A bespoke kitchen typically costs somewhere between £20,000 and £60,000 for cabinetry, worktops and fitting, with most falling in the £25,000 to £40,000 range. Smaller kitchens in simpler specifications can come in below that. Large kitchens with stone worktops, premium appliances and structural work attached can go considerably above it.
That range is wide enough to be nearly useless on its own, which is the problem with most guidance on this subject. A kitchen is not one purchase. It is six or seven separate purchases that arrive as one number, and until you can see the breakdown you cannot judge whether a quote is fair or where you might reasonably trim it.
This guide opens the number up. It shows where every pound goes, explains what separates a £20,000 kitchen from a £45,000 one, covers the costs that sit outside the kitchen quote entirely, and gives twelve practical ways to reduce the total without wrecking the result.
Written from over 20 years of quoting kitchens across Jersey.
Where the money goes
A typical breakdown for a bespoke kitchen. Proportions shift with specification, but the shape holds.
| Element | Share of total | Typical spend on a £30,000 kitchen |
| Cabinetry | 40 to 50% | £12,000 to £15,000 |
| Worktops | 10 to 20% | £3,000 to £6,000 |
| Appliances | 10 to 20% | £3,000 to £6,000 |
| Installation | 10 to 15% | £3,000 to £4,500 |
| Sink, taps and accessories | 3 to 5% | £900 to £1,500 |
| Design and survey | 3 to 5% | £900 to £1,500 |
| Hardware and internals | 5 to 8% | £1,500 to £2,400 |
The number that surprises people is cabinetry sitting below half. Most assume the cupboards are the kitchen. In practice worktops and appliances together frequently match the cabinetry cost, and they are the two places where budgets most often run away.
What the cabinetry cost is actually buying
Break the cabinetry figure down further and it looks like this:
| Element | Share of cabinetry cost |
| Materials | 25 to 35% |
| Workshop labour | 30 to 40% |
| Finishing | 10 to 20% |
| Design and drawings | 5 to 10% |
| Overheads | 10 to 15% |
Materials are roughly a third. The majority is time: machining, assembly, finishing and the curing that cannot be rushed. You are buying hours in a workshop worked to tolerances measured in fractions of a millimetre.
Two costs people forget are inside that figure:
- Machinery and premises. A panel saw, planer, thicknesser, spindle moulder and spray booth represent serious investment, plus the building, extraction, insurance and maintenance. Every job carries a share.
- Curing time. A sprayed finish needs days between coats and after the final one. That is workshop space occupied and capital tied up, and it is priced in.
What you get at each budget level
Using a medium-sized kitchen, roughly 12 to 15 units, as the reference.
| Budget | What that typically buys |
| £8,000 to £15,000 | Good quality modular units, standard sizes with filler panels, factory-finished doors, laminate worktop, entry-level appliances, fitted by a kitchen fitter |
| £15,000 to £22,000 | Better modular range or entry-level made to measure, painted doors, quality laminate or entry solid surface worktop, mid-range integrated appliances |
| £22,000 to £35,000 | Genuine bespoke cabinetry built to your room, sprayed finish, scribed to the walls, quartz or timber worktop, good integrated appliances, quality hardware |
| £35,000 to £50,000 | The above with a larger kitchen or higher specification: stone worktops, premium appliances, solid timber elements, integrated lighting, specialist internal fittings |
| £50,000+ | Large kitchens, island units, premium stone, top-tier appliances, complex layouts, curved or non-standard elements |
The step that matters most is between the second and third rows. That is where carcasses stop being standard sizes with fillers and start being built to your room, and where finishing moves from factory colours to a sprayed finish applied in a booth.
Below that step you are buying modular units, whatever the quote calls them.
Cabinetry: what drives the price
Number of units
The most obvious factor and the easiest to control. Each unit carries materials, machining, assembly, finishing and fitting time.
Rough guide per unit, bespoke and sprayed:
| Unit type | Typical cost each |
| Base unit, 600mm | £600 to £1,100 |
| Wall unit, 600mm | £450 to £850 |
| Tall unit or larder | £1,200 to £2,500 |
| Drawer unit, 600mm | £750 to £1,400 |
| Island, depending on size | £3,000 to £9,000 |
| Bespoke pantry with internal fittings | £2,500 to £5,000 |
Drawers cost more than cupboard doors of the same width, because a drawer unit is four or five boxes rather than one, each with its own runners and front.
