Fit your kitchen yourself or hire someone: four options

You can fit the kitchen yourself, get help with individual jobs or hire someone to do the fitting. Doing it yourself saves paid labour and takes time, accuracy and coordination. Even when you hire someone, you need to know which connection work and repairs are included.

Start by comparing what each contractor will do. The lowest fitting price is not automatically the lowest price for the complete kitchen.

The figures below are indicative. Ask for quotes covering the same work. Include stripping out, transport, connections and finishing.

Fit the kitchen yourself

If you fit it yourself, you check the delivery, assess the walls and adjust the units and fronts. Bespoke worktops and uneven rooms may require specialist work.

Arrange the connection work separately. Changes to the consumer unit and complex electrical work require expertise. The work must comply with NEN 1010. You must not work on the metering equipment itself, the meter or the sealed mains connection: only an installer authorised to break seals may remove them. The network operator’s sealed connection is not an ordinary kitchen fitting job.

For gas, the type of appliance matters. You may connect a gas cooker or gas hob yourself. If the kitchen has a gas water heater, work on it is restricted to a CO-certified company. Since 2024, this has been set out in the Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving, the Dutch building regulations. Connecting appliances explains the details.

Get help with individual jobs

You can fit the units yourself and get help with the worktop, sink or fronts. For each job, write down what the tradesperson will do and what you will prepare before they arrive. This lets you compare the price with the work they are taking on.

“Fit a hob” does not automatically include new cables, an electrical circuit or a cut-out. Ask what is excluded and who will prepare it.

Hire your own fitter or use the supplier’s fitting service

Hiring a fitter directly gives you a choice of who does the work. You will often still coordinate the supplier, plumber and electrician yourself.

With fitting through the supplier, more of the coordination may be included. Still check exclusions such as stripping out, plastering and appliances bought elsewhere.

Agree who handles repairs and takes responsibility

Before fitting starts, agree who to contact about missing parts, measurement errors, damage and fitting problems. Also record how you will leave the room and connection points for the fitter. This makes clear where your preparation ends and their contract begins.

Compare the full job with new kitchen costs and check the fitting guarantee. If you strip out the old kitchen yourself, check whether you need a demolition notification. It is compulsory above ten cubic metres of demolition waste and always required for asbestos, regardless of the quantity. For a kitchen dating from before 1994, have suspicious material examined before removing the old kitchen.

What to do now

• choose which of the four options suits you, being honest about your experience
• ask each supplier to quote for the same items: fitting, stripping out, waste removal, connections and repairs
• record who is responsible if the kitchen does not fit