Kitchen Fitting & Renovation in Horsham

A kitchen is the room a house gets judged on, and it is also the most disruptive room to rebuild — it is the only one you cannot simply stop using for three weeks. Getting the sequence right matters as much as the units.

What a kitchen renovation involves

A full kitchen refit is not one trade, it is six or seven working in order:

• Strip out — old units, appliances, worktops, flooring and tiling removed and taken away
• Structural work — if you are removing a wall or fitting bifolds, that happens first, with the steelwork designed and signed off properly
• First fix — plumbing and electrics moved to suit the new layout, before anything is boarded over
• Plastering — walls and ceilings made good
• Units and worktops — carcasses levelled and fitted, doors hung and aligned, worktops templated and installed
• Second fix — sink, taps, appliances, sockets, switches and lighting
• Tiling, flooring and decoration — the finish that everyone actually sees

The commonest reason a kitchen job goes wrong is the middle of that list. Worktops need templating after the units are in and levelled, and a stone worktop then takes time to fabricate. Building that gap into the programme up front is the difference between a planned pause and a fortnight of washing up in the bath.

Supply, or fit what you have bought

Both work, and it is genuinely your call:

• You buy the kitchen. Plenty of people have already been to a showroom or ordered online and want a builder to fit it. That is fine. Get us the plan and the unit schedule before you order, though — it is far easier to catch a problem on paper than when 30 flat packs are in your hallway.
• We handle it. If you would rather not project-manage a delivery schedule, we will sort the supply as part of the job.

Either way, ask for the quotation to be itemised. “Supply and fit kitchen” as a single line is impossible to compare against another builder’s price.

Electrics, plumbing and gas

Kitchen electrical work is notifiable under Part P of the building regulations — new circuits and consumer unit work in particular. It must be done by a registered competent person or notified to building control, and you should receive an electrical installation certificate at the end. Any work on a gas appliance, including moving a hob, must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer.

When you are comparing builders, ask each of them directly who does the electrics and the gas, and whether they are registered. Ask to see it. It is a fair question and a reasonable builder will not mind being asked.

Tiling and finishing

Tiling is where a kitchen either looks fitted or looks nearly fitted — the setting out, how the cuts fall at the corners, whether the pattern lines up with the units. It is worth talking through before the tiles are ordered rather than after.

“I recently had the pleasure of having Carter Cook lay new tiles in my kitchen, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. From start to finish, Chris was a true professional, providing excellent communication, attention to detail, and top-notch workmanship.”

— Ellie, Southwater

Living with the work

You will be without a kitchen for the duration. What makes that bearable is knowing in advance how long, when the water and power go off, and where the dust is going to end up. Before we start we will tell you which days are the disruptive ones, and we will sheet up and clear up as we go — every review this business has ever had mentions it, and it is not an accident.

Areas we cover

Kitchen fitting throughout Horsham and West Sussex, including Broadbridge Heath, Southwater, Billingshurst, Storrington, Pulborough, Steyning, Crawley and Chichester.

Get a quote

Send us your plans or a few photos and a rough idea of the layout you want, and we will come back to you. If the kitchen is part of a larger project, take a look at home extensions too — the two are very often the same job.

You can see recent work on the projects page.