How to Choose a Kitchen Fitter in Nottingham: What to Ask

What a kitchen fitter does and does not do

What you pay a kitchen fitter for is a dry fit. The fitter builds and fits the units and all the kitchen furniture, including the sink, taps, appliances and fittings, but will not connect the appliances to the mains supplies or set them up for use, Checkatrade’s kitchen fitting cost guide says.

You provide the designs, units, worktops, tiles, appliances, fixtures and fittings, and a fitter will not collect or store your kitchen or provide missing parts, Checkatrade says. Time spent waiting for parts is not in the fitting price.

Independent kitchen fitter or a company that supplies and fits

You can buy the kitchen yourself and hire an independent fitter, or use one business that supplies and fits it. The reasons Checkatrade gives for going independent are more control over the design and the fit, managing the timeline yourself, tradespeople who work for you and answer to you, the freedom to mix products from different suppliers, and potentially lower costs.

Part of the job	Independent fitter	Company that supplies and fits
Design	You provide the designs	Design Time gives a free, no-obligation design consultation and a measuring service
Units, worktops and appliances	You provide them, from different suppliers if you like	4K’s Kitchens sells kitchens and appliances and can install the kitchen
Fitting	Kitchen Fitter Nottingham fits any make of kitchen, independently of any supplier	Kitchen Design Studio employs its own fitting team
Running the job	You manage the timeline, and the tradespeople work for you	L&M Interiors supplies, fits and manages every part of the project

The two routes can overlap. Design Time in West Bridgford fits with its own dedicated fitters, or you can have the room fitted by someone else.

Check Gas Safe and other registers

A firm that names a scheme on its website should appear on that scheme’s own register, so look it up before you ask for a quote. Which? Trusted Traders lists the traders it endorses by trade and town, and Design Time is among the Nottingham kitchen fitters it endorses.

Anyone you employ to work on gas appliances in your home must be a Gas Safe registered engineer and competent in that area of gas work, and the back of the engineer’s ID card shows which appliances they can work on, the HSE says. That covers connecting a gas hob or cooker, so find out who will do it before you agree the quote.

You can check an engineer with the Check an Engineer service on the Gas Safe Register website, on the freephone helpline 0800 408 5500, or by texting “Gas” and the engineer’s seven-digit licence number to 85080, the HSE says.

A new circuit for a cooker is notifiable electrical work, which an electrician registered with a competent person scheme can self-certify, the Planning Portal says. Check the electrician on the electrical competent person register at www.electricalcompetentperson.co.uk, as the Planning Portal advises.

Questions to ask a kitchen fitter

Ask every fitter the same questions, so the answers line up.

• Is your price a quote or an estimate, and will each job have its own price?
• What does the price include, and what does it leave out?
• Who connects the appliances to the gas and electricity, and which register are they on?
• What do I need to supply, and what happens if a part is missing?
• Which schemes are you a member of?
• What qualifications do you hold?
• What does your guarantee cover, and for how long?
• Will you put a finish date in the quote?

Kitchen Fitter Nottingham in Giltbrook, for example, holds NVQ Levels 1 and 2 in joinery and carpentry and a CSCS card, and Kitchen Design Studio in West Bridgford gives a 10-year guarantee on its kitchens.

Ask for the finish date in writing if the timing matters. Unless you made clear the work had to be finished by a certain date, you should give a fitter who runs late a second chance to finish, Citizens Advice says.

What a kitchen fitter quote should include

Expect a kitchen fitter’s quote to include removing the existing kitchen, fitting the units and worktops, and installing the sink, taps and appliances, plus painting, plastering and tiling if you ask for them, Checkatrade says. Ask for it itemised, so each job has its own price.

A kitchen fitter’s day rate is £250 to £350, or £37 an hour, on Checkatrade’s figures, and multi-skilled fitters who also do the electrics and plumbing charge a higher day rate. Check which trades each quote covers before you compare the prices.

All ten of the Nottingham kitchen fitters we compare give a free quote or consultation, and Kitchen Fitter Nottingham gives a price within 5 working days of visiting.

A quote is a promise to do the work at an agreed price, while an estimate is only the trader’s best guess, Citizens Advice says. A fitter cannot charge more than a quote without a good reason, such as extra work you agreed to pay for or an obvious mistake, and a rise in the fitter’s own costs does not count. Under an estimate the final price only has to be reasonable, and the law does not say what counts as reasonable.

Once you give the go-ahead you have a contract, even if nothing is written down, Citizens Advice says, so make these checks before you agree.

If a kitchen fitter does a bad job

Work must be done with reasonable care and skill under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, Citizens Advice says. If the fitter supplied goods as well as the fitting, such as the units or worktops, you can ask for the problem to be fixed. If the fitter only did the fitting, you can get a refund and stop them doing more work.

If a fitter cannot or will not fix the problem, ask for a partial or full refund, which should reach you within 14 days of agreeing the amount, Citizens Advice says.