Kitchen Remodeling Project

Who this is for

16 tasks for a full kitchen renovation — layout, budget, appliances, trades, ordering, installation sequence, and sign-off. Kitchens are the most expensive room per square metre in most homes and the one where a sequencing mistake costs the most, because everything is fitted to everything else.

Layout before anything else

Where the sink, hob, and fridge sit determines the plumbing, the extraction, the electrics, and how the room feels to cook in for the next fifteen years. Changing it after the first fix is a rewrite of the whole job.

Spend real time here. Tape the layout out on the floor and walk it. Open imaginary doors. The classic errors — an appliance door that collides with a cabinet, no landing space beside the oven, a bin you can't reach with wet hands — are obvious on the floor and invisible on a plan.

Order early and check the delivery

Appliances and bespoke cabinetry have lead times measured in months, and a fitter booked for a week you have no worktop is a week you pay for anyway. Order as soon as the layout is final, and inspect everything on delivery rather than when it's needed — a damaged worktop discovered on fitting day stops the job.

Trades run in a fixed order

First fix, plaster, cabinets, template, worktop, second fix, tiling. Worktop templating in particular can only happen once units are installed and level, then takes its own lead time. That gap is normal; plan to live without a worktop for a fortnight.

Plan how you'll eat

Six weeks without a kitchen is the realistic estimate. Set up a temporary arrangement — kettle, microwave, fridge somewhere else — before demolition.

Timing

Turn on due dates. Start ordering 10–12 weeks before the fit.