Kitchen Renovation Cost Calculator UK (2026)

UK Kitchen Renovation Cost Guide 2024

What should I know about Where the Money Goes?

Typical cost split for £15,000 mid-range kitchen renovation: units (cabinets): 35-40% (£5-6k). Worktops: 10-15% (£1.5-2k). Appliances: 20-25% (£3-4k). Installation (fitter + tiler + electrician + plumber): 15-20% (£2-3k). Tiling/flooring: 5-10% (£800-1.5k). Sundries (taps, sink, splashback, handles): 3-5%. Painting/finishes: 2-5%. Higher-end kitchens shift these proportions — units take a larger share (60-70% for bespoke kitchens), appliances may be £10k+ for premium brands. Hidden costs people often forget: skip hire, temporary kitchen facilities, and unforeseen electrical or plumbing work uncovered once old units are removed.

What do I need to know about Spec Level Comparison?

Budget (£5,000-£10,000 total): Howdens trade, Wickes, MFI-style. Adequate for rental properties or quick renovations. 5-7 year lifespan typical. MDF/melamine carcasses, vinyl-wrapped doors. Mid-range (£12,000-£25,000): Magnet, Wren, Howdens premium ranges. 15-25 year lifespan with care. Solid wood doors or quality painted finishes. Soft-close as standard. Some semi-custom sizing. High-end (£25,000-£60,000): Tom Howley, Neptune, Mowlem & Co, deVOL. 30+ year lifespan. Full bespoke sizes. Painted-in-frame joinery and hand-finished details distinguish this tier from mass-produced kitchens at every price point below it.

What do I need to know about Worktop Choices?

Laminate (Formica, Egger): £30-100/m². Cheapest. Wide colour range. 5-15 year lifespan. Edge can lift over time around sink. Solid wood / butcher block: £100-400/m². Warm aesthetic. Requires regular oiling. Vulnerable around sinks. Engineered quartz (Silestone, Caesarstone): £250-700/m². Industry favourite for mid-to-high end. Consistent appearance, non-porous, scratch and heat resistant. Granite: £200-800/m². Natural stone — unique patterns. Slight maintenance required, sealing every 1-2 years. Slightly porous compared to quartz, so spills should be wiped promptly to avoid staining, particularly with red wine or oil.

What do I need to know about Timescales?

Typical project timeline: design phase: 2-6 weeks. Visits to showrooms, design refinement, ordering. Manufacturing/sourcing: 4-12 weeks. Bespoke kitchens longest. Pre-installation: electrician first fix, plumbing alterations. 2-5 days. Installation: 5-10 days for typical kitchen. Fit cabinets, worktops, appliances. Tiling and finishing: 2-3 days after install. Decoration and finishing touches: 1-2 days. Total on-site duration: 2-3 weeks typical for full renovation. Up to 5 weeks for structural changes, such as removing a wall or extending the kitchen footprint, which adds building and plastering time before the kitchen fit itself can even begin.

What do I need to know about Building Regulations for Kitchen Work?

A straightforward kitchen refit that keeps the same layout, units and basic electrics in the same positions generally doesn't need Building Regulations approval. However, several common kitchen upgrades do fall under Building Regulations and need to be signed off by a competent person or Local Authority Building Control: moving or adding gas appliances or pipework must be carried out and certified by a Gas Safe registered engineer; new electrical circuits, or significant rewiring such as adding a new socket circuit or extractor fan wiring, fall under Part P electrical safety rules and should be certified by a registered electrician or inspected by the Local Authority; and knocking through a wall between a kitchen and another room, even a stud wall, needs a structural check, with a steel beam or lintel calculated and signed off if the wall is load-bearing. Skipping this certification isn't just a safety risk — it can cause problems later when selling the property, since buyers' solicitors routinely ask for certificates covering any such work carried out.

What should I know about Hidden Costs That Can Blow the Budget?

Beyond units, worktops, appliances and installation labour, several costs catch kitchen renovation budgets out because they're easy to overlook until the work is already underway. Removing an old kitchen and disposing of units, old appliances and rubble typically needs budgeting for separately, as does making good the walls, floor and ceiling once old units and tiling are stripped out, which often reveals uneven plaster or flooring that needs levelling before new units go in. Moving plumbing or electrics, even slightly, to suit a new layout, such as relocating a sink away from existing pipework or adding sockets for new appliances, adds cost beyond a straightforward like-for-like swap. Structural work such as removing a wall between kitchen and dining room, mentioned above, can add a substantial sum once steel beams, building control fees and associated plastering are included. Finally, most experienced renovators recommend keeping a contingency of around 10-15% of the total budget aside for unexpected issues uncovered once old units and finishes are removed, since older properties in particular often reveal problems that simply can't be seen until the room is stripped back.

