What to expect
| Typical duration | Design to install 6–12 weeks · fitting itself 1–2 weeks |
|---|---|
| Cost band | Figures live in the cost index |
| Permit required | No · unless structural or drainage changes |
| Seasonal constraint | Rentals and hotels fit in the closed season |
Why modular rarely works in these buildings
A modular kitchen assumes flat walls, square corners, a level floor and a consistent ceiling height. In a vaulted room, an old stone house or a cave property, you may have none of those.
The visible symptom is a run of units with a growing wedge of filler panel at one end and a worktop scribed to a wall that curves away from it. It looks like what it is.
Bespoke joinery, scribed to the actual room, solves it — and in a cave house it does more than that, because it can occupy the awkward volume where the vault meets the floor that no standard unit can reach. See carpentry and joinery.
The supply chain is the programme
A kitchen is a collection of items with independent lead times that all have to arrive before the fitting can complete: carcassing, worktop, sink, tap, hob, oven, extractor, fridge, dishwasher, handles.
Any one of them missing stops the final fix. On this island every one of them also has to cross by ferry, so the effective lead time is the supplier's quoted time plus the crossing plus the schedule slot.
- Appliance selection frozen early, before the joinery is manufactured, because the joinery is made around the appliances.
- Worktop templated only after carcassing is installed and level, which is a fixed sequence that cannot be compressed.
- Everything ordered against the programme rather than as it is decided.
- A checked delivery route on access-restricted properties, particularly for the worktop and large appliances. See marble and granite.
Water, and what it does to appliances
Hard water scales dishwashers, kettles, coffee machines and any appliance heating water. In a rental property with heavy use this shortens appliance life noticeably and produces the cloudy glassware that guests notice.
Whether treatment is worth installing depends on the property and its use — for a heavily used rental it usually is. See plumbing for the wider water picture.
Rental and holiday kitchens are a different brief
A kitchen in a short-term rental takes more abuse in one season than a family kitchen takes in five years, from people who do not know where anything is and will not report a problem.
- Durable surfaces and edges over delicate ones. A painted timber edge in a rental will be chipped by August.
- Appliances that are simple, obvious and serviceable locally. An exotic imported oven that nobody on the island can repair is a liability in season.
- Ventilation and extraction that actually works, because cooking smells in a small property are a review problem.
- Layout that survives being used by six people at once rather than optimised for a couple.
- Spare parts thought about in advance — a handle or a hinge that has to be ordered from abroad means a broken door for weeks.
Questions people actually ask
Can you fit a kitchen I have bought elsewhere?
Yes. The two conditions are that the delivery date is committed to the programme and that the warranty on the goods stays with you. Free-issue material arriving late is the most common owner-driven delay.
How long does a kitchen take?
Six to twelve weeks from design sign-off, with the fitting itself one to two weeks. The gap is manufacture and delivery, and the ferry is part of it.
Will a standard kitchen fit in my cave house?
Usually poorly. Curved walls and a vaulted ceiling defeat modular units, and you lose the storage volume in the curve. Scribed joinery is both better looking and more practical there.
What worktop should I choose for a rental?
Something durable and forgiving rather than something that etches. Marble in a rental will be marked by the end of the first season, and guests will not treat it carefully.
Do you handle the plumbing and electrics too?
Yes, as one package — which avoids the common problem of a kitchen fitter waiting on an electrician who is on another job on another part of the island.