Most kitchen company websites describe their process in three cheerful bullet points: design, install, enjoy. The reality is a 12-to-20-day choreography involving five or six different trades, several thousand component parts and one or two bottlenecks that, if mishandled, set the whole project back a week. Knowing the actual sequence helps you plan, ask the right questions and spot when something isn't going to plan.
Here's what a typical install by one of our vetted local fitters looks like, in order.
Phase 1: Pre-install (the week before)
Before anyone arrives with a crowbar, three things should already be in place:
- A signed-off, dimensioned final design
- A pre-install survey confirming services (waste, water, gas, electrics)
- A week-by-week schedule shared with you
This is also when you empty the kitchen, set up a temporary cooking station elsewhere (a microwave, a kettle, a single induction hob is enough), and protect anything in adjacent rooms you don't want covered in plaster dust.
Phase 2: Strip-out (day 1–2)
Everything that isn't structural comes out: old units, worktops, appliances, sometimes tiles, sometimes flooring. Old electrics are isolated and capped. Old plumbing is shut off and capped. Waste is removed and the room is left as a clean, bare shell.
This is the messiest phase. A good install team protects hallways and stairs, uses dust sheets aggressively and removes waste daily, particularly important in tenement closes where you share access with neighbours.
Phase 3: First fix (day 2–4)
The "rough" trades go in before any cabinetry:
- Plumbing first fix, new waste and water runs to the sink, dishwasher, washing machine, fridge ice-maker.
- Electrical first fix, new cabling for sockets, under-cabinet lighting, ceiling lights, oven, hob, extractor, and any USB or low-voltage feeds.
- Plastering and patching if walls have been moved or damaged.
- Flooring, if new flooring is going under units, it goes down now.
Phase 4: Cabinetry install (day 4–7)
The fitting team installs the base units, then the wall units, then the tall units. Levels, plumb and scribes against out-of-square walls all happen here. The kitchen starts to look like a kitchen, but it doesn't function yet. There are no worktops, no taps, no appliances connected.
Phase 5: Worktop templating (around day 6 or 7)
A specialist arrives, makes a millimetre-accurate template of the installed cabinetry (usually in MDF or a digital scan), and takes it back to the workshop. From this point, expect a 7–10 working day gap before the finished worktop returns. During that time the install team can fit door fronts, drawer fronts, internal drawers and toe-kicks, so progress doesn't stop, but the kitchen isn't usable.
Phase 6: Worktop installation (around day 14)
Quartz, stone or sintered slabs are heavy, usually a two-to-four person lift, and they're cut to template, so there's no adjustment on site. They're fixed, joined with colour-matched resin, and sealed around sinks and hobs.
Phase 7: Second fix (day 14–17)
Now everything that connects through the worktop or into the units happens:
- Sink, tap and waste connected
- Hob, extractor, ovens installed and tested
- Integrated appliances (fridge, freezer, dishwasher) connected
- Lighting commissioned and switched
- Splashbacks fitted (if part of the spec)
- Tiling, if any, completed
By the end of this phase the kitchen is fully functional.
Phase 8: Snagging and handover (day 17–20)
Every kitchen has a snag list, a hinge that needs adjusting, a drawer running slightly tight, a touch-up of paint, a silicone bead that needs redoing. The Stonefield match walks the kitchen with you, lists everything, and the team fixes it before signing off the project. You get manuals, appliance warranties, and your single vetted fitter network.
Phase 9: Aftercare (anytime after)
Things settle. A door that was perfectly aligned in week three might need a hinge adjustment in month two. That's normal and it's what aftercare is for. Because the project was delivered by a vetted local fitter from our network and not split between supplier and independent fitter, the aftercare call goes to one number.
What to do next
For realistic timelines on each phase, see how long a kitchen installation takes. For what's covered when we match you with the right local fitter, see Fitted Kitchens Glasgow.