How Much Does a Kitchen Renovation Cost in Bristol?

A kitchen renovation with Excellence Living starts from
£20,000 + VAT for a reconfiguration within your existing footprint. That is a
renovation rather than an extension: the walls stay where they are, and the money goes into the layout,
the services and the finish rather than into new structure. If the room itself is the problem, a kitchen
extension starts from £60,000 + VAT and a garage-to-kitchen conversion from
£45,000 + VAT. Which of the three fits your house is exactly what the free
feasibility visit settles.

What it costs  ·  Renovation or extension  ·  What moves the price  ·  How location moves the cost  ·  What a quote itemises  ·  Costs people forget  ·  Budgeting and contingency  ·  FAQs

What a kitchen renovation costs

A renovation keeps the footprint and changes everything inside it. At the lower end that means new
units, worktops, flooring and lighting with the services broadly where they are. At the upper end it
means knocking through between the kitchen and an adjoining room, moving the plumbing and the consumer
unit, re-plastering throughout and rebuilding the ceiling around new structure. Both are called a
kitchen renovation, and the gap between them is the reason a single average figure is not much use.

Excellence Living publishes a starting point rather than an average, because a starting point is a
promise we can keep. From £20,000 + VAT covers a reconfiguration within the
existing footprint, including knocking through where the structure allows it.

Renovation, extension or garage conversion

Most people arrive asking about a renovation and leave having compared three options, because the
right answer depends on what is actually wrong with the room.

Renovation, from £20,000 + VAT. The room is big enough but the layout, the
services or the finish are not working. This is the cheapest route to a kitchen you want to stand in.

Kitchen extension, from £60,000 + VAT. The room is genuinely too small, or you
want the open-plan kitchen-dining space that a rear or side return gives you. You are buying floor area
as well as a kitchen.

Garage-to-kitchen conversion, from £45,000 + VAT. There is an integral or
attached garage doing very little. The structure already exists, so you get most of the space benefit of
an extension without the groundworks.

What moves the price

How far the services move. Leaving the sink and the boiler where they are is
materially cheaper than moving them. Drainage in particular has to fall the right way, and moving a soil
connection across a room is a bigger job than it looks on a plan.

Whether structure is involved. Knocking through between the kitchen and a dining room
usually means a steel and a structural calculation, and sometimes Building Regulations sign-off. That is
a defined cost, not a surprise, provided it is priced before work starts.

The specification you choose. Units, worktops and appliances cover an enormous range,
and this is the part of the budget you control most directly. We price the build and set out the
allowance separately so you can see which is which.

The condition of what is behind the units. On older Bristol housing stock, taking a
kitchen out often reveals wiring, plaster or a floor that has to be dealt with. We look for that at the
feasibility visit rather than finding it on week two.

Kitchen renovation cost Bristol:
how location moves the total cost

Labour and material rates are generally higher in London and the South East than across the rest of
the UK, and location is one of the larger influences on the final cost of any building work. Bristol,
North Somerset and Somerset sit below London rates, which is part of why a kitchen renovation here
compares well with the national figures you will see quoted.

Access and complexity move the total as much as the headline rates do. A terraced street in
Bedminster, Southville or Easton usually means a smaller compound, permit parking and every load carried
through the house, and that time lands in the labour figure. A detached or semi-detached property in
Henleaze, Westbury-on-Trym or Downend with off-street parking is straightforwardly easier to build in,
for the same specification. Conservation area status changes the finish and the paperwork rather than
the structure. We price all of it at the free feasibility visit rather than adding a blanket city
premium.

What a fully specified quote itemises

A quote worth comparing shows you the strip-out and disposal, any structural work with its
calculations, first-fix electrics and plumbing, plastering and making good, flooring, the units and
worktops with their allowance stated, second-fix and appliance installation, decoration, and the
Building Regulations sign-off where it applies. If a quote is one number on one line, you cannot tell
what has been left out, and neither can we.

The costs people forget

Temporary kitchen arrangements while the room is out of use. Appliance delivery and disposal of the
old ones. Making good in the rooms either side of a knock-through. Any asbestos survey on a property of
a certain age. None of these are large on their own; together they are worth having on the page from
the start.

Budgeting and contingency

Set aside a contingency on top of the quoted figure, and treat it as part of the budget rather than
a reserve you hope not to touch. On a renovation the most common call on it is what is found behind the
existing units. A fully specified quote reduces how often that happens, but it cannot make a Victorian
floor sound.

Frequently asked questions

Is a kitchen renovation cheaper than an extension? Yes, materially. A renovation
within the existing footprint starts from £20,000 + VAT against £60,000 + VAT for a kitchen
extension. If the room is big enough already, a renovation is the better value of the two.

Do I need planning permission for a kitchen renovation? Usually not, because you are
not changing the building’s footprint. Structural work such as removing an internal wall is a Building
Regulations matter rather than a planning one, and we handle the application either way.

How long does a kitchen renovation take? It depends on whether structure and
services move. We give you a programme with the quote, and we will tell you at the feasibility visit if
your project is at the longer end of the range.

Can you do the design as well as the build? Yes. Design and build under one contract
is how we work on every project, so the drawings, the structural calculations and the build are the
responsibility of one team.

For the wider service, see our kitchen
renovations page. If you are weighing an extension instead, our kitchen extension cost guide sets out
those figures, and our house renovation
cost guide covers a whole-house project.