Kitchen renovations occupy a strange middle ground in the home improvement landscape. They're one of the most commonly completed projects and one of the most frequently overspent on. The showrooms are compelling, the products are well marketed, and the combination of products that look similar at very different prices creates a persistent belief that spending more will always produce a proportionally better result.
Sometimes it does. A well-made kitchen from a reputable manufacturer will last twenty-five years and still look good at the end of it. A cheap kitchen from a volume retailer may look similar on day one and noticeably worse by year five. But the range of product quality within the "mid-range" bracket is wide, and many homeowners overspend on visible elements (handles, worktops) while underinvesting in the installation quality that actually determines how long the kitchen lasts and how well it functions.
Setting the Brief
Before talking to any kitchen company, understand what you're trying to change. The three most common drivers for a kitchen renovation are: the existing kitchen is old and worn out, the layout doesn't work, or both.
If the layout works and the kitchen just needs replacing, you can plan around the existing pipe and waste positions, which keeps installation costs low. If the layout doesn't work and you want to move things around significantly, that's a much larger and more expensive project involving new drainage routes, electrician's work, and potentially structural work.
Write down what frustrates you about the current kitchen before you start looking at new options. Not enough worktop space. No good place to put the recycling. The fridge blocks the route from the back door to the hob. The oven is too low. No space for a proper larder. Specifics like these drive good design decisions. "I want it to look nicer" is not enough to brief a kitchen designer on.
Choosing a Kitchen
The UK kitchen market has three rough tiers, though the boundaries blur significantly:
Volume retail: IKEA, B&Q, Howdens (trade). Lower unit cost, reasonable quality for the price, limited customisation, installation typically by separate fitter. IKEA kitchens in particular have an enormous following and deserve their reputation for value. The limitation is in the depth of range and the carcass construction (particleboard rather than plywood is more common at this price point).
Mid-range: Companies like Wren, Magnet, Wickes, and numerous independent retailers. A wider range of finishes and configurations. Quality varies significantly even within a single company's range. In this sector, the quality of the fitter matters as much as the quality of the kitchen.
Higher-end independent manufacturers: British companies including Smallbone, Tom Howley, Martin Moore, deVol, and others. Solid construction, often handmade or hand-finished, genuinely more durable and longer-lasting. Significantly more expensive. Usually include full design service and their own installation teams. The gap in quality between this tier and mid-range is real and noticeable; whether it's worth the price difference depends on budget and priorities.
What to look at when choosing: Carcass construction (plywood vs particleboard: plywood is more moisture-resistant and durable), hinge and drawer mechanism quality (Blum and Hettich are the benchmark brands used by better manufacturers), door materials and finish durability (painted wood vs vinyl-wrapped vs solid wood), and worktop material and thickness.
Worktop Choices
Worktops get a lot of attention in kitchen design and the material choice has real functional consequences, not just aesthetic ones.
Laminate: The most affordable option and better than its reputation. Modern high-pressure laminate is durable, easy to clean, and resistant to heat and scratches if correctly specified. Not repairable if damaged. Not suitable for a seamless look around sinks.
Solid wood: Warm and attractive. Requires regular oiling. Can be sanded and re-finished if scratched. Not suitable near sinks without careful sealing. Will move seasonally with humidity changes.
Quartz composite (e.g. Silestone, Caesarstone, Cambria): The dominant choice in mid-to-higher-end kitchens. Engineered from natural quartz bound in resin, with a non-porous surface. Scratch and stain resistant. Not heat resistant (use a trivet). Heavy, requires good carcass support. Fabrication and templating adds cost on top of material price.
Granite: Natural stone. Requires sealing to prevent staining. Variation between slabs. Heavy. Survives heat better than quartz but still benefits from trivets. Has a more traditional look than quartz.
Dekton and Neolith (sintered stone): Ultra-compact surfaces made from compressed stone materials. Extremely hard wearing, heat resistant, scratch resistant. Expensive to fabricate and unforgiving of poor substrate support (tends to crack at overhangs without adequate backing).
Appliances and Integration
Integrated appliances (dishwasher, fridge, oven drawers) look better and are worth specifying if the kitchen design allows for them. The practical point: integrated appliance doors are fixed to the kitchen carcass and replacing an integrated appliance in the future requires matching the door to the existing kitchen. For long-lived appliances like fridges this is usually fine. For dishwashers, which are replaced more frequently, consider whether a freestanding option might be more practical long-term.
For built-in ovens and hobs, the brand matters considerably for reliability and after-sales service. Siemens, Bosch, Miele, Neff, and AEG have generally better reliability records and more accessible service networks than some cheaper brands. The appliances in a kitchen will be used far more heavily than the cupboard doors; they're worth spending proportionally on.
Installation and Sequence
A kitchen installation involves the kitchen company, a plumber (connections for sink, dishwasher, washing machine if applicable), an electrician (cooker circuit, hob connections, island sockets), and possibly a plasterer and tiler. Coordinate these around the kitchen company's installation dates, not the other way around.
The floor goes in after the kitchen, not before. This is the right sequence: floor runs under the plinths, not underneath the base units. If the floor is already down before the kitchen is installed, it needs protection throughout the installation and the joins at the plinth line are more visible.
Never tile the splashback until the kitchen is installed. Worktop heights vary slightly, and tiling before the kitchen goes in means the tiles may not align correctly with the underside of the wall units. Template the splashback after the units are in place, not before.
Costs
| Scope | Approximate cost (2025) |
|---|---|
| IKEA/budget kitchen (supply only, standard room) | £3,000 - £8,000 |
| Mid-range kitchen (supply and install, 10-15 units) | £10,000 - £22,000 |
| Higher-end kitchen (supply and install) | £25,000 - £60,000 |
| Bespoke handmade kitchen | £50,000 - £120,000+ |
| Worktop fabrication and fitting (quartz, per m2) | £400 - £800/m2 inc. fitting |
| Integrated appliances (basic selection) | £3,000 - £8,000 |
Kitchen costs are highly sensitive to specification choices. The single biggest variable is the door and worktop. A basic shaker door in a mid-range kitchen costs a fraction of a painted solid timber door with a stone worktop. The carcasses behind them are often identical. Know what you're paying for.