Kitchen fitting: what's involved and how long does it take?
Fitting a kitchen is one of the bigger jobs a carpenter takes on in a typical home, and it's rarely a single-trade project — even a straightforward kitchen fit usually involves coordinating with electricians, plumbers, and sometimes a gas engineer alongside the carpentry itself. Understanding roughly what's involved, what it costs, and how long it takes helps you plan realistically and know what questions to ask.
On cost, it's worth separating labour-only fitting from a full supply-and-fit job, since the figures differ substantially. If you're supplying the kitchen units yourself and just paying for the fitting, labour-only costs commonly run around £1,700-£3,000 for a typical kitchen, with some guides citing a wider range up to around £4,600 for larger or more complex kitchens. Fitters commonly charge a day rate of roughly £200-£350, sometimes higher in London and the South East. If you'd rather have everything supplied and installed as one package — units, worktops, appliances and fitting all included — a full kitchen typically costs somewhere between £6,000 and £20,000 or more, depending on the size of the kitchen and the quality of units and worktop chosen. As with any significant job, it's worth getting a detailed, itemised quote so you can see clearly what's covered under labour and what's a separate materials cost.
On timing, installing a new kitchen typically takes around 5 to 10 working days from start to finish, though this varies with the size of the room and how much beyond straightforward unit-fitting is involved — for example, whether walls are being knocked through, flooring is being replaced, or significant electrical and plumbing changes are needed. A simple like-for-like refit into an existing layout tends to sit at the shorter end of that range, while a full reconfiguration with structural or first-fix electrical and plumbing changes will generally take longer.
The carpenter's core role is building and fitting the cabinet carcasses, levelling and securing units to the walls and floor, fitting doors and drawer fronts, and cutting and fitting worktops around sinks, hobs and any awkward wall lines — precise, patient work, since a kitchen with even slightly uneven units or gaps at the worktop join is immediately obvious day to day. Around this core carpentry, other trades typically need to be brought in or coordinated at the right points in the schedule.
Electrical work in a kitchen is covered by Part P of the Building Regulations, which governs electrical safety in dwellings, and kitchens are specifically treated as a location requiring extra care due to the mix of water, appliances and sockets. Since changes introduced in 2013, the range of kitchen electrical work that must be formally notified to building control has been reduced, but the underlying safety requirement hasn't gone away — work still needs to be carried out by a "competent person," meaning either an electrician registered with an approved competent-person scheme, whose work is self-certified under that scheme, or work that's notified to and inspected by local authority building control directly. In practice, this means it's sensible to use a registered electrician for new sockets, extra circuits, or moving wiring, rather than treating it as something to fit in as an afterthought.
Gas work is a separate and stricter legal requirement. If your kitchen fit involves connecting or moving a gas hob, cooker point, or any gas pipework, this must, by law, be carried out by an engineer on the Gas Safe Register — this applies to genuinely any work on gas appliances or pipework in a home, with no exceptions for otherwise competent tradespeople who aren't registered. A good carpenter or kitchen fitter will flag this clearly rather than attempting gas connections themselves, and many either work regularly with a registered gas engineer or can recommend one to coordinate timing with the rest of the fit.
Plumbing changes — moving a sink, adding a dishwasher or washing machine connection, or fitting a new tap — don't carry the same formal registration requirement as gas work, though using an experienced plumber is still sensible, particularly where pipework needs rerouting behind newly fitted units. Getting the sequencing right across these trades matters: first-fix electrics and plumbing (the pipework and wiring buried behind or under units) generally needs to happen before carcasses go in, while sockets, taps and appliance connections are finished once units and worktops are in place. A carpenter or kitchen fitter managing the whole job should be able to talk you through this sequence and who's doing what, so you have a clear, realistic sense of the full timeline rather than just the carpentry portion of it.
Frequently asked questions
Labour-only fitting commonly costs around £1,700-£3,000, sometimes up to £4,600 for larger kitchens, with fitter day rates typically £200-£350. A full supply-and-fit kitchen, including units and appliances, typically runs £6,000-£20,000 or more.
Typically around 5-10 working days, though this depends heavily on the kitchen's size and whether structural changes, extensive electrics or plumbing work are involved. A simple like-for-like refit tends to be quicker than a full reconfiguration.
No — electrical work in a kitchen must be carried out by a competent person under Part P of the Building Regulations, and any gas work legally must be done by an engineer on the Gas Safe Register. A good kitchen fitter coordinates with these registered trades rather than doing this work themselves.
The core carpentry role covers building and fitting cabinet carcasses, levelling and securing units, hanging doors and drawer fronts, and cutting and fitting worktops. This work is typically coordinated with electricians, plumbers and, where needed, a Gas Safe registered engineer.