How Long Does a Kitchen Fit Actually Take? (Essex Contractor Guide)

Showrooms will tell you a week. Reality is usually 5 to 10 working days for a like-for-like, and 2 to 4 weeks if you are moving services or knocking through. Here is the actual day-by-day.

Standard like-for-like kitchen: 5 to 7 working days

For a kitchen that keeps roughly the same layout (sink, hob, fridge in similar spots):

Day 1, rip out. Old kitchen out, appliances disconnected, skip outside, walls and floor exposed and assessed.

Day 2, first fix. Electrician moves sockets, plumber adjusts pipework, any wall repairs or plastering starts. Plaster dries overnight.

Day 3, carcasses. Base and wall units assembled, levelled and screwed back-to-wall. End panels on.

Day 4, worktops measured. Templater visits if you have got quartz or granite (3 to 5 day turnaround for fabrication). Laminate tops fitted same day.

Day 5, doors, drawers, handles. Soft-close adjusted, drawer fronts aligned. The kitchen finally looks like a kitchen.

Day 6, appliances and second fix. Oven, hob, extractor, dishwasher, washing machine all connected and tested. Sink and tap plumbed in.

Day 7, splashback, silicone, snag. Tiling or glass splashback, all silicone runs, final clean, walkthrough. Done.

If you have gone for stone worktops, add 4 to 6 days between days 4 and 6 for templating and fabrication.

When it takes 2 to 4 weeks

Add a week for each of these:

• New layout. Moving sink or hob to a different wall means new pipework, drainage, possibly a new soil stack route.
• Wall removal. Knock-through, RSJ steel, structural calcs and Building Control sign-off.
• New flooring. Engineered oak or LVT before units go in.
• Re-wire of the kitchen circuit. Most 1990s and 2000s kitchens need this anyway.
• Re-plastering. Full skim adds 3 days minimum for drying.
• Bi-folds or new windows. Separate 1 to 2 day install plus making good.

Where kitchens slip (and how we stop it)

Risk	What goes wrong	How we handle it
Worktop lead time	Quartz is 5 to 10 days from template to install	We template day 3, not day 7
Wrong appliances delivered	Howdens or Wren mix-ups on cooker hood width	We check every box on delivery day
Surprise pipework in walls	Lead pipes, dodgy old wiring	We always factor a half-day buffer
Waiting on tiler or sparky	Solo fitters chase trades	We have got our own electrician and tiler in-house

What we ask before we start

1. Are all units, doors, handles, taps, sink, appliances on site before day 1?
2. Have you cleared the kitchen completely, including the loft above if hood ducting goes through?
3. Where will you cook for a week? (Kettle and microwave in the lounge is fine.)
4. Is there a parking permit needed for the skip?

If those four boxes are ticked, we hit the timeline.

Typical Essex kitchen install costs (labour only)

• Like-for-like, standard kitchen: £3,500 to £5,500
• New layout, no structural: £5,500 to £8,500
• Open-plan knock-through with kitchen: £12,000 to £25,000+

Materials (units, worktops, appliances, flooring) on top.

Get a fixed-price kitchen quote