A kitchen in a new build is a different job from a kitchen in an existing house, and the difference is not the kitchen. It is the timing.
In a renovation you control the programme. In a new build you are one item on somebody else’s, and the decisions that shape your kitchen get made months before anybody talks to you about doors. Homeowners who understand that end up with the kitchen they wanted. Homeowners who do not end up choosing from a shortened list under time pressure, and paying for the privilege.
Here is how to stay ahead of it.
Start talking earlier than feels sensible
Most people ring a kitchen maker when the plastering is done and the house looks like a house. That is far too late for anything except the most straightforward job.
The right moment is when the walls are going up and first fix has not yet happened. Not because we need to measure — we cannot, accurately, at that stage — but because that is when sockets, waste points, water feeds, extract routes and window positions are still cheap to move. Once first fix is in, every one of those becomes a change order.
An early conversation costs nothing and can save a great deal. If the island is going to want power and waste, somebody needs to know before the slab is poured. That is the kind of thing that is trivially easy in April and expensive in September.
Working to a builder’s programme
There are four points on a build where the kitchen and the builder have to talk to each other. Miss them and things go wrong quietly.
Before first fix. The kitchen layout, even in draft, needs to be with the electrician and the plumber. Socket heights, island services, appliance positions, extract routing, lighting over the worktop rather than behind where you will stand. This is the single highest-value conversation of the whole project.
After plastering, before anything else. This is when we survey. We measure the room to the millimetre and lock the technical detail, and it has to happen after plastering because plaster changes dimensions. A survey taken off blockwork is a survey taken off the wrong wall. If a supplier offers to survey before the plaster is on, ask them why.
Floors. Decide early whether the floor runs under the units or stops at them, because it changes cabinet heights, plinth heights and the appliance apertures. Underfloor heating adds another layer — it affects floor build-up and it affects what can sit tight to the floor. Get this wrong and a dishwasher will not come back out for servicing without lifting the worktop.
Fitting. The kitchen goes in after the floor and before the final decoration, and the room needs to be clear, dry, plastered, and with services live. We schedule around the builder rather than the other way round, and your exact dates get confirmed at survey — but the builder needs to know those dates as soon as they exist.
Confirm the services and appliances before manufacture
Once doors are being finished to your colour and cabinets are being built to your room, changes get expensive. Before that point, confirm the following in writing:
- Every appliance, by model number — not by type. Two ovens of the same width can differ in depth and in the aperture they need.
- Whether the hob is gas, electric or induction, because induction needs a dedicated supply and a different cable route.
- Extract: recirculating or ducted, and if ducted, exactly where it goes through the wall.
- Sink and tap, including whether you want a boiling water tap, which needs a socket and space in the cabinet below.
- Waste and water positions for the island, if there is one.
- Fridge type — a plumbed American fridge needs a water line that has to be there before the floor is finished.
Every one of those is a five-minute conversation before manufacture and a genuine problem afterwards.
Showhouse spec versus the kitchen you actually want
If you are buying from a developer, the showhouse is a marketing tool and the specification document is the contract. They are not the same kitchen, and the differences are rarely flagged.
Read the spec with these questions in hand. What is the door range and finish — named, not described as premium? What is the worktop material, and is it the same in the utility? How many cabinets, and are tall units included or shown in the showhouse as an upgrade? What appliances, by model? Are the internal storage systems included — the pull-outs, the larder mechanisms, the bins — or is the showhouse fitted out and the standard house not?
That last one accounts for more disappointment at handover than anything else. The cabinets look identical from outside. It is the insides that were upgraded.
How the money works on upgrades
When a kitchen comes as part of a house, you generally have three routes, and it is worth knowing all three before you commit.
Take the standard kitchen. Simplest, and included in the price and therefore in the mortgage.
Upgrade through the developer. You choose from their supplier’s list and pay the difference. Convenient, and it usually stays within the purchase. The limitation is the list — you are choosing from what that supplier offers, at the price the developer sets.
Take a credit and go your own way. Some developers will omit the kitchen and reduce the price. This gives you complete freedom, and if you want a specific range, a specific colour or genuinely bespoke sizing it is usually the only route to it. The trade-off is that the cost sits outside the mortgage, and you take on coordinating with the builder yourself.
There is no universally right answer. But ask about the third option early, because it is the one nobody volunteers, and it has to be agreed long before the kitchen is ordered.
If you are the developer or main contractor rather than the buyer, we work directly on that basis too — there is more on how we handle multi-unit work on our developers page.
Snagging a kitchen properly
Most snag lists treat the kitchen as one line. It should be twenty. Go around it with this list, in daylight, before you sign anything.
- Open and close every door and drawer. Every one. Doors should swing true and sit level with their neighbours; drawers should close softly and fully.
- Sight down each run at eye level. Gaps between doors should be consistent from one end to the other.
- Check the worktop joints, and check the seal where the worktop meets the wall and around the sink.
- Run every appliance once. Not a visual check — actually run them.
- Fill the sink and drain it, and look underneath while it drains.
- Check the extract genuinely extracts.
- Look at the doors in natural light for colour consistency across the whole room.
- Open the corner units and the larder and work the mechanisms fully.
- Check the plinths sit tight and the end panels are scribed to the wall.
- Confirm you have the warranty documents and the care guidance for your specific finish.
Snag before handover if you possibly can. Everything is easier to put right while there is still a fitter on site.
The short version
Talk to somebody before first fix. Survey after plastering, never before. Confirm every appliance by model number before manufacture. Read the specification rather than the showhouse. Ask about taking a credit. And snag the kitchen as twenty items, not one.
Our six-step process is built around exactly this sequence, and we have been scheduling around builders since 1996. If you are building or buying and want a conversation before the decisions get expensive, get in touch — consultations are free and there is no obligation. Bring the plans, even rough ones.
