Professional kitchen fitters, are they worth the investment?

If this is your first new kitchen project you may find yourself a tad surprised by how much it costs to have your kitchen installed professionally.

Depending on how big your kitchen is and how much additional work you need, (plastering, flooring, electrical works etc) you could be spending anywhere from £1500 to £5000 on a kitchen fitting service.

I’ve designed kitchens to all budgets and for various companies and despite the kitchen cabinet cost being hugely different depending on spec, the installation cost varies very little. My dear old dad, the reason I do what I do today, is a kitchen fitter, and of course, he’s the very best out there, haha yes, I am completely biased but I know he does extremely good work and I compare all fitters standards I work with to this level.

I often hear objections to paying for fitting services like, I’m paying how much for 5 to 10 days work? When you look at it in this context, I agree, it can seem a lot. Depending on how much your kitchen comes to, you could be spending a third of its value again just on fitting.

But, to that, I’d say this, you’re not paying them for the days they’re there, you’re paying for the years they’ve spent training and perfecting their trade. You’re paying them for the use of their tools that they’ve invested thousands of pounds in.

You yourself can give it a go, I hear that you can by ‘throw away’ kitchen fitting kits for a couple of hundred pounds, why not? What could the difference be?

Here is the truth, I’ve visited kitchens fitted by professionals where the customer is looking at every tiny detail, looking for any errors or imperfections, whereas, if visiting a finished kitchen done by a customer or their pal who perhaps was a chippy once, the rose tinted glasses are on, the doors that aren’t level go unnoticed, the missing cornice and plinths .. well, that can be fitted whenever.

So, maybe you will be happy with this, and only you will know that. But, would you have bought the kitchen from that supplier if the showroom had parts missing, or wonky doors and drawers, I seriously doubt it.

If you are planning on spending thousands of pounds on a new, beautiful kitchen, really try to have it fitted well. It will look better than it did in the showroom and will last for years and years, if the doors aren’t wonky then the hinges aren’t working too hard, if the drawers aren’t rubbing, the frontages will stay looking new longer. To scrimp here is to reduce the enjoyment and certainly, the lifetime of your kitchen by five to ten years.

Other things to consider, if you use the company that is selling you their kitchens fully fitted, you can be assured that those fitters will understand the companies plans, checks and, most importantly, their cabinetry. Should the fitter make any mistakes, cut a panel wrong, or fit a handle in the wrong place, you are covered by the company. You’d never be expected to pay for these errors and why should you?

However, if your chippy cuts something wrong or makes a mistake following the plan, can you imagine trying to get this third party to pay for a new panel or replace the doors?

Most commonly, the chippy will point blame at the kitchen company as they won’t want to pay for something to be replaced. Now what do you do? Can you argue with someone in your home? What if they’re a friend or family member. So awkward.

What if they don’t follow the plan, this design that you’ve spend hours perfecting with your designer, and your fitter decides to do their own thing? Not fit the panels that support the worktops or create that customised cabinet, what then? Unfortunately this happens more often than you’d think and it’s an awkward position for both your designer and yourselves.

To me, other than being on a very tight budget, I can’t feasibly understand why you wouldn’t opt for a professional fitting service.

Sometimes you’ll get an estimate from a local chippy to do the works, but by the time it’s completed, with all the ‘surprises’ along the way, it can cost more than using a kitchen company. Kitchen companies will have their installers do a pre-fit survey long before the work starts to account for surprises so you can decide how you want to proceed. No one wants surprises, believe me when I say we all want your kitchen to go in as smoothly as possible.

What about builders? Having an extension done and as part of costing all the works, they’ve included fitting the kitchen.

We are all experts in our own trades right? I respect builders, I think the work they do is challenging and you get what you pay for. Supposing, you’ve hired a builder, fabulous reviews and highly recommended, you’ll be working closely with them in your home for 8 - 16 weeks, maybe longer. That is a long time to spend with someone you don’t know, what if the relationship grates a bit along the way, and things get a little tense. I’ve heard clients liken it to being a hostage in their home, you smile and are polite hoping they’ll just hurry up and get the work done. Yes, it seems plausible for the builder to fit the kitchen, they may even have a chippy available to do the work and they’ll most certainly have one kitchen company they strongly recommend you use.

But going back to being the ‘experts’ of their trades, just as a kitchen fitter cannot build your extension, a builder will never fit your kitchen to the standard of a professional kitchen fitter. Your kitchen will be one of the last milestones to be completed, by this point you want them gone and they’re thinking about their next job. Do you honestly think they’ll give your kitchen fitting the time and attention it deserves. Please, you’d have to pay your builder to do this anyway, see how much it is and really consider it. You’ll have enough on your plate making sure the build is up to key, let someone else worry about your kitchen.

Most kitchen installation teams will happily work with builders too, they will give them plenty of notice as to where and what services are required. Liaise with their electricians for first and second fix electrics.

Guarantees! I almost forgot, here’s the thing, imagine your beautiful kitchen is all lovely and finished, kitchen fitter long gone, signed off and happy. Then, your tap springs a leak, your installer is on holiday... what now? If you’ve used a company then they will find you another fitter ASAP, and if not, if you didn’t use that kitchen. company ... who do you turn to? A local plumber? Again, extra cost?

Okay, how about after about 6 months of use, your drawers are now full of cutlery, odds and ends, your cabinets have all had a fair bit of daily use and you notice that the drawers rubbing a bit, your doors aren’t hanging quite true. If you get in touch with the company that sold you the installation they will send your happy chappy fitter back to you and he will give it a bit of an mot. All kitchens take a bit of time to settle in, I ask you, will a one off tradesman be prepared to do that? It’s peace of mind, for everyone.

If you’re looking to negotiate with your kitchen supplier on the total cost of your stunning new, dreamy kitchen, they will have more options if it’s fitted.

This is not always because they make profit from the fitting services (though most do), what they will consider is that, if they’re fitting it, they are much less likely to lose profit during the actual installation of the kitchen in the way of ‘damaged’ panels or ‘missing parts’, or even, ‘the plan doesn’t work’ or ‘it doesn’t fit’.

Because of the checks the professional fitting teams do, it is rare that any cabinet discrepancies won’t be spotted prior to ordering. The installers know that it is in their interest to check these things as a delay whilst waiting for a new cabinet to arrive will cost them in time.

Some independents will offer installation service but won’t actually take any profit from it, you’d pay the fitter directly upon completion of the work. They do this to encourage you to choose their fitting teams for all the reasons above.

Something to note, very important to all kitchen companies, big or small, recommendations, we are living in a world of reviews and social media, you are much more likely to have a positive overall experience with a fitted kitchen than a supply only one and as such, you will recommend the company and draw more revenue. Supply only jobs create too many detractors and this costs the company.

Just another reason why kitchen companies will be more keen to negotiate a better price if it’s fitted rather than not.

Last thought on this topic.. a decent fitter will be booked at least three months in advance, on this note, dads got about 5 months worth of bookings.. the point I’m trying to make, if a fitter is available with little to no notice, be wary. The good ones are booked up for a reason. And the great ones, like my dad, are definitely worth waiting for. If I were spending over 10K on a kitchen, a room I’m going to spend a lot of time in, show off to all my friends and family, save up for years to do... I wouldn’t be taking any chances.

Please get it’s touch if you have any questions,

Warm regards,

Elizabeth

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