GS Renovation designs and builds kitchens across South Kensington, from lower-ground rooms in Georgian townhouses to bright open-plan spaces in the museum quarter. With over 30 years in SW7, we handle the cabinetry, worktops, services and any structural knock-through as one project, tailored to the proportions of a period home.
Open-plan kitchen-diners in South Kensington townhouses
The most requested kitchen project in South Kensington opens the rear of the house, taking out the wall between a dark lower-ground kitchen and the room behind it to create one light-filled kitchen-diner. Because that dividing wall carries the floors above, we install a steel beam sized by a structural engineer and signed off by building control.
In many SW7 houses this pairs neatly with infilling the side return, which widens a narrow galley into a proper sociable space. We fit the units, run the plumbing and electrics, tile and light the room, and where the wall is shared with a neighbour you serve the party wall notice the work requires.
Bespoke kitchens for South Kensington period homes
Georgian and Regency houses in South Kensington come with alcoves, chimney breasts and tall ceilings that rarely suit off-the-shelf units. Made-to-measure, in-frame cabinetry fits these awkward proportions properly, and in a lower-ground kitchen we plan the layout, ventilation and lighting around the reduced head height and the limited natural light typical of SW7.
We finish with quartz, granite or composite worktops, integrated appliances and considered task and ambient lighting. From handleless contemporary designs to classic Shaker joinery, we build to suit the age of the house, and all the plumbing, wiring, tiling and decoration are handled in-house so the kitchen arrives as one complete result.
Lower ground kitchens and the regulations
A kitchen on the lower ground floor of a South Kensington townhouse raises questions a first floor kitchen does not. Means of escape is the main one, because where the kitchen sits on the route out of a basement, fire detection and door specification come under real scrutiny, and an inspector will want to see what has been done rather than take it as read on your word. Head height is worth checking at the same time, because a dropped ceiling for ducting can take a low room below comfortable.
Ventilation is the other. These rooms often have limited external wall and windows below pavement level, so meeting the extract rates in Part F takes a designed route rather than a token fan. Where a duct has to run to the front lightwell or up through the building, that line needs agreeing early. Electrics are notifiable under Part P as anywhere, and in a listed SW7 house a new external vent is a consent matter as well.
Lead times and worktop templating
The calendar, rather than the building work, is what most often moves a kitchen date in SW7. Cabinetry made to measure is ordered weeks ahead, and stone worktops cannot even be measured until the units are fixed, level and final. A templater visits, cuts are made off site and the tops arrive some days later, which means a real gap between a kitchen that looks nearly finished and one you can actually use. Sinks, taps and hobs must be on site for the template visit, not on order.
Appliances are the other pinch point, particularly anything integrated or imported to a specific size. We fix the schedule at design stage and order early, because a single appliance running late holds up the run it sits in and everything after it. In a South Kensington townhouse there is also access to think about, since a large island top has to reach a lower ground kitchen down a narrow stair. We check that route before the slab is cut, not on delivery day.
- Quartz, granite and marble worktops templated and fitted
- New circuits and consumer unit work certified under Part P
- Sink, tap and filter installation with full leak testing
- Old kitchen strip-out, disposal and making good
- Floor levelling and screeding before the flooring goes down
The GS Renovation Difference in South Kensington
South Kensington homeowners choose GS Renovation because one team delivers the whole kitchen, including any steel beam knock-through, the services and the finish, with no gaps between trades. We work cleanly in occupied SW7 homes, price transparently, and build to last. Over 30 years across the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea stands behind the work.
- Itemised pricing, so you can see what every stage costs
- Aftercare and snagging support once the job is finished
- Photographs kept at each stage for your records
- Old kitchen stripped, disposed of and made good within the price
- Worktops templated after installation for a precise fit
- Honest updates if a date or a detail has to move