Lead Time for 1-Piece MDF Cabinet Doors From Cutting Edge
Updated December 2, 2024
Cutting Edge ships most 1-piece MDF cabinet doors in 7-10 working days. Learn what can cause delays and how to get your order sooner.
As a contractor or cabinet maker, you know unreliable lead times will harm your reputation. You can’t afford delays from a supplier who doesn’t fulfill their commitments. That’s why you’re here – to get clear answers on the lead time for 1-piece MDF cabinet doors and avoid those headaches.
At Cutting Edge, we’ve spent over 20 years partnering with professionals like you, and we know how much is riding on our ability to deliver on time. We’ve established standard lead times, identified the common causes of delays, and developed tips to help you avoid them.
In this article, you’ll discover:
Most 1-Piece MDF Cabinet Doors Ship Within 7-10 Business Days
At Cutting Edge, most 1-piece MDF doors ship within 7-10 working days. This lead time starts on the day you confirm and pay for your order, and it doesn’t account for weekends or statutory holidays.
Now we can’t guarantee every order of 1-piece MDF doors will ship within that standard lead time. Depending on the options you choose, your doors may take longer.
Three Factors Extend the Lead Time for 1-Piece MDF Doors
Three factors can extend the lead time of your order:
1. Custom Pieces or Profiles
You may need to add custom doors or offer new profiles to make your designs stand out. We’ve all been there; your customer wants something new.
Our team has a lot of flexibility because we produce our 1-piece MDF doors using a CNC router. We can make most of the custom profiles and pieces you ask for – but it might take longer.
We can tweak existing programs if you order something we’ve done before. In this case, your order might only take one or two days longer.
However, complex requests and custom profiles are a different story. Difficult CNC programs can take up to a week to master due to development and testing.
Custom profiles take even longer. You have to wait for us to develop the profile, produce a sample, and ship that sample to you and your customer for approval. Requesting a custom profile can add up to three weeks to your order lead time.
2. Custom Materials
Over the years, our team has experimented with many products, including HDF, waterproof MDF, low-grade MDF, and other options. As a result of that testing, we offer two MDF products – a raw-backed MDF and a melamine-backed MDF.
If you want a different product, you can ask our team to source it. However, this does come with some risks, including the possibility of order delays. First, our team has to source and order the material you require. If this isn’t a material our suppliers stock, your order could wait over a month for the material to arrive.
In addition, every product machines differently. Over the years, we’ve adjusted our programs for the optimal machining of our standard products. Working with a new product means our team has to start from scratch to ensure high-quality results.
3. Finishing
Finally, you may order finished 1-piece MDF cabinet doors, so you only have to look after installing the finished product. Adding a painted finish extends your lead time to around 4-6 weeks.
Why does this addition extend the lead time? That’s because adding finishing to your doors means our team has to:
- Wait for the finishing materials to arrive,
- Create a finished sample for approval if required,
- Paint your doors and
- Perform a second quality inspection.
So far, you’ve learned about the delays that Cutting Edge accounts for when we schedule your order. However, what happens if something goes wrong while your order is in production? And what exactly might go wrong?
Other Problems May Delay Your 1-Piece MDF Cabinet Doors
You might assume it’s all smooth sailing once you place your order. However, three additional problems could occur – any of which can cause delays.
1. Waiting for Confirmation Or Payment
If you are new to working with Cutting Edge, you might not realize we require two more things from you before we proceed with your order:
- Payment
- Signed confirmation
Even if you’ve already worked with our team, you might miss (or not receive) our emails requesting payment or confirmation.
Our team understands that you are busy and emails can slip past unnoticed. That’s why you will receive a phone call from our team if we still require confirmation or payment 2-3 days after you place your order.
2. Internal Remakes
You can’t use defective pieces. That’s why Cutting Edge has a quality inspection in place – we aim to catch most defects before your order leaves our facility.
When we notice a problem before your order ships, we call the replacement piece an internal remake. Typically, internal remakes have enough time to catch up with your order before it needs to ship out. Plus, our team starts locating your order at least 24 hours in advance,
However, sometimes we don’t notice a problem until the last minute. In this case, we may delay your order by one working day while we rush the internal remake through the production line.
3. Machinery Problems
You already know we produce 1-piece MDF cabinet doors using a CNC router. This router is an extremely complex machine with many moving parts and technology.
Our team performs regular maintenance on our machinery to keep it in top-notch shape. However, complex machinery can still break down. While our team can repair minor problems, larger issues may require replacement parts and the support of a qualified technician.
In this case, our team has to delay any affected orders by as long as it takes to repair the machine – in a worst-case scenario, 2-3 working days.
Luckily, major breakdowns are rare (about one major breakdown each year across the entire factory), and our team is committed to reducing the impact of any breakdowns by working overtime to get your orders back on track.
Cutting Edge Notifies You Of Delays to Your Order
As your order moves through the production line, our team constantly assesses its progress. At least 24 hours in advance, we perform one final status check. At that time, if your order is behind schedule, our team will reschedule your order as required and send you an email with a new shipping date.
As you already learned, some delays occur without notice. A last-minute problem may lead to our team rescheduling your order by one working day with less warning. However, our team keeps these last-minute delays to a minimum by constantly reviewing your order status throughout the production line.
How To Get Your 1-Piece MDF Cabinet Doors Sooner
Working in the woodworking and cabinetry industries means your customers constantly push the limits. They want their kitchen, vanity, or laundry room finished now.
Whatever they need, it means you need your cabinet doors sooner.
What can you (and our team) do to help you keep your customers happy?
At Cutting Edge, you have two options.
1. Place Your Order Online
When you place your order online, our system will prompt you for payment at the time – and our team no longer requires a signed confirmation.
This option won’t save you a lot of time. However, you could save up to two days because this option removes several steps usually completed over 2-3 working days.
2. Request a Rush Order
If this doesn’t cut it for you and your customer, there’s another option – requesting a rush order.
You tell our team when you need us to ship your order. We put your order in production as a high-priority rush order.
If we meet your requested ship date, your order will cost an extra 10% of the subtotal (or $25, whichever is greater. However, we don’t charge you the additional fee if we don’t meet your shipping date.
Price Out Your 1-Piece MDF Cabinet Doors Online
As you work to become a trusted installer, repeated delays will harm your reputation. You can’t risk losing customers because your supplier can’t uphold their commitments. Nor can you afford to provide a promised install date to your customer when you don’t know how long your order will take.
Our team understands your need for reliability. That’s why Cutting Edge has provided you with the information you need to complete your projects on time and fulfill your promises. Your next step is to learn how to submit quotes online and see how much 1-piece MDF cabinet doors cost.
