the countertop, whether stone, marble, or another material you choose, is cut from reality, and a minimal deviation in a cabinet shows in the joint of the stone.

The cabinets are already in place and the kitchen still does not work, because the sink sits on the countertop and the countertop is at the stone shop.

Choose the sink before the template is made. We cut the opening to the size of that specific model, which guarantees a complete seal against moisture.

Taking out the old kitchen brings dust and noise, and that is where you lose the sink and the appliances that were connected. If the project touches utilities, the water and the electricity in that area are cut and restored within that same phase. With the installation of the cabinets the visual order returns. The sink is still missing. In the final pass, with the countertop already in place, we connect the water and the kitchen goes back into service.

This much you can prepare from day one. A support area with a small refrigerator and a microwave outside the kitchen, and a protected spot for whatever you take out of the cabinets. Ask your designer at what exact phase you lose the water.

On installation day our own people come in, with the same plans drawn by the designer who measured your home and that you approved beforehand. We install with our own crew, and the cabinets we assemble came out of our shop. We align and we level, and we make the adjustments the job site calls for.

The last stage we close ourselves. No coordinating between suppliers who do not know each other. No explaining another company's design to a contractor. No standing in the middle when two of them disagree.

When we finish we walk the space with you there, noting the adjustments still pending. A door that needs alignment, a piece of hardware that needs tightening. We close that list before calling the project done.

Manufacturer warranties transfer to the end consumer, subject to applicable terms and conditions. Always ask in writing what it covers, who you claim it from and what you have to do to keep it, from us and from any company you are looking at.

A new kitchen before a sale is planned differently than a kitchen you are staying to live in, because the goal stops being your routine and becomes what a buyer values.

We cover it in depth in our guide Kitchen Before Selling Your Home, on which remodels are worth doing before you put the house on the market and which ones do not pay off. And if what you want is the return figure, we analyze it with 2026 numbers in Does a Custom Kitchen Increase Home Value.

These are the questions that separate a company that builds from one that resells. Ask us too:

Our answers are on this page. You can verify them: we have nine published projects with their city, seventeen Google reviews reproduced on this site, each signed with the reviewer's name, and a showroom in Doral you can walk into and touch the material. You can also see both services on our services page.