Residential
Kitchen renovation in London
Most kitchen projects are really ground-floor projects. We price it against an agreed drawing and fit it with our own kitchen fitters rather than a chain of subcontractors.
- Fixed-price contract
- Principal contractor, CDM 2015
- In-house crew
Updated October 2026
A kitchen renovation in London covers strip-out, first-fix electrics and plumbing, plastering, flooring, unit and worktop installation, then second fix and snagging. Where a wall comes out, structural calculations and building control sign-off are needed, which adds time before the work starts rather than during it. We give you a programme with the quote.
What a kitchen renovation involves
Most kitchen projects are not really about kitchens. They are about how the ground floor works: whether cooking, eating and sitting happen in one space or three, where the light comes from, and whether the room can take a wider opening. In a London terrace that last question is usually the expensive one, because the wall between the kitchen and the dining room is often loadbearing and the answer is a steel, a calculation and a building control inspection rather than a sledgehammer. The kitchen renovation cost guide sets out typical London prices for a refit, a full renovation and the wall, from published sources.
We work in one order and we do not vary it. A measured survey, a conversation about how you actually use the room, then a layout, an elevation set and a finishes and appliance schedule before anyone quotes a price. A quotation drawn from a proper set of drawings is a number you can hold us to; a quotation drawn from a conversation is a guess that moves once work starts. After that our own crew strips out, first fixes, plasters, lays the floor, fits units, templates and installs worktops, and second fixes. The London detail sits around the edges: a skip permit or a suspended bay from the borough, delivery routes that work inside a low traffic neighbourhood, and each borough's own hours for noisy work. In a flat, the freeholder and the building manager set the rules on lifts, hours and waste.
Because the people who price the drawing are the people who fit it, there is no gap between the two. If something will not work on site we raise it before the price is agreed, where it costs an hour, rather than at second fix, where it costs a fortnight. It also means one point of responsibility. A worktop that does not meet the wall properly is our problem whether the cause was the setting out or the template. The same applies to the parts of a kitchen that are easy to underestimate: the floor build-up under a heavy island, the ventilation path for an extractor that has to reach an outside wall, and the making good to the rooms either side of an opening. Those are priced in the specification rather than raised as extras once the units are on site.
What a kitchen renovation includes
A full kitchen renovation covers all of the following as one package, priced against the drawings.
What is in the price
How it runs
- 01
Measured survey and brief
We measure the room properly and talk through how you use it, what is not working, and what the budget needs to cover. Wall construction and service positions are checked at the same visit.
- You receive
- Existing-condition drawing and a budget range
- 02
Layout and schedules agreed
The layout, elevations, and finishes and appliance schedule are agreed for the job, with your designer where you have one. Appliance dimensions are fixed here, because they drive the cabinetry.
- You receive
- Agreed drawings and finishes schedule
- 03
Fixed quotation and approvals
We price the drawings, not a conversation. You get a fixed figure, a start date and a week-by-week programme, plus the building control application and any party wall notice where a wall is coming out.
- You receive
- Fixed quotation, programme and submitted applications
- 04
On site
Strip-out, structural work, first fix, plaster, floor, units, worktops and second fix, in that order. A weekly update whether or not there is news.
- You receive
- Weekly progress update and inspection records
- 05
Snagging and handover
We walk the room with you, list anything outstanding, and close it out before asking for the final payment.
- You receive
- Handover pack, certificates and manufacturers' warranties
Regulations and compliance
Related
Further reading
Common questions
Straight answers.
Not answered here?
Tell us what you are planning. We read every enquiry ourselves.
Ask us directly07424 445105Our kitchen renovation cost guide at /kitchen-renovation-cost-london sets out the ranges and what moves them. In short: whether a wall comes out, whether services move, and the specification of units, worktops and appliances. A firm price follows a site visit and the drawings, because pricing a kitchen from a conversation is a guess rather than a quotation.
It depends on whether the layout stays, services move or a structural opening is involved, so we give you a programme with the quote. Approvals run before the build. Where a steel is needed, the calculation, the building control application and any party wall notice add time at the front rather than in the middle.
Usually, and the question is what the wall is doing rather than what it is made of. If it carries floor or roof load, the opening needs a structural calculation, a correctly sized steel, padstones and building control sign-off. In a terrace or a semi, cutting into a party wall also triggers a two-month notice period. We establish all of that at the survey, before pricing.
Either. We can supply the units, worktops and appliances against the agreed schedule, which keeps one party responsible if something arrives wrong or damaged. If you have already bought from a kitchen supplier, we will fit it and give you the delivery date the programme needs. Items you buy directly carry their own manufacturer's warranty, which stays between you and the seller; we fit them either way.
For a like-for-like replacement, generally no application is needed, though the work must still meet the regulations. New electrical circuits are notifiable, extraction rates are controlled, and any structural opening, drainage alteration or new window brings a building control application with it. We tell you which of those apply before the quotation, not after the strip-out.
Yes, and it is usually the cheaper way round. Doing the kitchen extension and the kitchen fit-out under one contract means one set of drawings, one structural design, one building control application and one crew, so the making good between old and new is not a second mobilisation. It also avoids paying twice for protection, welfare and waste removal.
Most clients do. We set up a temporary kitchen point, seal the working area and clean down daily. The hardest stretch is strip-out and first fix, when water and power to the room are intermittent. Where a structural opening is involved there are also a few noisy days, which we schedule inside the borough's permitted hours for noisy works.
Before the drawings are finalised. Appliance dimensions and service requirements drive the cabinetry, the socket positions and the extraction, so a late change is one of the few things that genuinely moves a programme. If you have not decided, we will specify against a budget and a size, and you can substitute within those dimensions later.
Thinking about your kitchen?
Send the room dimensions and roughly what you have in mind. We will come back with an honest view on scope, programme and budget before anyone commits to anything.