Door style
The single largest variable in cabinetry cost after unit count.
| Style | Relative cost | Why |
| Slab or flat | Lowest | One piece, minimal machining |
| Simple shaker | Moderate | Five pieces, jointed, more machining |
| Detailed shaker with beading | Higher | Additional profiles run separately |
| Traditional frame and panel with mouldings | Highest | Multiple profiles, more hand work at finishing |
| In-frame | Highest | Each door fitted individually to its own frame opening |
In-frame construction deserves explanation because it is the biggest single jump. In a standard kitchen, doors sit on the front of the carcass. In an in-frame kitchen, each door sits inside a timber frame fixed to the carcass front, like a traditional cupboard. It looks superb and it is how high-end kitchens have always been built, but every door has to be fitted individually to its own opening with consistent gaps all round. Expect it to add 25 to 40 percent to the cabinetry cost.
Finish
- Supplied primed, for your own decorator to paint, is the cheapest route and removes the spray booth from the cost
- Sprayed in a booth is the standard for quality bespoke work
- Two-tone, with different colours on base and wall units, adds cost because it means separate spray sessions
- Hand-painted is more expensive again and, contrary to the marketing, generally gives a less flat surface than spraying
- Natural timber with a lacquer or oil finish varies with the timber
- French polished elements are the most expensive, usually reserved for a feature piece
Materials
Quality bespoke cabinetry mixes materials by function rather than using one throughout:
- MDF for painted doors and fronts, because it does not move with humidity and takes a sprayed finish flat with no grain showing through
- Birch plywood for carcasses and any shelving under load, since it resists sagging far better than board
- Moisture-resistant board anywhere near the sink, dishwasher or on an external wall
- Solid hardwood for worktops, exposed features and anything where the grain is the point
A quote specifying one material throughout is working to a house standard rather than to your kitchen.
Hardware and internals
Easy to underestimate and easy to overspend on.
| Item | Typical cost |
| Soft-close hinges | £8 to £25 per door |
| Drawer runners | £20 to £70 per drawer |
| Handles | £8 to £60 each |
| Corner carousel | £150 to £400 |
| Pull-out larder mechanism | £300 to £900 |
| Integrated bin system | £100 to £300 |
| Cutlery inserts and dividers | £40 to £200 per drawer |
| Under-cabinet lighting | £300 to £1,200 for the kitchen |
Across a fifteen-unit kitchen, hardware and internals commonly total £1,500 to £3,000. Specifying premium runners throughout when standard soft-close would do is one of the quieter ways a budget grows.
Worktops: the biggest single line after cabinetry
| Material | Cost per linear metre, fitted | Notes |
| Laminate | £70 to £200 | Huge range of appearances, not repairable, vulnerable at cut edges |
| Solid timber | £250 to £500 | Warm, repairable by sanding, needs oiling, marks near sinks |
| Quartz | £400 to £800 | Non-porous, very hard, consistent appearance, heavy |
| Granite | £400 to £900 | Natural variation, needs sealing, extremely durable |
| Solid surface | £400 to £800 | Seamless joints, repairable, can be thermoformed |
| Sintered stone | £600 to £1,200 | Heat and scratch resistant, expensive, hard to work |
| Stainless steel | £400 to £900 | Hygienic and durable, scratches visibly |
| Concrete | £500 to £1,000 | Distinctive, needs sealing, can hairline crack |
Additional worktop costs that catch people out:
- Cut-outs for sinks and hobs, typically £100 to £300 each
- Upstands or splashbacks in the same material, often priced per metre
- Drainer grooves, £150 to £400
- Curved or shaped edges, priced per metre
- Templating, usually included but worth confirming
- Waterfall ends on an island, which can add £800 to £2,000 per end
The timing point: stone and quartz worktops cannot be templated until the base units are physically installed, because the template has to follow the actual fitted positions. That adds one to two weeks between the units going in and the worktop arriving, during which you have a kitchen with no surfaces. Plan around it.
Appliances
Genuinely open-ended, and the easiest place to double a budget without noticing.
| Appliance | Entry | Mid | Premium |
| Oven | £300 | £700 | £2,500+ |
| Hob | £200 | £500 | £1,800+ |
| Extractor | £150 | £450 | £2,000+ |
| Fridge freezer, integrated | £500 | £1,000 | £3,500+ |
| Dishwasher, integrated | £350 | £650 | £1,500+ |
| Washing machine | £300 | £600 | £1,400+ |
| Wine cooler | £400 | £900 | £2,500+ |
| Boiling water tap | £600 | £1,200 | £2,500+ |
A full set of entry-level appliances comes in around £2,000. The same set at premium level exceeds £15,000.
