Kitchen Installation Prices in London 2026: The Complete Cost Guide
Why kitchen installation prices vary so much
If you’ve started pricing up a kitchen installation in London, you’ve probably noticed the significant difference in numbers. One quote from independent installer says £1,800, another quote from limited company says £6,000, and they’re supposedly for a similar-sized kitchen. In many cases that’s not necessarily anyone overcharging you. The reality is that kitchen installation pricing depends on more variables than most people realise. To mention few of them: the brand and construction of the units, the age and condition of your property, how many trades are involved, and which part of London you’re in. On top of them check for VAT – whether you are charged for this or no as this factor can affect the final cost of your kitchen installation dramatically.
This guide prepared by Urban Kitchens breaks installation cost down by kitchen size, by brand, and by individual trade. We will also try to explain the variables that move the price up or down. Wherever we can’t give a single meaningful number — stone worktop fabrication, for example, or rewiring behind old plaster — we’ve said so, because a fitter who quotes those without seeing your kitchen first isn’t being straight with you. Every figure here is purely a labour cost and it doesn’t include any additional materials or fixings.
Kitchen installation cost in London at a glance
| Kitchen size | Typical unit count | Installation labour (London, 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Small kitchen | Up to 10 units | £1,800 – £3,200 |
| Medium kitchen | 10–16 units | £3,000 – £5,200 |
| Large kitchen | 16–25+ units, often with an island | £5,000 – £8,500 |
| Premium / rigid-carcass | Any size, German-spec or bespoke | £2,800 – £12,000+ |
Based on our experience these figures cover the following: removing the old kitchen, fitting the new units and worktops, plumbing, gas and electrical connection work, and basic finishing. They don’t include buying the kitchen itself, or additional work like painting, new flooring or structural alterations — those are costed separately further down. Treat this table as a starting point for budgeting, not a quote — the only way to get an accurate figure is a plan review or an on-site survey.
What it costs to install different kitchen brands in London
The brand you buy from affects installation cost less than most people expect. What matters more is the size of the kitchen and how it’s built — flat-pack units that need assembling on site take longer to fit than units that arrive pre-built. Broadly, kitchen brands sold in the UK fall into four installation-cost tiers.
Flat-pack and budget brands: IKEA, Howdens, Wickes, B&Q GoodHome, DIY Kitchens
None of these brands reliably fit what they sell. Howdens is a trade-only supplier and doesn’t offer its own installation at all — it relies entirely on independent fitters. IKEA doesn’t employ its own fitters either. They use third-party installation teams, and typical quotes for straightforward IKEA kitchens run £500–£2,000, averaging around £1,300 for smaller or simpler layouts. Larger or more complex IKEA jobs — uneven period walls, full appliance integration — fall into the same size-based ranges as the rest of this tier.
Wickes and B&Q’s GoodHome range are supplied flat-pack, so assembly quality matters as much as fitting. DIY Kitchens units arrive ready-assembled, which shaves some time off the job but doesn’t change the overall price band significantly. Across this tier, expect labour of roughly £1,800 – £5,500 depending on kitchen size.
Mid-range branded kitchens: Wren, Magnet, Benchmarx, Symphony, Second Nature
These brands sell through showrooms rather than DIY sheds, and most offer their own “approved installer” or dry-fit service — typically cabinets, worktops and appliances fitted, but final plumbing, gas and electrical connections left for you to arrange separately. Second Nature in particular is sold through more than 250 independent local showrooms rather than a single national retailer, so installation standards vary by showroom. Labour for this tier usually falls in the same £2,000 – £6,000 range as the budget tier, but average projects tend to be larger and more highly specified, so total costs often land toward the upper half. We also cover Wren, Magnet, Benchmarx and Symphony kitchens.
Premium German-spec kitchens: Kutchenhaus, Nobilia
Kutchenhaus and Nobilia (Kutchenhaus is Nobilia’s own UK retail brand, though genuine Nobilia units also reach the UK through independent German-kitchen dealers) use rigid, pre-built carcass construction rather than flat-pack. That’s a different fixing and levelling approach, built to tighter manufacturing tolerances — which shows up as a better finish only if the installation matches it. Labour for this tier typically runs £2,500 – £7,000.
