What order does a kitchen refit go in?

The order of a kitchen refit is not a matter of preference. Several stages physically cannot happen before others — a stone worktop cannot be measured before the units are in, and a socket cannot be moved after the wall is finished — and the two or three fixed points in the sequence determine when the kitchen is usable and when it is not.

Safety

Step by step

1. Measure again after strip-out, before ordering anything final.The measurements taken with the old kitchen in place are for planning. The ones you order from come after the old units, tiles and boxing are gone and the real walls are visible. This is the single most useful thing on the list.
2. Stage 1 — strip out.Old units, worktops and appliances out, with gas capped by a Gas Safe engineer and electrics made safe by an electrician. This is also when you discover what the walls, the floor and the pipework are actually like.
3. Stage 2 — first fix services. This is the point of no return.Electrical circuits and socket positions, water supplies and waste runs, gas pipework by a Gas Safe engineer, extractor ducting. Everything goes in while the walls are open, and moving a socket or a waste after this means opening the wall again.
4. Stage 3 — walls, ceiling and floor.Plastering, then the ceiling painted and the walls given their first coats while nothing is in the way, and any floor covering that runs under the units laid. Allow plaster drying time; painting fresh plaster too soon is a job done twice.
5. Stage 4 — base units.Set out, levelled on their legs from the high point of the floor, screwed to each other and fixed back to the wall. Everything above depends on this being right, so it is worth taking time over.
6. Stage 5 — worktops.Laminate or timber cut and fitted, joints made with compound, cut-outs made and every cut edge sealed. If it is stone or quartz, this is when the fabricator templates — and there is then a wait of typically a couple of weeks before they return to fit.
7. Stage 6 — sink and taps.Into the worktop, with the tap and waste assembled on the bench first, and connected to the first-fix supplies. This is usually the moment the kitchen becomes half-usable again.
8. Stage 7 — wall units, then cornice, pelmet and end panels.Hung from the rail, levelled and pulled in, then the trims cut and fitted. Trims come after the units because they reveal every discrepancy in the units below them.
9. Stage 8 — appliances and second fix.Appliances installed and connected, electrical second fix completed and certified, gas appliances connected by a Gas Safe engineer. Certificates collected and filed, not left with the tradesperson.
10. Stage 9 — splashbacks, upstands and silicone.Glass splashbacks are measured now, because sockets and the extractor are finally in their permanent positions. Then every silicone joint: sink, worktop-to-wall, splashback bottoms.
11. Stage 10 — doors, drawer fronts, handles and plinths.Deliberately last. They are the parts that get damaged while everything else is being carried through a kitchen, and there is no reason for them to be on until the work is done.
12. Stage 11 — final adjustment and touch-up.Every hinge and every drawer front set as a run, from a few metres back, once everything has settled. Then the decorating touch-ups. This stage is what makes the difference between a finished kitchen and a nearly finished one.

Tips

• Plan where you will wash up. A kettle, a microwave and a bowl in the bathroom is the standard arrangement, and knowing it will be two weeks rather than a weekend changes how you prepare.
• The stone worktop wait is the awkward part of any refit that uses one, because it falls after the base units are in and before the sink can be fitted. Ask the fabricator for their template-to-fit lead time before committing to a start date.
• Order everything before starting, and check the delivery against the order before strip-out. A missing filler panel discovered on day four holds up nothing; a missing worktop holds up everything.
• Take photographs of every wall after first fix and before plastering. In two years, when you want to hang a shelf, that photograph is what tells you where the cables run.

Common mistakes

• Ordering from measurements taken before strip-out — Tiles, boxing and old carcasses hide the real walls, and every one of them changes a dimension in the direction that makes units not fit.
• Deciding to move a socket after plastering — First fix is the point of no return. Moving it afterwards means chasing a finished wall, replastering and redecorating, all of which you have just paid for.
• Fitting doors and handles early — They then take every knock from every appliance and worktop carried through the kitchen for the next fortnight.
• Booking the stone template before the base units are fitted — It cannot be done. The fabricator templates to the actual units in their final positions, so the visit is wasted and the lead time starts again.

Checklist

• Survey measurements retaken after strip-out
• Gas capped and later reconnected by a Gas Safe registered engineer
• Electrical first fix agreed with the electrician before any wall is closed
• Waste and supply positions confirmed against the final sink position
• Extractor duct route agreed before plastering
• Plaster given proper drying time before decorating
• Base units levelled from the high point of the floor
• Worktop templated only after base units are in and level
• Every worktop cut edge sealed before the sink goes in
• Splashback measured only once sockets and extractor are final
• Electrical certificate received and filed
• Gas Safe paperwork received and filed
• Every hinge and drawer front adjusted as a run at the end

Questions people ask