Worth knowing: integrated appliances cost more than freestanding equivalents and require a door front, which adds to the cabinetry cost too. A dishwasher door in the same sprayed finish as the rest of the kitchen is an additional made item.
The costs outside the kitchen quote
This is where budgets most commonly break, because these rarely appear on the kitchen company’s paperwork.
| Work | Typical cost |
| Removing and disposing of the old kitchen | £400 to £1,200 |
| Plumbing alterations | £500 to £2,500 |
| Electrical work and certification | £800 to £3,000 |
| Gas work, if applicable | £300 to £900 |
| Plastering and making good | £600 to £2,500 |
| Flooring | £1,500 to £6,000 |
| Decorating | £500 to £2,000 |
| Structural work, removing a wall | £2,500 to £10,000+ |
| Windows or doors altered | £1,500 to £6,000 |
| Building control, where needed | £300 to £800 |
Realistically, add 20 to 35 percent to your cabinetry and worktop budget for everything else unless the quote explicitly includes it.
Always ask what a kitchen quote covers. “Supply and fit” can mean cabinetry and installation only, or it can mean a managed project including other trades. Those are very different products at very different prices, and the word does not distinguish them.
Why quotes vary so much
Three quotes for the same kitchen can differ by a factor of two. The reason is almost never that one firm is greedy.
| Lower quote often means | Higher quote often means | |
| Carcasses | Standard sizes with fillers | Built to your room’s dimensions |
| Materials | Chipboard or basic board | Specified board and ply by grade |
| Finish | Factory colour or painted on site | Sprayed in a booth, properly cured |
| Fit to walls | Trim and filler covering gaps | Scribed to follow the wall |
| Levelling | Units set to the floor as found | Each carcass levelled independently |
| Backs sealed | No | Yes, every face |
| Worktop | Laminate | Stone, quartz or timber |
| Appliances | Entry level | Mid to premium |
| Other trades | Excluded | Included and managed |
| Drawings | Verbal or a showroom plan | Drawings you approve before cutting |
Before comparing prices, get every company to answer the same question: are the carcasses made to my room’s dimensions, or standard sizes with filler panels?
Twelve ways to reduce the cost
Roughly in order of impact.
- Simplify the door style. Moving from in-frame traditional to a simple shaker can save 25 to 40 percent of the cabinetry cost, and the difference in the finished room is smaller than you would expect.
- Keep the layout. Moving the sink or hob means plumbing, electrical and sometimes structural work. Keeping services where they are can save several thousand.
- Choose the worktop carefully. The gap between laminate and sintered stone across a typical kitchen can be £5,000 or more.
- Buy appliances separately. Kitchen companies often mark them up. Sourcing your own, with the specification agreed so the cabinetry fits, frequently saves 10 to 20 percent.
- Mix bespoke and standard. Bespoke where the room is awkward, such as the run against the uneven wall or the awkward corner, and good quality standard units where the wall is straight.
- Fewer, larger units. Two 800mm units cost less than three 500mm ones for the same run, because the cost is per unit as much as per metre.
- Drop the extras. Integrated lighting, premium runners, carousels and specialist inserts add up quickly and can be added later.
- Take it primed. Supplied primed for your own decorator removes the spray booth cost, though you lose the sprayed finish quality.
- Open shelving in places. Cheaper than wall units and currently fashionable, though it demands tidiness.
- Be flexible on timing. A job that fills a quiet workshop week is easier to price keenly than one with a fixed date.
- Keep it square. Curves and non-standard shapes take disproportionately longer to set out and build.
- Do your own demolition and decorating. Removing the old kitchen and painting afterwards is work you can do yourself.
What not to cut: the survey, the drawings, moisture-resistant board near water, sealing of backs and undersides, and carcass material quality. Those determine whether the kitchen still works in fifteen years.
The island factor
Two Jersey-specific points that affect a kitchen budget.
Shipping. Materials, appliances and worktops not held locally have to come across. That adds cost and time to anything specified rather than stock. Stone worktops in particular are heavy and awkward to transport. The way to manage it is to settle specification early rather than mid-project.
Older buildings. Granite cottages, farmhouses and converted outbuildings routinely add work that a modern house would not:
- Rubble walls where reveals vary by 30 or 40mm along a single run, meaning more scribing and more fitting time
- Floors that fall noticeably, requiring each carcass to be levelled independently and the plinth cut to follow the floor line
- Higher ambient humidity, making moisture-resistant board and fully sealed faces a practical requirement rather than an upgrade
- Services in awkward places, often surface-run and needing enclosure
- Discoveries. Opening up a wall can reveal a lintel needing attention, damp, or masonry too soft to take fixings
Budget a contingency of 10 to 15 percent on a kitchen in an older property. Most projects use some of it.
