Kitchen Renovation Kennington

GS Renovation designs and fits kitchens across Kennington, from post-war SE11 flats and flats in converted Georgian and Victorian houses to the period terraces off Kennington Road. We handle the cabinetry, worktops, plumbing, electrics and any structural knock-through as a single, coordinated project in your home.

In Kennington, a kitchen renovation typically costs £18,000 to £60,000 or more from design to fitting (indicative London ranges, MyBuilder and Checkatrade, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Kennington: we carry the strip-out, services and fit as one contract, with the electrics certified by a registered electrician.

How the job runs

1. Free design visit at your Kennington home and an itemised quote.
2. Strip-out and any structural work, first-fix plumbing and electrics, plastering.
3. Units fitted and levelled; stone worktops templated and cut off site.
4. Worktops, appliances, tiling and second fix. Electrics certified under Part P by a registered electrician, or notified to building control. Typically 3 to 5 weeks on site.

Open-plan kitchen-diners in Kennington homes

In a Kennington period house, the classic kitchen project opens the rear, knocking the kitchen through to the adjoining room or into a side-return to create a bright, sociable kitchen-diner. Because that dividing wall is usually load-bearing in these solid-walled townhouses, we install a steel beam sized by a structural engineer and signed off by Lambeth building control. Where the wall is shared with a neighbour, the Party Wall Act applies: you serve the notice as building owner, and we supply the drawings it needs.

With the structure in, we fit the kitchen to suit the reconfigured space, running quartz, granite or composite worktops, integrated appliances and considered task and mood lighting. New kitchen circuits are notifiable under Part P, so the wiring is certified by a registered electrician, or notified to building control, as part of the sign-off. We plan the drainage and extraction carefully, because rerouting services through a period Kennington floor structure needs thought, not guesswork.

Housing in Kennington

The Council Tax list puts Kennington at about 8,500 homes, 82% flats against 18% houses; 28% went up before 1919, 12% between the wars and 60% after 1945. Since most homes here are flats, a kitchen sink in a flat in Kennington has to stay within reach of the shared soil stack.

Kennington kitchens, lightwell vents and what counts as a new utility

A kitchen on the lower ground floor of a Kennington terrace usually has to vent through the front, into the lightwell, or through the back wall. Inside the Kennington Conservation Area there is no Article 4 Direction, according to its statement, but a conservation area still limits new flues on a front elevation facing a road. A listed house is also likely to need listed building consent for a new opening. Plan the extract route at survey. A rear or lightwell outlet that nobody sees from the street keeps the approval simple and avoids a duct that has to be moved later.

Lambeth's building control schedule lists installation of a new WC, shower or utility as an item with its own charge. A Kennington kitchen scheme that adds a utility cupboard with a washing machine waste, or a cloakroom beside the kitchen, therefore belongs in the building regulations application from the outset. On a lower ground floor the waste from that utility may need pumping to reach the drain, and the inspector is likely to want to see the pump, the non-return valve and the ventilation before the units hide them.

Bespoke kitchens for period Kennington proportions

Georgian and Regency rooms in SE11 come with tall ceilings, chimney breasts, alcoves and generous window reveals, and these suit made-to-measure, in-frame cabinetry far better than off-the-shelf units. We design around the existing features rather than boxing them in, using full-height cabinetry where the ceiling height allows and keeping sightlines to shutters and cornicing clear so the room still feels like part of a period house.

In lower-ground kitchens, common beneath these Kennington townhouses, we plan the layout, lighting and ventilation around reduced head height and limited natural light, often adding rooflights or a light well where structurally possible. From handleless contemporary schemes to classic Shaker joinery, we build to match the age of the house, with plumbing, electrics, tiling and decoration coordinated by us and finished to one standard.

Draining a lower-ground kitchen in SE11

Putting a kitchen in the lower-ground floor of a Kennington townhouse raises a question that never comes up on the ground floor. The public sewer in these streets sits at a level set for the original house, and a sink, dishwasher and washing machine below it cannot drain by gravity. Water will not run uphill, and no amount of clever pipework changes that.

The answer is a packaged pumping station or a small sump with a pump, sized for the appliances and sited where it can be serviced rather than buried under a run of units. It needs a power supply, an alarm, and a non-return valve so nothing can back up when the main sewer is full. Where the room is below the level of the street, building control will also want to see how the floor is protected against flooding from the drain. We plan all of it before the layout is fixed.

• New circuits, sockets and dedicated appliance supplies
• Open-plan kitchen-diner conversions with steel support
• Plastering, decorating and second fix carpentry

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Lambeth Walk & North Kennington and Oval. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Next steps that tend to follow kitchen renovation in Kennington: load-bearing wall removal in Kennington, kitchen renovation across Lambeth, kitchen fitting in London, when a kitchen needs a building contractor, kitchen renovation anywhere in London and Utility Room Ideas & Cost.

Trusted Kitchen Renovation in Kennington

Kennington kitchens run from post-war flats to listed and conservation-area townhouses, where a steel beam knock-through and bespoke joinery often come together, and GS Renovation handles both sides under one roof. With our founder's 30+ years on the tools, we manage the structure, services, worktops and finish together, keeping the work tidy in an occupied house and the result true to the proportions of the home.

Checked by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder and director of GS Renovation Ltd (Companies House no. 14611254). Structural design is by the consulting engineer appointed to your project.