Bespoke and luxury kitchens: Neptune, Harvey Jones, Tom Howley, deVOL, Roundhouse and premium German/Italian studios
Brands like Neptune, Harvey Jones and Tom Howley, London design studios like Roundhouse, and premium German and Italian manufacturers (Häcker, Schüller, Leicht, SieMatic, Bulthaup, Scavolini, Snaidero, Arrital and similar) sit at the top of the market. Projects here are usually larger, more bespoke, and involve more integrated joinery, so labour typically runs £4,000 – £12,000 or more. Above a certain size and complexity, this tier is always quoted after a survey rather than from a published range — there’s too much variation to do otherwise honestly.
Kitchen installation cost by trade
If you’re pricing up individual parts of the job — or checking whether a quote looks reasonable — here’s what each trade typically costs on its own in London in 2026.
| Service | Typical London cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen unit fitting | £70 – £120 per unit | Most fitters price by the unit; a 10–16 unit kitchen is typical |
| Old kitchen removal | £250 – £400 | Strip-out only |
| Waste disposal | £200 – £400 | Responsible disposal of old units, worktops, packaging |
| Plumbing (tap, sink, dishwasher, washing machine) | £300 – £500 | Doesn’t include new pipework |
| Gas hob/cooker connection | £100 – £200 per connection | Must be a Gas Safe registered engineer |
| Extractor/cooker hood installation | £100 – £250 | Up to £450 if a new duct run through an external wall is needed |
| Integrated appliance connections | £60 – £120 each | Oven, fridge-freezer, dishwasher etc. |
| New or relocated electrical socket | £90 – £180 each | Lower end typical when an electrician is already on site for the full job |
| Worktop installation (laminate) | £150 – £350 per project | Not usually priced per worktop |
| Stone/quartz worktop templating & fitting | From £400 upward | Always quoted after template — too much variation otherwise |
| Splashback tiling | £250 – £550 | Depends on area and tile size |
| Floor tiling (standard kitchen) | £550 – £850 | Based on a typical 10–14m² kitchen floor |
| Engineered wood flooring (fitting only) | £350 – £750 | Subfloor prep and old floor removal costed separately |
| Floor levelling / subfloor prep | £500 – £1,500 | Common in period properties — see below |
| Kitchen painting/decorating | £500 – £900 | Larger open-plan kitchen-diners cost more |
What changes the price — the variables that matter
A kitchen installation is more than just assembling cabinets. Not everyone understand that two kitchens that look similar on paper can cost genuinely different amounts to install. And honestly speaking the real reason has nothing to do with anyone being overcharged. Here’s what actually moves the number.
Kitchen size and unit count
From our experience this is the single biggest factor. More units means more assembly, more fixing points, and more time on site.
Construction type: flat-pack vs rigid carcass
Flat-pack units (IKEA, Wickes, GoodHome and similar) need building before they can be fitted. Rigid carcass units (Kutchenhaus, Nobilia and other German-spec brands) arrive pre-built but use a different, more exacting fixing and levelling method. Both take real time — just different kinds of it.
Property age, and how level your walls and floors actually are
Victorian and Edwardian properties rarely have a straight wall or a level floor. Standard modular units assume both. Fitting a kitchen into an out-of-true period property takes longer and often needs extra packing, scribing and levelling work — budget £500–£1,500 for floor levelling alone if your subfloor needs it, and treat it as close to non-negotiable rather than an optional extra.
What’s behind your walls and under your floors
Many London properties still have partially original lead or copper pipework. Once a plumber opens up a wall during a kitchen installation, there’s a real chance of finding pipework that needs replacing rather than just reconnecting — typically £1,500–£4,000 if it turns out to be necessary. No fitter can price this in advance without opening the wall first.
Access and parking
Controlled parking zones across most of London mean a fitter either needs a visitor permit arranged by you, or bills for one — trade parking permits can add £200–£700 across a project depending on the borough and how long work takes. Flats above ground floor, restricted lift access, or no parking directly outside all add time too.
Worktop material
Laminate worktops are cut and fitted on site relatively quickly. Stone and quartz worktops are templated after the units go in, fabricated off site, then fitted — a longer process with its own cost, which is why we always quote it separately after a template rather than as a flat add-on.
Handleless vs standard doors
Handleless kitchens rely on a rail or grip-edge system that has to be perfectly consistent in height across every unit in a run — small errors are far more visible than on a kitchen with handles. This takes more careful, and therefore more time-consuming, fitting.
Appliance integration
Fully integrated appliances (behind matching cabinet fronts) take longer to fit and align than freestanding or semi-integrated ones.
