Kitchen and bathroom installation across Cornwall & Devon

It also removes the gap that causes most disputes. When design, supply and installation sit with three different parties, a problem on site becomes an argument about whose problem it is. Here there is one point of responsibility for the survey dimensions, the products ordered and the work carried out.

Where a client prefers to use their own installer, often on projects where a main contractor is already engaged, we supply the full scheme and specification for them to work to, and coordinate with them on sequencing and service positions.

Expensive cabinetry installed badly performs worse than mid-range cabinetry installed well. Runs that are not levelled leave doors out of alignment and gaps that grow along the run. Worktops templated from a drawing rather than the installed carcases end up with joints in the wrong place and scribes that do not meet the wall. Appliances squeezed into apertures without their required clearances overheat and fail early, a warranty claim the manufacturer will decline.

In bathrooms the consequences are more expensive still, because the failures are hidden. Tiling onto an untanked substrate, a shower tray junction sealed rather than detailed, or a wet room without a designed fall will pass a visual inspection and then leak into the ceiling below. The repair involves joinery, plaster and decoration as well as the bathroom.

Sequencing failures cost time rather than quality. Worktops templated too early, tilers arriving before first fix is tested, or appliances delivered before the units are built all create dead days on site. Multiply that across four bathrooms and a kitchen in a second home and a project drifts by weeks.

Installation follows the signed drawing and specification. Nothing on site is improvised that could have been drawn.

Pre-start check and programme. Before work begins we confirm deliveries, check the room against the survey, agree access, parking and working hours, and issue a programme showing which trade is on site when. Enquire about a design consultation and installation is discussed as part of the project.

Strip out and first fix. Existing units, sanitaryware or furniture are removed, then plumbing and electrical first fix is carried out to the drawn positions, tested and signed off. In bathrooms, substrates are prepared and tanking applied before anything is covered.

Installation of cabinetry and fittings. Runs are set out from a datum, levelled and scribed to walls and ceilings; sanitaryware, enclosures and furniture are installed to the drawing; falls are formed where required; and appliance apertures are checked against manufacturer clearances.

Templating, worktops and second fix. Worktops are templated from the installed cabinetry, then fitted, with joints in the agreed positions. Second fix follows: brassware, appliances, handles, lighting, sealing and any tiling completion.

Testing, snagging and handover. Services are run and tested, appliances commissioned, doors and drawers adjusted, sealing inspected and snags cleared.

These are practical differences on site, not claims about attitude.

The drawing is built as drawn. The team installing has the survey dimensions, the first fix drawings and the specification, so service positions and tolerances match what you approved in 3D.

One point of responsibility. Design, supply and installation held by one studio, so a problem on site is resolved rather than debated between three parties.

Correct sequencing. Tanking before tiling, first fix tested before covering, worktops templated after cabinetry, the order that stops work being redone.

Warranties kept intact. Appliances installed to manufacturer clearances and ventilation requirements, so the warranty you paid for still applies when you need it.

Programmed around the property. Works planned around family life, letting windows or a builder’s programme, with multi-room projects sequenced to reduce total time on site.

The detail of what happens on site, and how scope changes by project type.

Setting out and tolerances

Installation begins with a datum, not a wall. Levels are established across the room, and runs are set out from that datum so worktops sit level even where floors fall. In older Cornish properties, out-of-plumb walls and uneven floors are the norm, and scribe allowances have to be designed in rather than discovered: one reason survey dimensions are taken at multiple heights.

Filler panels, cornice, pelmet and plinth details are cut and scribed on site to close the run properly against walls, ceilings and architraves. This is the difference between fitted furniture that reads as joinery and furniture that reads as boxes pushed against a wall.

Wet works and waterproofing

In bathrooms and wet rooms the sequence is the specification. Substrates are prepared and assessed, tanking or tile backer systems applied according to exposure, floors formed to the designed fall, and only then is tiling started. Junctions between tray, wall and tile are detailed rather than filled, because silicone is a finish, not a waterproofing method.

Services are pressure-tested before they are covered, and wastes are run and checked for fall. Underfloor heating is tested before and after screeding. These checks add hours and remove the failures that otherwise appear months later in the ceiling below.

Trades, coordination and site conduct

A KBB installation involves several trades: installers, plumbers, electricians, tilers, worktop fabricators and, on wider projects, plasterers and decorators. Coordination is the actual work: making sure each arrives when the preceding stage is genuinely complete, with the right information and the right materials on site.

Practicalities are agreed before we start: access and parking, working hours, protection of floors and stairs, dust control, waste removal and, in occupied homes, what remains usable while the work runs. In holiday lets we work to the booking window agreed at the outset.

Variations of the service

Installation scope varies with the project.

Residential and commercial installation

In occupied homes, the priority is a clean, predictable programme with as much of the house usable as possible, and dates that hold. In empty second homes, the priority is progress without the client present, which is where project management and weekly Google Meet updates come in.

For developers and commercial contractors, installation is about repeatability and programme: the same standard across units, coordinated with other trades, documented for handover.

Where we work

The studio is at Truro, and our Truro studio opens early 2027.

We install across Cornwall and Devon, and for clients in London and the Home Counties with Cornish property. For those projects, The Complete Service adds project management, a foreman on the ground and weekly Google Meet progress updates, with suppliers sourced locally in Cornwall.

• Levels and datum established before the first cabinet is fixed
• Scribe allowances for out-of-plumb walls and uneven floors
• Filler, cornice and plinth details cut and scribed on site
• Appliance apertures verified against manufacturer clearance requirements
• Access panels retained for valves, traps and isolators
• Substrate assessment, tile backer boards and tanking by exposure zone
• Designed falls and drainage capacity in wet rooms
• Pressure and fall testing of services before covering
• Detailed junctions at trays, baths and reveals
• Extraction installed and tested to the designed duct route
• Kitchen installation, including appliance installation and worktop templating
• Bathroom and wet room installation, including tanking and tiling
• Fitted bedroom and wardrobe installation with scribed joinery details
• Outdoor kitchen installation, coordinated with groundwork and landscaping
• Multi-room whole-house installation sequenced as one programme
• Installation coordinated alongside a main contractor or builder
• Contract installation repeated across plots for developers