A kitchen renovation quote has two halves: the building work (strip-out, plumbing, electrics, walls, floor, tiling) and the kitchen itself (units, worktop, sink, appliances). Showroom offers often cover only the second half. The cost is driven by whether the layout changes, how far water and waste must move, the electrical load, the worktop material and the wall and floor finishes. We price the building work line by line and show clearly which kitchen items are included.
Why do kitchen quotes vary so much?
A kitchen is where a builder’s quote and a furniture supplier’s quote meet, and they are often compared as if they covered the same thing. They rarely do. A showroom will usually quote units, worktop and perhaps appliances and fitting. It does not normally include removing the old kitchen, moving the water supply, renewing circuits, levelling the wall, replacing the floor or tiling the splashback.
A builder’s quote may include all of the building work and leave the units as a provisional line, or include a specific kitchen from a supplier. Unless you know which scope each document covers, the totals are not comparable. The first thing we do with any kitchen enquiry is agree where our quote stops and where the kitchen supplier’s begins, if there is one.
Which building-work lines belong in a kitchen quote?
A full kitchen renovation normally includes these lines on the building side:
- Removal of old units, worktop, tiles and appliances, with debris disposal.
- Supply and waste pipes to the sink and dishwasher or washing machine positions.
- New circuits for oven, hob and other appliances, sockets above the worktop and lighting, by an authorised partner installer.
- Gas disconnection or adaptation where relevant, also by an authorised partner installer.
- Wall preparation: chases, plastering, levelling for units.
- Splashback finish: tiles, a decorative coating or the worktop material.
- Floor finish, if it is replaced.
- Painting of walls and ceiling.
- Fitting of units, worktop and appliances, if part of our scope.
See our itemised quote page for how such lines are described.
Does changing the layout make the kitchen more expensive?
Keeping the sink, hob and oven in their current positions is the most economical choice, because services stay where they are. Moving the sink to an island or another wall means new waste pipes with enough fall, which can require lifting the floor or building a platform. Moving the hob may need a new extraction route.
Opening the kitchen to the living area is a separate decision with its own lines: removing a partition, making good floors and ceilings where it stood, and sometimes adapting lighting. If the wall is load-bearing, a technician must assess it before anything is quoted. For the design side of open-plan kitchens see our bathroom and kitchen site; here we focus on what each change adds to the quote.
Which kitchen choices move the cost most?
Within the kitchen itself, three choices tend to move the total more than anything else. Units: the construction, the door finish and the number of internal fittings. Worktop: laminate, compact, stone, timber and sintered materials differ considerably in material and in fabrication, especially with cut-outs and long runs. Appliances: integrated or freestanding, and how many.
On the building side, the splashback and the floor are the main variables. A full-height tiled wall costs more than a short splashback, and replacing the floor in a kitchen that opens onto a living room often means replacing it in both areas so the finish runs continuously.
None of these is right or wrong. A good quote simply lists them so you can see which decision is doing the work.
Scenarios without figures: three kitchens in the same flat
Kitchen A – replacement. Same layout, new units and worktop, new splashback, existing floor kept. Building work is limited to strip-out, minor plumbing and electrical adaptations, splashback and paint.
Kitchen B – renewal. Same layout, but original pipes and wiring, new floor, full-height tiles. Services chapters are now complete, and floor strip-out and levelling are added.
Kitchen C – opening up. Partition removed, sink moved to a peninsula, new floor continuing into the living room, new lighting circuits. Everything from kitchen B, plus partition removal, floor and ceiling making-good, longer waste runs and more electrical points.
The units could be identical in all three. The building work is what separates them.
What is commonly excluded from a kitchen quote?
Check for these points in any kitchen quote you receive:
- Appliances: supplied by whom, and is connection included?
- Worktop templating and cut-outs: sometimes priced separately by the fabricator.
- Extraction: is the duct route to outside part of the job?
- Gas certificate or adaptation: handled by an authorised partner installer, and it should appear somewhere.
- Making good around the old kitchen if the new units are a different size.
We do not install air conditioning, and if your kitchen involves structural changes, the technical assessment is a separate cost. Our blog post on mistakes when asking for a quote covers how to brief a kitchen job so these points are not left out.
How do we quote a kitchen?
Send photos of each wall of the kitchen, the floor, the fuse board and any visible pipes, plus the approximate dimensions. Tell us whether you already have a kitchen supplier, or whether you would like us to buy the units and worktop as part of the job.
After a first assessment we visit, check services and walls and measure. The quote separates building work from kitchen items, lists every line with unit and quantity and shows VAT separately. If you are deciding between keeping the layout and opening up, we can price both versions so you see the real difference. When a budget is tight, our guide on adjusting a budget shows which kitchen lines can safely be simplified.
Bauman Raymond Attila · Presupuesto Reforma · Avenida Antonio Belón 3, Marbella. Last reviewed: 05/11/2026.
