In this guide
- What Makes a Bespoke Kitchen Different From a Standard One?
- Why Do Standard Units Waste So Much Space?
- How Should You Plan the Layout?
- Which Storage Is Actually Worth Having?
- What Should You Know About Worktops?
- How Long Does a Fitted Kitchen Take?
- Common Questions About Fitted Kitchens
- Where Do People Go Wrong?
Most kitchens are planned around the units that happen to be available, and then the room is asked to cope. A bespoke kitchen works the other way round. The room is measured first, and the cabinetry is made to suit it. Here is what that actually changes, and what is worth thinking about before anyone draws anything.
What Makes a Bespoke Kitchen Different From a Standard One?
Standard kitchens are assembled from a fixed set of unit widths. A bespoke kitchen is built to the dimensions of your room. That is the whole difference, and it shows up everywhere once you know to look for it.
Off-the-shelf base units come in set sizes, typically 300mm, 400mm, 500mm, 600mm, 800mm and 1000mm wide. Your kitchen wall is whatever length the builder made it. The two almost never match, so the gap left over is closed with a filler panel: a strip of matching board screwed in to hide the shortfall.
One filler is nothing. Three or four, plus the dead corner behind a carousel, and you have lost a meaningful amount of a room you are paying for by the square metre.
Why Do Standard Units Waste So Much Space?
Because the leftover is always put where it is least useful. A run of units is set out from one end, and whatever does not divide evenly is absorbed at the other.
Take a 3,200mm wall. Five 600mm units gets you to 3,000mm, leaving 200mm. That 200mm becomes a filler, or a pull-out spice rack so narrow that it holds four jars and rattles. Made to measure, that same wall takes five units of 640mm, and the 200mm goes into the drawers instead, where you will actually use it.
Corners are the other culprit. A standard corner unit has a void behind it that nothing reaches, which is why carousels exist. A bespoke corner can be built as a proper pull-out or given a deeper door, so the space is reachable rather than theoretical.
How Should You Plan the Layout?
Start with where you stand, not where the units go. Cooking is a sequence, and a kitchen works when the sequence is not interrupted.
The old advice about a work triangle between sink, hob and fridge still holds, but it is more useful to think in zones. There is a wet zone around the sink and dishwasher, a hot zone around the hob and oven, and a preparation zone between them. If your preparation space is not between the other two, you will carry wet vegetables across the room several times a day for the next fifteen years.
A few dimensions worth knowing while you plan:
- Worktop depth is normally 600mm, with the carcass at 560mm to 580mm, leaving a service gap behind for pipes and cable.
- Standard worktop height is around 900mm. If you are noticeably tall or short, a bespoke kitchen can change that, and your back will thank you.
- Walkways want 1,000mm minimum between opposing runs, and 1,200mm if two people use the kitchen at once or a dishwasher door opens into the gap.
- An island needs roughly 1,000mm clear on every side it is used from. Squeezing one into a room that cannot take it is the single most common regret we hear about.
Which Storage Is Actually Worth Having?
Drawers, almost every time. A deep base cupboard looks like generous storage and behaves like a cave: you can only see the front third of it, so the back fills with things you forget you own.
Pan drawers on full-extension runners bring the contents out to you. For the same footprint you get everything visible and reachable, which is why most of the base units we build are drawers rather than cupboards.
Beyond that, the things people are consistently glad they included:
- A pull-out larder. Tall, narrow, accessible from both sides, and it turns dry goods from an archaeological dig into something you can see at a glance.
- A bin drawer with separate compartments, built into the cabinetry rather than standing in the corner.
- A proper appliance garage so the toaster and the kettle live behind a door instead of on the worktop.
- Full-height end panels where a run meets a wall, which is the detail that makes a kitchen read as joinery rather than as boxes.
What Should You Know About Worktops?
Choose the worktop for how you cook, not for how it photographs. Every material is a trade-off and the honest version is worth hearing before you commit.
Laminate is inexpensive, comes in hundreds of finishes and is genuinely durable, but a deep scratch cannot be repaired. Solid wood is warm and can be sanded back when it marks, which it will, and it needs oiling once or twice a year. Quartz is hard-wearing and non-porous, and it is heavy and unforgiving if something is dropped on the edge. Granite is beautiful and needs sealing. Sintered stone resists heat better than almost anything else and costs accordingly.
There is no right answer. There is only the answer that suits a household that cooks every night with children about, which is a different answer from one that suits a couple who eat out four nights a week.
How Long Does a Fitted Kitchen Take?
Most projects run four to eight weeks from design sign-off to finished room, with the kitchen itself out of action for a fraction of that.
The design and quoting stage takes as long as it takes, and it should not be rushed, because changes on paper are free and changes on site are not. Once everything is agreed and made, fitting a typical kitchen takes several days on site, plus the trades that come with it: plumbing, electrics, tiling and the worktop template, which is usually taken after the carcasses are installed so it fits the room exactly.
Common Questions About Fitted Kitchens
Can you work around an existing floor or tiling?
Yes, and it is worth saying so early. If the floor is staying, the cabinetry is set out to sit on it cleanly rather than assuming it will be lifted, and plinths are scribed to the floor as it actually lies.
Do you handle the plumbing and electrics?
We coordinate the work so it happens in the right order, which matters more than most people expect. Sockets in the wrong place behind a fitted run are difficult to move later.
Can a bespoke kitchen match an older house?
Yes, and it is one of the better reasons to go bespoke. In-frame doors, painted finishes and traditional detailing suit a period room in a way that a flat slab door does not. See our furniture extras page for finishing details.
Is a utility room worth including?
If the space exists, almost always. Moving the washing machine out of the kitchen removes noise, heat and clutter from the room you spend most time in, and a utility can take the boot storage and the drying rack as well.
Where Do People Go Wrong?
Three things, consistently. Choosing the style before the layout, which forces the practical decisions to work around a look. Fitting an island into a room that cannot take one comfortably. And underestimating how much of a kitchen is storage you will never see, which is where a bespoke approach quietly earns its money.
If you are planning a kitchen, our fitted kitchens page shows the range of what we build, and our hallway and under-stairs storage page is worth a look if a utility or boot room is part of the picture. When you are ready, book a free design visit and we will measure the room and talk through the layout properly.
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