Cleaning of kitchen after installation?

[Floyd45]

We're in the middle of a big building project and hopefully getting our new kitchen back at the weekend. Due to poor planning on behalf of our main contractor a lot of the work in the kitchen was not completed prior to the installation of the kitchen and as a result the new kitchen is now completely filthy - i.e. all the surface and interiors and caked in dirt and dust and there are marks on the new work tops where the painter has stuck masking tape etc. I was a bit surprised as I thought that they would at least clean up after themselves - before I push back I just wanted to check what was normal? I have spent a fortune on this kitchen and sort of expected that I would be handed over something immaculate?

DP is a tradesman - he has a hoover and dustpan and brush and will always clean up after himself/his team

Our builders gave our new kitchen a wipe down with disposable wipes and swept the floor, but we gave it a thorough clean

I asked ours to clean the sticky label marks off the skylights that are 3.5m away from the floor. They looked at me like id grown an extra head. Agree with you but unfortunately many of them think theyre above it, if they bother to grace you at all to do the job you pay them for.

I'd at least want them to give it a decent wipe down so we could check together that there was no damage etc. tell them you can't possibly sign off on it, until it's clean enough to check over & let them know how disappointed you are with it being left in this state.

id be SO disappointed, I'd have been expecting it, at least mostly clean, if not showroom standards.

remember to include this in your review!!

we will be needing kitchen tax you realise!

where did you get the kitchen from??

From experience, if I didn't want it trashed, I would have used dust sheets and bubblewrap to cover ever surface whille they were working around it. How tradesmen should treat a new kitchen is usually completely different to the reality.

From memory, they did a basic tidy up - ran round with a builders vacuum etc, but no, we had to do the full clean. It's relatively easy though as of course you do it before you put all your stuff back in.

After the cabinets and worktops were installed, our workmen covered it all with layers of cardboard to protect it. We also had a corrugated, plastic on the floor to protect the tiles from scratches.

All you can do now is start at the top of the room- light fixtures, top of the cabinets etc and work your way around each wall and work down. A hoover with a soft brush thing at the end firstly for the finer dust, then cleaning spray and paper towels after hoovering. There are cleaning companies which will do this too, but I'd have no idea of costs.

They should have been protecting the new kitchen whole other stuff was being installed - our builders had covers secured on the work surface.
And where they hadn't protected it they should absolutely clean or make good any marks, surely they also want to hand over a beautiful finished product to you?

Thanks guys - I think i’m mainly concerned about being able to check for damage. The quartzite wortops have sticky marks on them, the sinks are filthy and the taps all look grubby. I just want to see it looking like it should so I know that it perfect - it’s difficult to tell through all the dust. I can’t fathom why they didn’t protect everything once it was installed. Last time I had a kitchen installed (20 years ago) the whole place was professionally cleaned and we had a formal “sign-offf” to ensure everything was as it should be. We used the builders recommended by the kitchen place so I thought it would be similar…oh well, better go find my marigolds!!!

I think if you aren't paying the kitchen company directly for fitting, they wash their hands of it after they have supplied the parts. All you can do is complain about the fitters they recommended and suggest they don't keep giving out their name.

I paid a local cleaning company for a deep clean of my kitchen as the builders had done a sweep and quick wipe but obviously there was plaster splashed and sawdust still around. To be honest that's all I would expect, but our renovation wasn't a high end design so I guess my expectations were for a basic service, it sounds like your may have been a higher quality and more expensive job and kitchen?

The cleaner cost £150 but was worth it as after weeks of building work and dust I couldn't face doing it myself. Also meant our decorators could come straight in to finish off and we could unpack our kitchen stuff quickly and get on with living.