Kitchen & Bath
What A Kitchen Renovation Costs In 2026
Kitchen renovation cost falls into three tiers, and knowing where you sit before you speak to anyone saves a lot of time and disappointment. The right tier depends on why you're renovating, how long you're staying, and what the property warrants.
Tier 1: Flat-Pack & Trade Supply (£5,000–£15,000)
Pre-made units in standard sizes, fitted and functional.
Fine for a rental, a quick refresh, or a property you're about to sell. Every kitchen looks good on day one, but this is the tier where the difference shows by year five.
Tier 2: Mid-Range Managed Renovation (£15,000–£50,000)
A wider choice of materials, trades sequenced in the right order, and a result built to last.
This is the home of most full kitchen renovation cost in the UK – primary homes, longer stays, quality without bespoke pricing.
Tier 3: Bespoke (£50,000–£150,000+)
Hand-painted cabinetry, dovetailed drawer boxes, completely custom sizing.
Longer lead times and more design involvement, suited to forever homes and high-specification properties.
So When Someone Asks How Much Does A New Kitchen Cost…
The honest answer is a range, not a number.
House of Fitters works across Tier 2 and Tier 3 – managed at every level, from a considered mid-range renovation through to a typically bespoke project.
Where Does The Money Go?
Most of the variation in kitchen renovation cost comes from five elements.
Get a feel for these and you can read any quote properly, rather than just looking at the figure at the bottom.
Cabinetry – Usually The Single Biggest Line
What you choose here sets the tone for the whole room and a fair chunk of the budget.
Cabinet Type | What You Get | Best For |
Flat-pack / MDF lay-on | Pre-made, standard sizes, basic finish | Budget renovations, rentals |
Rigid / frameless | Pre-assembled, better build, wider finish options | Mid-range homes |
In-frame solid timber | Doors set within a visible frame, handcrafted | Long-term homes, high spec |
Kitchen cabinets cost more as you move up that table because you're paying for things you feel every day: dovetailed drawer boxes instead of stapled ones, hand-painted or solid timber doors instead of foil wrap.
Worktops – The Highest-Impact Decision In The Room
Kitchen worktop cost can run anywhere from £2,000 to £20,000+ depending on material, size, and edge profile, which makes it worth spending real thought on.
Laminate (£): Fine for a low-use or rental kitchen. Won't go the distance.
Solid timber (££): Beautiful, but needs maintenance – best used as an accent rather than throughout.
Engineered quartz (£££): Durable, low maintenance, a wide range of finishes. The dependable middle.
Natural stone and sintered (££££): Granite and marble age with character but need sealing; sintered stone (Dekton) is extremely hard-wearing and heat-resistant.
Flooring – Where The Prep Hides
Kitchen flooring cost depends on the material (LVT, hardwood, porcelain, or laminate) but the line people forget is the subfloor underneath. A floor that isn't assessed and levelled first will telegraph every flaw through whatever you lay on top.
Appliances – Spend Where It's Used, Save Where It's Hidden
In the kitchen, appliances run daily for years, so this isn't the place to cut corners across the board.
Worth investing in: Siemens for reliable mid-to-high spec, Miele for longevity, Wolf for serious cooking, Sub-Zero for refrigeration that lasts decades. A Quooker tap earns its keep if you cook a lot.
Safe to save: Integrated dishwashers and washing machines sitting behind a cabinet panel – performance matters more than the badge nobody sees.
Trades & Labour – A Real Share, Not An Afterthought
A kitchen pulls in an electrician, plumber, plasterer, tiler, flooring specialist, cabinet fitter, worktop fabricator, and decorator. Their time is a part of the total, and it's the part a cheap quote tends to underestimate.
The Kitchen Renovation Cost Most Quotes Leave Out
The gap between the quote you accept and the bill you pay is almost never the cabinets or the worktop. It's the items below – the ones that don't appear on an initial quote and cause most mid-project budget trouble.
Structural Surprises
Older properties, which is most of the housing stock around here, regularly reveal outdated wiring, lead or copper pipework, and damp behind tiles or under floors.
None of these are dealbreakers, but all of them cost money to put right, which is exactly what a 10–15% contingency is for.
Moving Services
The moment you shift a sink or add an island with a hob, you're moving plumbing and electrics – a separate cost from the installation itself.
Partial rewire: £1,500–£4,000
Plumbing amendments: £500–£3,000
Consumer unit upgrade: £500–£1,500
The Quieter Extras
Waste removal and skip hire are costs that base quotes often omit, so ask specifically whether they're included and to what extent. For a full kitchen replacement where you lose cooking facilities, factor temporary arrangements in before you start, not halfway through.
Scope Creep (The Most Common Budget Killer Of All)
It starts small: a new radiator here, an extra socket there, a different floor tile. Each addition seems minor, but cumulatively they can add 20–30% to the original figure.
Define the scope clearly at the start and treat any addition as a written change order with a cost attached before it's agreed.
Why Kitchen Renovation Cost Runs Higher In London & The Home Counties
The same kitchen costs more in London than it does elsewhere, and it helps to know why before the quotes land. Kitchen renovation cost in London carries a regional uplift that sits across every range above.
Access and logistics. Deliveries and trade vehicles face parking charges, congestion zones, and restrictions that add both time and money to a project before any work begins.
The housing stock. Victorian terraces, period conversions, and tight galley kitchens hide more behind their walls, and surprises behind plaster are surprises with a price tag.
Leasehold consents. Flats may need freeholder sign-off for structural or layout changes, which can add time and occasionally cost to the plan.
None of this makes the work worse value – it's simply why a London project tends to sit at the higher end of each tier.
Keeping The Final Kitchen Renovation Cost Close To The Agreed Cost
The biggest lever on your final bill is set before anyone picks up a tool: a clear scope and a fixed price, agreed upfront. Everything else follows from that.
Know What You're Signing
Fixed price and cost-plus put the risk in very different places.
Fixed Price | Cost-Plus | |
How It Works | Agreed price upfront | Actual costs plus a % fee |
Budget Certainty | Yes | No |
Risk Sits With | The contractor | You |
The Question To Ask | What's included? | What's the maximum this can cost? |
If a contractor can't answer that last question, you don't have a budget (you have an open-ended commitment).
Check The Quote Is Complete
A proper kitchen renovation quote should already account for furniture, appliances, worktops, electrical, plumbing, installation, flooring, tiling, and any building alterations needed.
A House of Fitters quote includes all of it, with no hidden extras.
Brief Properly First
Vague briefs produce vague quotes, and vague quotes produce surprises.
Decide your non-negotiables and your contingency before design begins, and the figure you're quoted will be the figure you can trust.
This Is Where Having One Team Matters Most
With design and installation under one accountable project manager, the price agreed at the start is the price the project is built to – no handovers for it to drift through.