Cox Joinery

Cox Joinery Kitchens, custom furniture, wooden exterior joinery

22/08/2026

A bit of beautiful New Zealand tōtara through the workshop today. 🌿

Machining these solid tōtara slabs in preparation for the next stage, where they'll be handed over to a master carver and transformed into the taurapa for a waka.

Always pretty special working with timber like this — and even better knowing what it's going to become.

Just my small part in the process before the real artistry begins. 👌

Woodworking Joinery Craftsmanship

14/08/2026

🚪 SECRET DOOR – UNBOXING THE HARDWARE

I've been working on a fully concealed secret door project, and the first step was getting my hands on the hardware from Sugatsune America Inc. in Japan.

The system is pretty clever. The door initially pushes in and then slides sideways, with a soft-close mechanism bringing it smoothly into its final position.

The goal is for the finished door to completely disappear into the wall — no obvious frame, no conventional hinges and no visible indication that there's actually a door there. Just a clean, seamless wall until you know where to push. 👀

In this video I'm unboxing the componentry for the first time and having a good look at the quality, construction and how everything is designed to work together. First impressions are very good — the hardware is seriously well made.

This is only the beginning, though.

I'll be documenting the whole process as the project progresses, from the componentry and construction right through to the finished door being installed and disappearing into the wall.

So if you're interested in seeing how a secret door actually gets built, follow along. There's plenty more to come. 🔨🚪

ArchitecturalHardware CustomJoinery BespokeJoinery NZJoinery InteriorDesign Architecture Joinery

Another kitchen loaded up and this one heading to an awesome farm in Wairoa 🚛This is one of the parts of my job I really...
13/08/2026

Another kitchen loaded up and this one heading to an awesome farm in Wairoa 🚛

This is one of the parts of my job I really enjoy — building the kitchen in Taupō, loading it onto the trailer, driving it to site and then staying in town until the job is completely finished.

Before I leave Taupō, I’ve already measured and organised the benchtops. That means there’s no waiting around after the kitchen is installed for someone to come and template the site before the stone can even be manufactured.

The stone is manufactured in Hamilton by the awesome team at Made in Stone, and even if we book the installation 3–6 months ahead, we stick to the date every time.

I also don't just finish installing the kitchen and leave the stone installers to sort out the rest.

I'm there from the beginning of the stone installation right through to completion. I’ll give the guys a hand where needed, help work through the final details and make sure everything comes together properly.

That means nobody is left waiting around for answers. The stone team, the client and myself are all there together, working through the final details and making sure the finished job is right.

It’s a system we’ve been using successfully for the last 15 years, and in that time we’ve never missed an installation date.

Kitchen installed, benchtops and splashbacks fitted, everything finished and signed off — all within the planned timeframe.

Big thanks to the awesome team at Made in Stone for always delivering when they say they will. 👌

Taupo NZJoinery CustomJoinery QualityJoinery

07/08/2026

Vitesse on Ice ❄️😂

Not a lot of progress on the boat recently..… unless scraping frost off the deck counts.
With the next stages involving painting and needing decent drying conditions, I think the Vitesse rebuild is officially having a winter break. No point fighting the weather and making a mess of it just for the sake of getting something done.
Looks like we’ll be back into it properly in spring when the temperatures come up and I can give the next stages the time they need.

For now, she can stay frozen. 🥶😂

Taupo CoxJoinery

Whatever it takes to get the job done.Cox Joinery started in 2011 and I’ve been a one-man band from day one.These photos...
07/08/2026

Whatever it takes to get the job done.
Cox Joinery started in 2011 and I’ve been a one-man band from day one.
These photos are from around 2015 and are a pretty good example of some of the behind-the-scenes stuff that went on after everyone else had gone home.
I’ve never been very good at asking for help, so rather than carrying everything myself, I’d work out a way to get the trailer as close to the door as physically possible so I could roll the units straight in and out the back.
I remember this particular job pretty well. I reckon I got in and out of the truck at least 10 times, checking how close I was getting to the building and slowly working my way in. 😂
Probably would’ve been quicker to ask someone for a hand… but where’s the fun in that?
One-man band since 2011. Still finding a way to get it done.

03/08/2026

Shop walk through diary 03/08/26

28/07/2026

💡 Cox Joinery Tip of the Day
Did you know you can have a push-to-open dishwasher?
When designing a fully handle-free kitchen, the dishwasher is often the one appliance people forget about. Without a handle, it can be difficult to open—unless you choose a model with an automatic push-to-open function.
Brands such as Bosch and Gaggenau offer models that pop open with a gentle push, allowing you to keep that clean, seamless handle-free look throughout the entire kitchen.
It's one of those small details that can make a big difference to the finished result.
Follow Cox Joinery for more kitchen tips and ideas! 👌

02/07/2026

Morning workshop walk through.
I thought I'd add these every so often as a diary so I can look back on how the workshop space changes over time with all the different projects I have on the go😁

01/07/2026

Kitchen installation process.
Midway through this custom Kitchen installation.

30/06/2026

🚤 VITESSE REBUILD – 126 HOURS OF PROGRESS

126 hours into the rebuild so far.

I thought I'd do something a little different with this one. Instead of showing where the project started, I've reversed the timeline.

The first photos are where Vitesse sits today. Then each photo takes you further back until the final image reveals what I started with.

It's easy to look at the boat now and forget how much work has gone into getting it to this point.

Still a long way to go, but every hour is another step closer to seeing Vitesse back on the water.

Which photo surprised you the most?

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59 Miro Street
Taupo
3330

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