Budgeting for a Full Kitchen Renovation

Work Out Your Realistic Total Before You Fall in Love With a Showroom

Kitchens are the most expensive room in the house to renovate, and the biggest mistake homeowners make is walking into a showroom with a rough figure in their head that has nothing to do with reality. A mid-range kitchen with new units, worktops, appliances and installation typically lands somewhere between £12,000 and £25,000. A budget refresh, keeping the same layout and reusing appliances, can come in at £5,000 to £8,000. A larger room with structural changes, island units and premium finishes will push past £30,000 without much effort at all.

Before you look at a single cabinet door, write down what the whole project actually involves. That usually breaks down roughly like this:

• Units and carcasses: 25–30% of the total
• Worktops and splashbacks: 10–15%
• Appliances: 10–20%, depending on how much you replace
• Installation labour: 20–30%
• Plumbing, gas and electrics: 8–12%
• Flooring, tiling and decorating: 5–10%
• Skip hire, waste removal and delivery: 2–3%

Seeing it laid out in percentages stops you spending the whole budget on units and then discovering you have nothing left for the electrician.

Build a Contingency Fund You Never Touch Unless You Must

Set aside 10–15% of your total budget, on top of everything above. On an £18,000 project that is £1,800 to £2,700 sitting untouched in a separate account.

This is not padding or pessimism. Behind old units you will find something. Common surprises include:

• Asbestos-backed floor tiles or old textured coatings that need licensed removal
• Wiring that predates modern regulations and needs a partial rewire
• Leaking pipework or a boiler flue that no longer meets current standards
• Uneven walls and floors that need levelling before units can sit flush
• Rotten joists or a damp patch behind the sink run

Any one of those can add £500 to £2,500 in a single afternoon. If the contingency survives the project, it pays for the blinds, the bin store or simply goes back to the savings account. If it doesn't, you'll be very glad it was there.

Prioritise Layout, Plumbing and Electrics Above Finishes

The single biggest cost driver in a kitchen is moving services. Relocating a sink, cooker or boiler means new pipe runs, new drainage falls, new circuits and possibly Building Regulations notification. Keeping the sink, hob and oven where they already are can save you several thousand pounds, and it's money that goes straight into better worktops or appliances.

Get the layout right first, with proper measurements of your appliance openings, worktop depths and walking space between runs. Aim for at least 1,000mm between facing units. Then decide finishes. Cabinets can be swapped in a decade; a badly placed doorway or a hob with no extraction nearby will annoy you every single day.

Compare Quotes for Units, Worktops and Installation on a Like-for-Like Basis

Ask every supplier and fitter for an itemised quote, not a round figure scribbled on the back of a business card. Check each one covers the same scope before you compare prices.

• Is VAT included or added on top?
• Who removes and disposes of the old kitchen, and is skip hire included?
• Is worktop templating, cutting for the sink and hob, and fitting included?
• Are plumbing, gas and electrical work included, or quoted separately?
• Are end panels, plinths, cornices and handles priced in?
• How long does the quote remain valid?

As a rough guide, a kitchen fitter might charge £250–£400 per day, with a full installation taking one to two weeks. Always get at least three quotes, ask to see recent local work, and confirm they hold public liability insurance. Never pay more than a modest deposit up front — a fair schedule might be 25% on order, staged payments as work progresses, and the final 5–10% only once you have inspected everything and snagging is complete.

Where to Save and Where Not To

You can save real money on handles, splashbacks, decorative lighting, splash-prone accessories and painting the walls yourself. You can also save by keeping appliance positions and reusing a fridge or dishwasher that still has life in it.

Do not scrimp on worktops where you'll be chopping every day, on hinges and drawer runners, on extraction, or on the installer's day rate. Poor fitting will show on every door line and cost more to correct than doing it properly the first time.

Stick to the Budget Once Work Begins

Keep a simple spreadsheet with a column for budgeted, quoted and actual figures. Update it weekly. Any change to the plan — a swap of worktop material, an extra socket, a move of the washing machine — should be confirmed in writing by email with a price attached before the tradesperson starts the work.

Mid-project upgrades are how budgets quietly unravel. Decide now that anything extra comes out of the contingency, not out of the money earmarked for the electrician. Do that, and you'll finish the job with a kitchen you love and a bank balance that hasn't taken a beating.