Kitchen Cabinets near you

Almost every quotation you receive will be based on one of three supply routes, and the differences show up in the fitting time rather than in the brochure photographs.

A kitchen fit runs in a fixed order: strip out, then any plastering, first fix plumbing and electrics, floor preparation, units set out and levelled, appliances placed, worktop templated and fitted, then sink, taps, hob connection, splashbacks and second fix electrics. The two points where the programme usually slips are the strip-out, when what is behind the old units turns out to need attention, and the worktop template, which cannot happen until the units are in and cannot be rushed afterwards.

A kitchen fitter may do most of this personally and bring in the regulated trades for their parts. That is normal and legitimate, but it should be written down: who connects the hob, who does the electrical work, whether the electrician is registered with a competent person scheme, and who is responsible for making good the plastering and the flooring.

LokalMatch is a way to reach those fitters without ringing round. You describe the kitchen once, including the size of the room, whether units are being replaced like-for-like or the layout is changing, whether the hob is gas or electric, and your postcode, and matched kitchen fitters and carpenters get in touch with you directly; they pay for the requests they receive. LokalMatch does not fit kitchens, does not set prices and does not vet, rank or recommend anyone, so checking registrations, insurance and previous work is still your job.

Not all kitchen electrical work has to be notified, but some of it does, and the distinction is set out in regulation 12 of the Building Regulations 2010. In England, the notifiable work is the installation of a new circuit, the replacement of a consumer unit, or any addition or alteration to existing circuits in a special location, where a special location means a room containing a bath or shower within the defined distances of the tap or shower head, or a room with a swimming pool or sauna heater. A kitchen is not itself a special location in England, so adding a spur for an extractor may not be notifiable while running a new circuit for a cooker or replacing the consumer unit is. Wales has its own provision in the same regulation, so ask locally rather than assuming. Either way, all of the work must still meet Part P, which is about protecting people from fire and injury rather than about paperwork.

Gas is simpler and absolute. Regulation 3 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 provides that no person shall carry out any work in relation to a gas fitting unless competent to do so, and generally only members of an approved class of persons may do it. HSE puts it plainly: anyone employed to work on gas appliances in domestic premises must be a Gas Safe registered engineer and competent in that area of gas work, and every registered engineer carries an ID card showing which appliances they are qualified to work on. Check the card, and check the business on the register, before a hob is disconnected or reconnected.

Keep what the job produces. Where a tradesperson is registered with a competent person scheme they notify the local authority on your behalf and give you a certificate within eight weeks of completion, which government notes will show up in solicitors' searches when you sell. In Scotland the building standards system works through a building warrant and a completion certificate issued by the local authority, and Northern Ireland works to the Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012, so the certificates you should end up with depend on where the property is.

Three different projects hide behind the phrase new kitchen, and they have different costs, timescales and disruption. Replacing doors and drawer fronts keeps the carcases, the worktop and every service where it is, and can be done in a day or two; it works when the units are sound, the layout suits you and only the appearance is tired.

Replacing units while keeping the layout means new carcases, doors and usually a new worktop, with the sink, hob and sockets staying roughly where they are. That keeps the regulated work to a minimum and is the most predictable of the three. Moving the layout, or opening the kitchen into another room, turns the job into a refit involving several trades, probable notifiable electrical work, new waste and supply runs and, where a wall comes out, structural work and building control. If the carcases are swollen at the sink base, sagging under a heavy worktop or built to a layout you have worked around for years, replacement is the honest answer; if not, new doors buy years for a fraction of the disruption.