Kitchen Renovation Merton

GS Renovation designs and fits kitchens across Merton, from the bay-fronted terraces of Wimbledon and Mitcham to family homes near Morden Hall Park. We handle the cabinetry, worktops, plumbing, electrics and any structural knock-through as a single, coordinated project.

In Merton, 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 Merton: 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 Merton 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 Merton terraces

On the Victorian terraces around Wimbledon, the most popular kitchen project opens up the rear of the house, taking out the wall between the kitchen and the middle reception to create a bright, sociable kitchen-diner. Because that wall is usually load-bearing, we install a steel beam sized by a structural engineer and signed off by building control, and often widen the space by infilling the side return.

Around the closet wing at the back of these SW19 and SW20 houses, we plan the layout to make the most of a narrow footprint. Bifold or French doors bring the garden in, considered lighting lifts the darker centre of the plan, and the finished room works far harder than the original poky kitchen ever did.

Housing in Merton

Take the 87,830 or so homes the valuation list gives Merton: 42% flats, 58% houses, 26% from before 1919, 37% interwar and 36% post-war. 43% of homes here are terraced; kitchen extraction has to reach an outside wall, which for a mid-terrace in Merton means the front or the back, not the side.

Sewers behind the kitchen and the Merton application route

Merton building notice applications are only available for domestic projects with works not within 3 meters of a Thames Water sewer, and that condition applies to a kitchen as much as to an extension. A kitchen refit that takes out a load-bearing wall to the dining room is structural work needing an application. Where the kitchen sits at the back of a Merton terrace, it is close to where a drain shared with the neighbours may run. If a public sewer is within that distance, the building notice route is closed and the knock-through goes in as a full plans application.

That changes the kitchen programme. A full plans application has a decision period, so the unit order and the fitting date follow the decision rather than the other way round. Ask for the sewer records while the kitchen is being designed, not when the units are ordered. The knock-through, the new waste run and any gully moved at the back wall are drawn together, since a drain altered near a public sewer can also involve Thames Water. 43% of homes in Merton are terraced houses, where the drain behind the kitchen may serve more than one house.

Bespoke fitted kitchens for period homes

Merton's older houses come with chimney breasts, alcoves and tall ceilings that suit fitted or bespoke cabinetry rather than off-the-shelf runs. We plan units around those quirks and finish with quartz, granite or composite worktops chosen to suit how the kitchen is actually used, from busy family cooking to entertaining.

Appliance integration, the plumbing, the electrics, tiling and lighting are all run under one contract, so the trades follow one plan. New circuits and consumer unit changes are notifiable under Part P, so a registered electrician certifies them or they are notified to building control. The look is yours to choose, whether a handleless contemporary kitchen or a classic Shaker one that fits the age of your Wimbledon or Morden home.

How long each stage actually takes

A Merton kitchen is usually quoted as a number of weeks, and it helps to know where those weeks go. Strip out takes a day or two. Any structural opening adds a week or more once its inspection is counted. First fix plumbing and electrics is around three days in a typical SW19 terrace, plastering two, and then the walls need several days to dry before anything can be fixed to them.

Fitting the units takes three to five days depending on the length of the run. Worktop templating happens at the end of that, and stone comes back roughly a week later, which is the pause most people are not expecting. Tiling, second fix, appliance connection and certification then take a further few days. The critical path is the worktop, so if a particular date matters to you, that is the item to book early. Delivery dates for appliances are worth confirming against the same programme, since a missing extractor can hold up second fix entirely.

Appliances, extraction and electrical load

The appliance list decides more about a kitchen than the door style does. An induction hob needs its own circuit and a consumer unit with room for it, and in the older Merton houses around Mitcham and Morden the existing board is frequently full already, so the electrician belongs in the conversation at design stage rather than at fitting stage. Large American style fridges need a water supply and a clearance gap that most plans forget.

Extraction is the other decision worth making early. A ducted hood pulling out through an outside wall works properly, but the run has to be short and it has to come out somewhere acceptable, which on a rear elevation may not be where the hob wants to sit. A recirculating hood goes anywhere and does less. We would sooner set the hob position around a workable duct than fit an extractor that never really clears the room.

• Bespoke kitchen design and layout planning
• New circuits and consumer unit work certified by a registered electrician under Part P
• Underfloor heating and kitchen ventilation

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 25 statistical areas in Merton. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Once you know the scope of the kitchen renovation in Merton, it helps to read load-bearing wall removal in Merton, our Merton area guide, kitchen fitting in London, when a kitchen needs a building contractor, kitchen renovation anywhere in London and Small Kitchen Ideas.

The GS Renovation Difference in Merton

Merton homeowners choose GS Renovation because one team handles the whole kitchen, including any steel beam or knock-through, the services and the finish. You get transparent pricing, tidy working in an occupied home and a kitchen built to last, backed by our founder's 30+ years on the tools.

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.