The Poliform Kitchen Guide

None in practice: they're the same division. Varenna was an independent Italian kitchen brand (founded 1950) that Poliform acquired in 1996 and ran separately for over two decades before folding it fully under the Poliform name in 2018. Older spec sheets or product listings may still carry the Varenna name.

Broadly, Italian-school brands (Poliform, Boffi) design the kitchen as part of a coordinated whole-home furniture system, with an emphasis on material and composition. German-school brands (bulthaup, SieMatic, Poggenpohl) are built more around engineering precision and ergonomic systems. Neither is objectively better: it depends on whether the kitchen needs to read as furniture within a broader interior, or as a standalone technical system.

There's no official published lifespan claim, so it's worth being precise rather than quoting a number: what's verifiable is the hardware specification: door hinges tested to 80,000 open/close cycles, Blum drawer runners tested to 100,000 cycles, an 18mm structural carcass panel, and a 2-year manufacturing warranty. Cycle-testing hardware into six figures is well beyond typical flat-pack cabinetry, which points to genuinely heavy-duty daily-use engineering.

Poliform sources timber through FSC-certified suppliers as part of its sustainability programme. For project-specific environmental documentation (EPDs, lifecycle assessment data) needed for a green-rated build, our design team can help confirm what's available for your specification.

Manufacturing lead time in Italy typically runs 7–10 weeks depending on the model: around 8–10 weeks for Alea, Alea Pro and My Planet, and 7–9 weeks for Shape and Phoenix. That's manufacturing time only; shipping and customs clearance to New Zealand add to that. Our design team confirms an exact timeline once your specification and order are finalised.

Yes. Poliform's kitchen range is published with downloadable BIM/CAD files through third-party architecture libraries (Archiproducts and ArchDaily's catalogue), the standard route for pulling accurate models into Revit or CAD documentation.

Yes. Poliform doesn't manufacture appliances: the cabinetry is engineered to receive whichever brand you specify, with cut-outs, services and clearances coordinated at the technical specification stage.

Yes. Poliform Contract is a dedicated international division for apartment developments, hospitality, hotel and commercial fit-out projects, working directly with architects on tailored specification.

There's no published price list, because cost depends on layout, size, material and finish selection, and appliance package. The same footprint can vary hugely in price depending on whether the worktop is laminate or natural stone. Poliform and Studio Italia both work on a design-and-quote basis rather than a catalogue price; an accurate figure comes out of the design consultation once a layout exists.

Yes. This is standard practice for a specified kitchen. Our showroom kitchens let you handle actual finishes and fittings in person before a spec is locked in, rather than choosing from a screen or a printed swatch.

It fits: NZ and European kitchen bench heights both sit at around 900mm conventionally, so there's no fundamental mismatch. The plinth height options (70/100/120mm on Artex Pro, for example) are exactly what lets an installer fine-tune the finished height to the room.

Largely yes. Beyond the standard module widths, Poliform produces made-to-order adaptations for non-standard spaces. How far that extends depends on the model and the specific change, so it's worth raising early in the design phase rather than assuming any dimension is possible once a layout is locked in.

The floor structure. Older New Zealand villas typically sit on a timber-piled suspended floor rather than a concrete slab, and a heavy worktop (especially on an island, where the load concentrates in one spot) can exceed what the original framing was designed for. A structural engineer's assessment of the specific floor is the right way to confirm whether additional bracing or blocking is needed.

Yes. New Zealand building practice requires freestanding and tall cabinetry to be restrained back to the building structure rather than left standing on friction alone, and wall-mounted units need proper fixing into a stud or blocking. Worth confirming directly with our installation team how tall units and wall cabinets are restrained on your specific project.

Sometimes. Consent is generally required for removing or altering a load-bearing wall, relocating plumbing fixtures, or altering gas fitting or ventilation systems. A renovation that keeps services in place and swaps cabinetry and finishes generally doesn't trigger consent, but any layout change should be checked against your local council's requirements before the kitchen spec is finalised.

Through a proper site survey before the kitchen goes into production. This matters more for a factory-built kitchen than site-built joinery, since a spec sheet locked in Italy can't be trimmed on the day the way a local joiner might adjust in real time. Out-of-square walls are normal in pre-1940s construction; minor discrepancies are absorbed with filler and end panels, but anything larger needs to be caught at the survey stage.

Worth flagging early. Poliform kitchens arrive as large, factory-assembled modules and stone worktop slabs rather than flat-pack, so an upper-floor apartment without a lift or a tight villa hallway may need a furniture hoist or a crane window-lift arranged for delivery day. Our installation team can plan around this if it's raised during design rather than discovered on delivery day.