Your kitchen is the heart of your home. It's a place where you want to feel comfortable and relaxed and it needs to work on a practical level too. Buying a new kitchen is a big purchase decision and you'll want to get it right first time. Having spent plenty of time, money and resource on the actual kitchen itself, sadly, the less glamorous part of the overall process, the installation, can often be overlooked. Along with the design, the quality of the fit is the most important element of any kitchen project and the one that will truly make the difference between you being satisfied or delighted with your purchase.
The first crucial decision is who to employ to fit your new kitchen and there are a number of options to consider. You can use installers recommended by your kitchen retailer; you can source your own local kitchen installer; you can install the kitchen yourself or maybe find a family member or friend who's able to install for you. At this stage, before committing, we would always recommend getting three quotations. Make sure the brief you provide to all installers is exactly the same so that you can compare like for like when the quotations come in.
How long is a piece of string? The cost of an installation by a professional fitter can vary massively and depends upon the amount of work involved (both expected and relatively unexpected) and the quality and amount of materials being used. Some projects may be more of a refresh for example: replacing a few units; new doors; installing an island unit; whilst others are full scale refurbishments which include installation design and planning and the co-ordination of many skilled tradesmen for example, plumbers, tilers, plasterers, joiners and decorators.
Understanding the correct order of the kitchen fitting process is important. The different stages of the installation need to take place in a certain order. If both you and your fitter are working to the same schedule from the outset then the project should get finished more quickly and issues should be kept to a minimum. All kitchen fitters do things a little differently, but the order of work will be more of less the same. This general guide will help you understand what is involved and what to expect from each stage.
In a recent survey carried out by Which? the main installation problems identified by their members included: installation being delayed or took longer than planned 22%; the wrong parts or units had been delivered 13%; there was a problem with the sink or taps 9% and the kitchen units didn't fit as well as they should 5%. Being aware and pre-warned plays a large part in avoiding these issues from the outset. At the link below we list in more detail key issues together with thoughts on how to avoid them or where to get further help.
When you purchase a fitted kitchen, as with other goods and services, you have certain rights in law. For example. when the kitchen is purchased and fitted by the same business, the consumer can expect all installation work to be completed with reasonable care and skill (as measured against a person in the trade). be completed within a reasonable time (where one was not agreed in advance)and for a reasonable cost (where one was not agreed in advance).