Please help me understand how kitchen installation works

[pickledpizza]

I bought a flat last year that didn't have a kitchen. I had a very small budget so all I could afford was a small flat that needed a lot of work. I have since saved up £6k for a kitchen.

Currently, there is a main kitchen sink but nothing else so I am making do with a small fridge and camping stove.

I am desperate for a kitchen. I was quoted £7.5k by a kitchen fitter (excluding the physical kitchen) just to install it. I am bewildered. I live in a big city and getting a work person has been so challenging. I have contacted 31 people, I have not heard back from most, those that have it hasn't materialized into a visitation for a quote, of the nine that came to give a quote: four turned down the work (they probably saw there wasn't alot of money here), four ghosted me, and one gave me a quote of £7k. The kitchen room is tiny.

I have looked at Ikea who have their own kitchen installation service but the problem is that they don't do plumbing and electrics.

Does anyone have any advice?

Have you tried contacting individual trades eg electrical / plumber / carpenter?

Regarding the actual kitchen, you can get some great 2nd hand options on eBay when people move in and replace often nice new kitchens that aren't to their taste so you could save a bunch there to put towards the fitting.

We're looking at a replacement kitchen now; we're generally seeing £5k for fitting so we'll be doing tiling, flooring etc. ourselves to keep costs down. Not sure that I have the will to learn how to plaster so that will be another cost, where plaster came off with the tiles.

We were in a similar (though not as bad) situation and had an Ikea kitchen this year. Go online and plan an outline of units and book an online appointment - they'll make suggestions for things you hadn't thought of and make sure measurements include necessary allowances etc.

Then ask them to quote for installation too - you're right the quote won't include plumbing or electrics. However, they will send someone round to check the site and you can tell them what you want. You'll then get a quotation for 'supplementary works'. Even if you don't buy from Ikea, you can use their plan and their figures as a starting point.