Importing Custom Kitchen Cabinets from Turkey: Cost, Container Loading and Lead Times

Custom flat-pack kitchen cabinets from Turkey start at **155 USD per square metre** for melamine-faced board, accessories excluded. Cabinets ship knocked-down on pallets with an assembly guide and installation video, which cuts freight cost substantially compared with assembled units. For EU destinations the A.TR movement certificate is issued at our end, so no customs duty applies on arrival.

That is the short version. Below is what actually determines your landed cost, and the three things most first-time importers get wrong.






## What the price covers

| Item | Included |
| Melamine / chipboard panels, cut to size | Yes |
| Edge banding and drilling | Yes |
| Labelled, sequenced packing on pallets | Yes |
| Assembly guide and installation video | Yes |
| Hinges, runners, handles, soft-close hardware | No — quoted separately |
| Worktops (stone, quartz, laminate) | No |
| Sinks, taps, appliances | No |
| Freight and insurance | Depends on Incoterm |

Accessories are quoted separately on purpose. Buyers in different markets want different hardware brands, and bundling them into the square-metre price hides a cost you should control yourself.

## Why flat-pack, not assembled

An assembled cabinet is mostly air. You pay ocean freight on that air.

Shipping knocked-down changes the economics: panels are cut to size at the panel mill, sorted in assembly sequence, palletised and labelled. The labour saved at our end plus the volume saved in the container is the reason this model works for export at all. Assembled kitchens only make sense for short-haul road freight within Europe.

The trade-off is real and worth stating: someone at your end has to assemble them. If you have a fitting team, flat-pack wins on every metric. If you do not, budget for it.

## Container loading

Loading volume depends on cabinet depth and door type more than on kitchen count. As a planning figure:

- 40 ft high cube is the standard unit for this cargo
- Pallets are shrink-wrapped, cornered and strapped; panels travel on edge, not flat
- Mixed loads are possible the kitchens, wardrobes and interior doors can share a container

If your order does not fill a container, LCL is available but the per-square-meter freight cost rises sharply. Consolidating with wardrobes or doors is usually cheaper than shipping a half-empty box.

## Lead times

The sequence is fixed even if the durations shift:

1. Drawings and panel list approved
2. Panels cut and edged
3. Sorting, labelling, palletising
4. Export documents issued
5. Loading and departure

The step that slips is almost always the first one. Every revision after approval resets the clock. Lock your drawings before production starts.

## Documents

For EU buyers we issue the **A.TR movement certificate**, which removes customs duty under the Turkey–EU customs union. For non-EU destinations, **EUR.1** or a **Certificate of Origin** is issued depending on the destination's agreement with Turkey. We have issued all three on past shipments.

Ask any Turkish supplier which document applies to your country before you place the order. A supplier who cannot answer this immediately has not exported to your market.

## Three things to check before you order

**1. Is the price per square metre of front face or of total panel area?**
These are different numbers and the gap is wide. Ours is front face.

**2. Who draws the panel list?**
If the supplier works from your drawings without producing their own cutting list for approval, errors surface at assembly, on your site, at your cost.

**3. What happens if a panel is damaged or missing?**
Get the replacement policy in writing before shipping, not after. Two missing panels can hold up an entire fit-out.

## Turkey versus China for this product

Turkey's advantage is not unit price, it is distance and revision speed. You know ‘the time is cash’!
Sea freight to Northern Europe runs a few days versus several weeks, duty is zero into the EU under A.TR, and a design change can be absorbed without restarting a six-week production queue. For large volumes with frozen specifications, China competes hard. For project work with real deadlines and drawings that still move, proximity wins.

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## Frequently asked questions

**What is the minimum order?**
Single kitchens are possible for European road freight. For container shipments, orders are normally consolidated to fill at least a 40 ft high cube.

**Can you match a specific colour or decor code?**
Yes, for any decor available from the panel manufacturers we work with. Send the decor code or a physical sample.

**Do you supply worktops?**
Not as part of the cabinet price. We can source natural stone and quartz separately in the same shipment.

**Can I visit the production facility?**
Yes. Visits are arranged in advance.

**Do you handle the shipping?**
We can quote FOB or DDP for European destinations. DDP means the price you see is the price landed at your door.

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**Send us your kitchen drawings or a simple room plan** at info@rvkmobilya.com and we will return a square-metre quotation and a container loading estimate.