Buying a new kitchen in London: protecting your deposit when supply and fitting are split, and the sign-offs to insist on

For many London households a new kitchen is one of the largest single purchases they will make for the home. It is also an unusually fragmented one. Cabinets, worktops and appliances are often bought from a showroom or retailer; installation may be by that retailer's fitters, by an independent kitchen fitter, or by a general builder; and the electrics, gas, plumbing and plastering may each be done by someone else again.

Each of those relationships carries different legal rights. If you understand them before you pay, a problem with a cracked door, a mis-measured worktop or a supplier that stops trading becomes an inconvenience rather than a financial loss. This guide sets out how to structure the purchase. It was checked against Citizens Advice, legislation.gov.uk and GOV.UK on 20 October 2026.

Goods and services: two sets of rights

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats the kitchen itself as goods and the installation as a service.

• Goods must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described. If they are not, section 22 gives a short-term right to reject, generally within 30 days of delivery.
• Services must be performed with reasonable care and skill (section 49), and what the trader tells you about the service can become part of the contract (section 50).

When one company supplies and fits, both sets of rights run against that company. When the retailer supplies and an independent fitter installs, a fault becomes an argument about whether the unit was defective or was damaged in fitting. That argument is a common way for homeowners to end up with neither party accepting responsibility.

Supply-and-fit versus supply-only

One company supplying and fitting

You have a single contract covering design, products and installation. If a measurement is wrong, the remedy is plainly theirs. The trade-off is often a higher price and less choice of fitter. Read who actually fits the kitchen - some showrooms use self-employed installers - and make sure the contract says the company remains responsible for their work.

Buying the kitchen and hiring a fitter separately

This can save money and give you a fitter you trust, but you take on the co-ordination. Protect yourself by:

• asking the fitter to survey and confirm the measurements before the order is placed, in writing;
• having the delivery checked and signed for by you or the fitter, with every carton opened and photographed before the old kitchen comes out;
• agreeing in writing who orders replacement parts for damaged or missing items, and who bears the delay;
• clarifying who supplies worktops, sinks, taps, appliances, splashbacks and extraction ducting - each is a common gap between two quotes.

Deposits and the made-to-measure trap

Kitchen companies often ask for a substantial deposit at order, because cabinets and worktops are manufactured or cut to your measurements. That is a legitimate reason, but it concentrates risk. If you sign at home, the usual 14-day cooling-off period under the Consumer Contracts Regulations may not help: regulation 28 excludes the cancellation rights for goods "made to the consumer's specifications or clearly personalised".

Citizens Advice advises keeping any deposit as low as possible, not agreeing to more than 25 per cent, getting a receipt, and considering deposit insurance or an FCA-registered escrow service where a larger sum is unavoidable. For a kitchen, sensible stages are:

1. a deposit at order, ideally by credit card;
2. a further payment on delivery, after the contents have been checked;
3. installation payments tied to progress;
4. a final sum retained until snagging is complete and certificates are in hand.

Section 75 and chargeback

According to Citizens Advice, if you pay any part of the cost by credit card, you can use Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act as long as the single item cost more than £100 and no more than £30,000. Citizens Advice gives the example of a buyer who paid a £50 deposit on a £250 oven by credit card and the rest in cash: the claim can cover the full £250. Section 75 claims can include the cost of putting right damage caused by faulty goods or services.

The limits apply per item, not per order, and Section 75 usually does not apply where you paid through a third party rather than the trader directly. If Section 75 is not available, debit card payments may be recoverable through chargeback, though this is a card-scheme process rather than a legal right. If a claim is refused, the Financial Ombudsman Service can review a Section 75 decision.

The rules a new kitchen must meet

Replacing kitchen units on a like-for-like basis is not, of itself, building work requiring approval. But several elements of a typical kitchen project are regulated.

Extraction

Approved Document F (2021 edition, Volume 1) requires extract ventilation to the outside in kitchens. Table 1.1 sets a minimum intermittent extract rate of 30 litres per second where a cooker hood extracts to the outside, or 60 litres per second where there is no hood or the hood does not extract outside. The document is explicit that a recirculating cooker hood on its own does not provide compliant ventilation, and that the hood should span at least the full width of the cooker. In a London flat, where ducting to an outside wall can be awkward, settle the extraction route at design stage.

Electrics

GOV.UK's guidance on when you do not need approval notes that new power and lighting points and changes to existing circuits are generally exempt except around baths and showers, but replacing a fuse box is not. New circuits for an induction hob or oven are notifiable under Approved Document P. Use an electrician registered with a scheme such as NICEIC or NAPIT, and expect an Electrical Installation Certificate or Minor Works Certificate.

Gas

Connecting, moving or disconnecting a gas hob or cooker must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer qualified for that appliance type. A kitchen fitter who "does the gas too" should be able to show you a Gas Safe ID card listing cooking appliances.

Plumbing and structure

Moving a sink or adding a dishwasher is usually straightforward, but removing a wall to create an open-plan kitchen is not. Structural alterations need building control approval, and in a terrace or semi may also engage the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. In a leasehold flat, check your lease for restrictions on alterations and flooring before ordering anything.

Vetting the retailer and the fitter

• Check limited companies on Companies House: overdue accounts, a very recent incorporation or directors with a history of dissolved companies all deserve questions.
• Confirm any TrustMark or trade body membership on the body's own website.
• Ask the fitter for public liability insurance in their own business name.
• Ask whether the retailer offers deposit protection or an insurance-backed guarantee, and read what it actually covers.
• Ask for two or three recent London references and photographs of finished work with the clients' consent.

Red flags

• "Today only" discounts that require a large deposit before a technical survey;
• a design based on your own measurements with no survey by the company or fitter;
• cash-only payment requests, or bank details in a different name from the company;
• a recirculating hood offered as the only extraction with no mention of Part F;
• a fitter who intends to install a new circuit or move a gas point with no named, registered electrician or Gas Safe engineer.

At handover

Before the final payment, walk the kitchen with the fitter and list every snag in writing. Collect the electrical and gas certificates, appliance warranties and registration details, the cabinet and worktop guarantees, and any building control completion certificate if structural work was involved. Keep everything together with your contracts and payment records: if something fails in the first months, those documents are what turn your statutory rights into a remedy.

Sources (checked 20 October 2026): Consumer Rights Act 2015; Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulation 28; Citizens Advice, Section 75 and chargeback; Citizens Advice, Before you get building work done; Approved Document F, Volume 1 (2021); Approved Document P; GOV.UK, When you do not need approval; Gas Safe Register. Nothing here is legal or financial advice.