A new kitchen is one of the most expensive things most people ever put into their home, and yet the installer is often the last thing anyone properly vets. The units get all the attention: the brand, the colour, the worktop, the handles. But it’s the fitting that decides whether the kitchen actually works for the next fifteen years. A beautiful design badly installed will show it within months — doors that don’t close flush, gaps around appliances, a worktop join that opens up, drawers that stick because the carcass underneath was never quite square. Most of that has nothing to do with the kitchen itself and everything to do with who fitted it. Before you sign off on anyone, here are seven things worth checking first.
1. Ask exactly who will be on site
Some companies sell you the installation, then subcontract the actual work to whoever is free that week. That’s not automatically a problem, but you should know it’s happening. Ask whether the people fitting your kitchen are employed by the company or brought in for the job, and whether the same team will see the project through from removal to final snagging. Continuity matters — a kitchen fitted by three different crews rarely comes together as cleanly as one done start to finish by people who already know the plan. It also makes it much easier to hold someone accountable if something isn’t right, rather than being passed between a salesperson, a fitter and a subcontractor who never speak to each other.
2. Check they actually know your kitchen brand
Not every fitter has handled every make. Wren, IKEA, Howdens and Magnet all have different carcass systems, hinge mechanisms and assembly quirks, and a team that fits one brand every week will move faster and make fewer mistakes than one seeing it for the first time. If you’ve bought from Wren, for instance, it’s worth finding Wren installers who deal with J-Pull, Infinity and Shaker ranges regularly — handleless doors in particular need precise, consistent alignment across every unit, and that only comes from repetition.
3. Get clear on what’s included — and what isn’t
“Installation” can mean very different things depending on who’s quoting. Does the price cover removing the old kitchen? Plumbing the sink and dishwasher? Connecting a gas hob? Electrics for under-cabinet lighting or a relocated socket? Tiling and finishing trims? Ask for an itemised breakdown rather than a single lump figure. It’s far better to find out before the job starts that gas work needs a separately certified engineer than to discover it halfway through, when the hob is sitting in its box and nobody can connect it. The same goes for worktops — laminate is usually cut and fitted on site, but stone or quartz needs a separate templating visit and a longer lead time, and that should be part of the quote from the start, not a surprise a few weeks in.
4. Push for a fixed quote, not a ballpark
Vague estimates have a habit of growing once the walls come off and problems appear. A properly experienced installer will want to see your kitchen plan, visit the property or at least review photos, and then give you an actual number — not a range that could double in scope. If a quote seems suspiciously low, ask what’s been left out. It’s almost always something.
5. Ask how they handle older properties
London housing stock is not known for straight walls or level floors, and a lot of kitchen problems trace back to skipping proper preparation. Uneven plasterboard, dot-and-dab walls that won’t take heavier cabinet fixings, floors that slope more than expected — a good installer will flag these at survey stage rather than discovering them mid-fit. Ask directly how they deal with older or awkward properties, and whether a pre-installation visit is standard practice or an optional extra. Period conversions and Victorian terraces in particular tend to throw up surprises once the old units come out, and it’s far better for that to be anticipated than found on the day.
6. Read the workmanship guarantee properly
Product warranties and workmanship guarantees are two different things, and it’s worth understanding both. The kitchen manufacturer typically covers faulty carcasses or warped doors. The installer should separately guarantee their own work — a unit that isn’t level, a hinge that works loose, a worktop join that opens up. Ask how long that cover runs and what it actually includes before you commit, not after something goes wrong.
7. Look at how long they’ve actually worked in your area
Local experience counts for more than it sounds. Installers who cover the same boroughs repeatedly tend to know which streets have parking restrictions, which buildings need permits for deliveries, and which trades to call when something unexpected turns up. That familiarity saves time and avoids the kind of delays that come from figuring out logistics on the day rather than in advance.
The bottom line
None of this needs to be complicated — it just needs asking before the deposit is paid, not after the units arrive. Companies that have been doing this for years, like Urban Kitchens, tend to answer these questions without hesitation, because a fixed quote, a proper survey and a clear guarantee are simply how the job gets done properly. A kitchen is meant to last for years of daily use; a bit of upfront vetting is a small price for making sure the fit lives up to the units themselves. Ask the seven questions above before anyone books a delivery date, and the rest of the project tends to go a lot more smoothly.