Can a Kitchen Renovation Be Phased to Spread the Cost?

Phasing a kitchen renovation across more than one project, rather than doing everything at once, can make a larger overall renovation financially manageable, though it requires careful planning to avoid redoing work or creating compatibility problems between phases. A common approach separates structural and infrastructure work (any wall removal, rewiring, replumbing, and installing new cabinetry carcasses) from cosmetic finishing work (worktops, splashbacks, flooring, and final decoration), since the structural phase is harder to retrofit later and benefits from being done properly the first time, while cosmetic elements can sometimes be upgraded incrementally as budget allows without disrupting the kitchen's basic function. Appliances are another commonly phased element — installing standard-sized housings during the main renovation that can accommodate either budget or premium appliances allows a household to start with more affordable appliances and upgrade individual items over subsequent years as funds allow, without needing to alter the cabinetry. The main risk of phasing is that some decisions made early (cabinet carcass sizes, plumbing and electrical positions, worktop cut-outs) lock in constraints for later phases, so it's worth having a complete design plan from the outset even if execution happens in phases, rather than making each phase's decisions in isolation. Phasing generally costs somewhat more in total than doing everything in one project, due to repeated minor setup costs and potential compatibility fixes between phases, but spreads the financial burden in a way a full renovation budget often can't.

Where the Budget Typically Goes (Cost Breakdown by Component)

For a typical fitted kitchen renovation, the overall budget tends to split across components in broadly similar proportions regardless of the total spend, though the exact split shifts with specification choices (e.g. a high-end appliance package takes a bigger share).

Worked example: a mid-range kitchen renovation with an all-in budget of £18,000 might split roughly as: units £5,400 (30%), worktop £1,800 (10%), appliances £2,700 (15%), labour £4,500 (25%), flooring £1,440 (8%), tiling £720 (4%), decorating £540 (3%) — totalling £17,100, leaving roughly £900 (5%) as miscellaneous/sundries. On top of that, it's prudent to hold back a separate contingency of 10-15% of the total for unforeseen issues such as out-of-date wiring discovered once old units are stripped out, so a £18,000 "headline" kitchen often needs a realistic working budget closer to £19,800-£20,700 once contingency is factored in.

Budget, Mid-Range and High-End: What Changes at Each Tier

For a typical-size kitchen (roughly 4m x 3m), spend tiers tend to cluster as follows — again, these are typical ranges, not fixed prices, and location (London/South East commands a premium) shifts them noticeably. Budget (roughly £5,000-£10,000): flat-pack or rigid budget units, laminate worktop, basic integrated or freestanding appliances, often DIY-fitted or fitted on a tight labour budget. Mid-range (roughly £10,000-£25,000): semi-custom units with better carcass quality and soft-close fittings, a quartz, solid-surface or real wood worktop, a full integrated appliance package. High-end (roughly £25,000-£60,000+): bespoke or fully custom joinery, natural stone worktops, premium integrated appliances, and often structural changes such as removing a wall to create an open-plan space. On compliance: most straightforward kitchen refits (replacing units, worktops, appliances in the same footprint) don't need planning permission and trigger Building Regulations only for specific elements — notably new electrical circuits and gas work, which must be certified by a registered electrician or Gas Safe engineer. Knocking through a supporting wall to open up the kitchen does need a structural engineer's calculation and Building Regulations sign-off regardless of planning status. VAT on a standard kitchen renovation is charged at the standard rate on both materials and labour; reduced-rate VAT only applies in narrow, specific circumstances (such as certain works tied to a wider qualifying renovation of a long-empty property) and shouldn't be assumed without checking current HMRC guidance. Timescale and spend tier are closely linked too: a budget refit that reuses the existing layout and plumbing/electrical positions can often be completed in a week or two, while a high-end renovation involving structural changes, bespoke joinery with a lead time, and full rewiring can realistically take 6-10 weeks from strip-out to completion, with the kitchen unusable for a meaningful part of that period — a factor worth planning around (temporary kitchen facilities, takeaway budget) regardless of which spend tier is chosen.