A kitchen is where reform budgets are won and lost, and it is also the room where owners from the UK and Sweden get the most surprises, because the way it is done in Spain differs in small, practical ways. After a lot of kitchens across the Axarquia, here are the five differences worth knowing before you start — the kind of thing we would raise at the first visit, exactly as our guide to hiring a builder suggests you should expect.
1. Gas, induction and how much power you actually have
Many older Spanish kitchens run on bottled butane rather than mains gas, and plenty of owners now switch to induction when they reform. The catch is electrical: your home has a contracted power level — the potencia contratada — and induction hobs, ovens and an air-conditioning unit running together can trip a supply that was set decades ago for a gas kitchen. It is worth checking your contracted power with your electricity supplier before you design around induction; sometimes it needs increasing, which is a call to the supplier rather than a building job.
2. Spanish plumbing and waste layouts
Waste and water routing in Spanish apartments is often tighter and less forgiving than back home — soil stacks in fixed positions, shallow falls, and pipework buried in solid walls rather than run in stud partitions. Moving a sink or a dishwasher a couple of metres can mean more work than you expect. It is usually very doable, but it is a reason to settle the layout early rather than change your mind once the walls are open.
3. Delivery lead times and who receives the kitchen
Kitchen units, worktops and appliances can carry real lead times, and worktops in particular — especially stone and quartz — are often templated only after the units are in, then made to order. If you are abroad, someone has to be there to receive a large delivery and check it, and a missing filler panel can stall the whole install. We coordinate deliveries to the day and receive them on site so the kitchen arrives to a room that is actually ready for it.
4. Open-plan knock-throughs need a licence
The most popular kitchen change here is opening the kitchen into the living room. If the wall is not load-bearing it is straightforward; if it is, it means a beam and proper structural support, which is an obra mayor with the paperwork that goes with it. Either way the town hall wants a licence, and in an apartment your comunidad needs informing too. We tell you which side of that line your wall falls before we quote.
5. IVA, facturas and what it costs
A proper kitchen job comes with a factura and IVA — worth it for the guarantee and for your records when you sell, as we always advise. On cost, a kitchen refit where we prep and install runs roughly €3,000 to €7,000, and a complete high-end kitchen with structural or layout changes runs €8,000 to €15,000, units and appliances depending on what you choose. Every quote we give is free, in writing and valid for 30 days — a single price for the whole job, so you can plan the spec around your budget before you commit.
One team for the whole job
The reason kitchens go wrong is usually coordination — the plasterer waiting on the electrician waiting on the plumber, and the worktop templated against units that were not level. We run the strip-out, first fix, plastering, tiling and installation as one team on one schedule, whether you supply the kitchen or we do. It is how we work in Rincón de la Victoria and across the coast, and it is why the worktop fits.
Planning a new kitchen? See our kitchen renovation service or send us your room size and a photo for a free written quote.