Additional trades: painting, flooring, structural work
Anything beyond the kitchen itself — repainting the room, replacing the floor, moving a wall or widening a doorway — is priced on top of core installation. Bundling it into one project with one team avoids the coordination problems of managing separate trades yourself, but it’s still additional scope, not included in a base installation quote.
VAT and how your installer is set up
Whether VAT applies depends on whether the business doing the work is VAT-registered, which only becomes compulsory above £90,000 annual turnover. Most kitchen installation work is charged at the standard 20% rate if the installer is VAT-registered; a small number of qualifying renovations (long-empty properties, for example) can qualify for a reduced 5% rate. Always ask upfront whether a quote is VAT-inclusive — two quotes that look similar can be 20% apart once VAT is added to one of them and not the other. As of 2026, Urban Kitchens is not VAT registered company. Which basically means in comparison with some other companies we are usually 20% cheaper for you.
Listed buildings and conservation areas
Properties in conservation areas or with listed status sometimes carry extra planning constraints on what can be altered, which can affect timeline and, occasionally, cost if specialist materials or approaches are required.
Example project costs
Putting the above together, here’s what three realistic London kitchen installations look like in practice.
Small flat-pack kitchen, straightforward property
8–10 units, removal and disposal of the old kitchen, standard plumbing and one worktop run: typically £1,800 – £2,800 in labour.
Medium mid-range kitchen, period property
14–16 units, full plumbing and gas connection, splashback tiling, plus floor levelling for an uneven Victorian subfloor: typically £4,500 – £6,500 in labour.
Large premium kitchen with painting and new flooring
20+ units in a rigid-carcass or premium brand, full trades, engineered wood flooring and a full repaint of an open-plan kitchen-diner: typically £8,000 – £12,000+ in labour, usually confirmed after survey given the scale.
Getting an accurate quote
Every range in this guide is a starting point for budgeting, not a fixed price — the only way to know what your specific kitchen will cost is to have it looked at properly. We give fixed, written quotes after reviewing your kitchen plan or, for anything beyond a straightforward job, a short on-site survey. The price we agree at that stage doesn’t move once work starts, barring anything genuinely unexpected behind the walls or under the floor. If you’d like a figure for your own kitchen, send us your plans and we’ll come back with a quote.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to install a kitchen in London in 2026?
Most London kitchen installations cost between £1,800 and £8,500 in labour, depending on size and complexity, with premium or bespoke kitchens running higher. This doesn’t include the cost of the kitchen units themselves. Here at Urban Kitchens, we trto to provide a fair price based on your request. But it’s important you provide as much information as possible, that’s why we ask you to complete the form on our Contact page.
Is it cheaper to use my kitchen brand’s own installer, or an independent fitter?
It varies by brand and by job. Brand-provided installation is convenient but you don’t get to choose who turns up, and several major brands (Howdens, IKEA) don’t employ their own fitters at all — they use contractors. An independent specialist usually means more control over scheduling, one point of contact for every trade, and the ability to get a fixed quote before committing.
Do I need a Gas Safe engineer for a new gas hob?
Yes. Any gas connection or disconnection must legally be carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and this should be signed off as part of the paperwork you’re given.
How much does it cost to remove and dispose of an old kitchen?
Typically £450 – £800 combined for removal and responsible disposal, though this can be higher if there’s asbestos-era material to test for, or if access for waste removal is difficult.
Why do period properties cost more to fit a kitchen in?
Victorian and Edwardian walls and floors are rarely straight or level. Standard kitchen units assume both, so period properties often need extra levelling, packing and scribing work that a new-build kitchen wouldn’t require.
Do I have to pay VAT on kitchen installation?
Only if the business carrying out the work is VAT-registered, which becomes compulsory above £90,000 annual turnover. Ask any installer directly whether their quote includes VAT before comparing prices. Urban Kitchens is not a VAT registered company as of 2026, so all the price we provide doesn’t include 20% VAT.
How long does a kitchen installation take?
A small, straightforward kitchen typically takes 3–5 days. A medium kitchen with full plumbing, electrics and tiling usually runs 4–7 days. Larger or premium installations, or anything involving flooring and painting on top, can take one to two weeks.
What’s not included in a standard kitchen installation quote?
Buying the kitchen itself, stone or quartz worktops (quoted separately after template), structural work, full rewiring, and any work discovered only once the old kitchen and pipework are exposed.