What should be in the quote
Check these appear rather than being added later:
- Full site survey with level and plumb recorded
- Drawings for approval before anything is cut
- Materials and grades named, not described as “quality”
- Finish specified, including method and colour reference
- Hardware named by brand and finish
- Unit schedule listing every item with dimensions
- Worktop material, thickness, edge detail and cut-outs
- Whether appliances are included, and which
- Installation, including levelling, scribing and fixing
- Removal of the old kitchen and waste disposal
- Which other trades are included and which are not
- Payment stages with amounts and triggers
- Lead time
- Guarantee term and what it covers
- Snagging visit
- What is explicitly excluded
Three kitchens and where the money went
Composite examples of how budgets play out.
A £24,000 kitchen in a modern house. Square room, flat walls, level floor, services staying where they were. Bespoke cabinetry at around £13,000 in a simple shaker style sprayed in one colour, quartz worktop at £4,500, appliances sourced by the client at £3,500, fitting at £2,500. The straight walls meant minimal scribing and the unchanged layout meant no plumbing or electrical alterations beyond adding sockets. Simple room, simple job, and the budget went into materials rather than problem-solving.
A £38,000 kitchen in a granite cottage. Rubble walls with reveals varying by nearly 40mm along one run, and a floor falling toward an old external door. Moisture-resistant board throughout, sealed on every face because the external wall runs cold. Each unit levelled independently and the plinth scribed to the floor line. A shallow 25cm run along a wall too narrow for standard units turned dead space into pantry storage. Cabinetry £17,000, timber worktop £5,000, appliances £6,000, fitting £4,500, plus £5,500 of plumbing, electrical and plastering work. Roughly £6,000 of the total existed purely because the building is old.
A £19,000 kitchen where the client mixed approaches. A budget that would not stretch to full bespoke across the room. The solution was bespoke for the run against the bowed wall and the awkward corner where nothing standard fitted, and good quality modular units for the two straight walls, all sprayed to the same colour so the kitchen reads as one piece. Laminate worktop chosen deliberately, with the intention of replacing it with stone in a few years. The result solved the problems that needed solving and left the rest for later.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I budget for a bespoke kitchen?
For cabinetry, worktops and fitting, £20,000 to £60,000 covers most projects, with £25,000 to £40,000 being the common range. Add 20 to 35 percent for plumbing, electrical, plastering, flooring and decorating unless those are included in the quote.
Why are bespoke kitchens so expensive?
Around a third of the cabinetry cost is materials. The rest is time, in a workshop, with machinery, worked to fine tolerances, plus finishing and curing that cannot be rushed. Worktops and appliances then frequently match the cabinetry cost between them.
Is a bespoke kitchen worth it over a modular one?
In a square room with flat walls and a level floor, a good modular kitchen fitted well is a strong buy and the gap narrows considerably. In an older property with uneven walls, sloping floors and non-standard dimensions, bespoke solves problems modular cannot.
Can I save money by buying my own appliances?
Usually yes, often 10 to 20 percent, since kitchen companies typically apply a margin. Agree the exact models with your joiner first so the cabinetry is built to the right dimensions.
How long does a bespoke kitchen take?
Around eight to twelve weeks from survey to completion, with five to ten days on site. Add one to two weeks at the end if you are having a stone or quartz worktop, since it cannot be templated until the base units are installed.
What should I keep back in my budget?
On a kitchen in an older property, hold 10 to 15 percent as contingency. Opening up walls and floors in a period building reveals things nobody could have priced in advance, and most projects use some of it.
Getting started
The most useful first conversation covers the room, how you cook and what your total budget is, including the work that sits outside the cabinetry. A survey then establishes what the walls, floors and services are actually doing, which is what turns a range into a real figure.
Davision Interiors Ltd has designed, built, finished and installed bespoke kitchens across all parishes of Jersey for over 20 years, with spray finishing and French polishing carried out in house. We quote cabinetry and fitting, and can take on worktops and appliances as part of the project, so you can see clearly what is inside the price and what sits outside it. Every project starts with a free design and survey visit, all work is covered by our workmanship guarantee, and we are fully insured. Get in touch to arrange a visit and a no-obligation quote.