Kitchen Door Installation Derby
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01332-529933
Not every dated kitchen needs stripping out - if the carcases underneath are still sound, swapping the doors, drawer fronts and handles for something current is usually enough to change how a kitchen looks and feels day to day, at a fraction of the cost of a full refit. This is a distinct trade from fitting a kitchen from scratch: it depends on getting a new door to sit properly against a cabinet opening that's already there, sometimes one that's a few millimetres out of true after years of use.The team measures every opening individually before anything is cut, offers doors in materials from budget vinyl wrap through to solid oak, and can fit doors supplied by major brands as well as its own workshop-made ranges. Old doors, hinges and packaging are taken away by a registered waste carrier as part of the job, and every installation carries the same 5-year labour guarantee and 2-year product guarantee as a full kitchen fit.
Where Door Replacement Ends and Other Trades Take Over - Not Included / Costed Separately
- Replacing the cabinet carcasses themselves - if the frames underneath are swollen, delaminating or structurally unsound, that's cabinet replacement rather than a door swap, and gets quoted as a separate job
- Worktop replacement or resurfacing - our stonemasons and spray finishers handle this as its own project if you want new worktops to go with new doors
- Disconnecting or refitting a gas hob or range cooker to work around new unit fronts - this needs a Gas Safe registered engineer and is priced as an add-on, not part of the standard door fitting price
- New sockets, rewiring or under-cabinet lighting - carried out by our Part P registered electricians and quoted separately from the door installation
- Full strip-out waste such as old flooring or wall tiles - we remove and dispose of the old doors and drawer fronts as standard, but a wider renovation clear-out needs its own waste plan
From First Measure to the Final Hang
- Enquiry and rough numbers: An initial call or a few photos to get a rough idea of door count, style leanings and timing before any visit is booked.
- Free design visit: A joiner measures every cabinet opening individually rather than assuming a uniform size, checks hinge positions and any doors that are out of square, and talks through material and finish options.
- Itemised written quote: A breakdown per door and drawer front covering material, hinges, handles and fitting, before anything is ordered.
- Doors made or ordered: Doors are either made in the workshop or ordered supply-only, including from Howdens, Wren Kitchens, Magnet or a premium German handleless system, to the recorded sizes.
- Fitting day: Old doors and hinges are stripped off, carcases are checked for square, new concealed hinges are bored, and new doors and drawer fronts are hung, aligned and fitted with handles.
- Sign-off and clearance: A final walk-round check of gaps and alignment, guarantee paperwork handed over, and old doors and packaging taken away by the registered waste carrier.
Rough Costs for Replacing Kitchen Doors
A straightforward run of painted MDF doors and drawer fronts on an average-sized kitchen tends to fall somewhere between £1,200 and £2,500 fitted, including new hinges and handles. Vinyl-wrapped doors usually sit toward the lower end of that range, while solid timber or high-gloss acrylic runs closer to the top, and the price climbs with the number of doors, drawer fronts and any integrated appliance panels involved. A kitchen with a lot of narrow or non-standard openings, or pan drawers needing matching fronts, will cost more than a simple like-for-like swap on standard-sized units. Because door sizes, hinge types and finish choices vary from one kitchen to the next, any figure given over the phone is only ever a starting point - a firm price comes after the free design visit, once every opening has been measured.
Comparing Kitchen Door Materials Side by Side
| Door Material | Relative Cost | Day-to-Day Maintenance | Best Suited For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vinyl-wrapped | Budget-friendly | Wipe clean with warm soapy water | Busy family kitchens needing moisture resistance |
| Painted MDF (Shaker or flat panel) | Mid-range | Clean with mild detergent; can be repainted later for a fresh colour | Traditional or contemporary kitchens - our most requested style |
| High-gloss acrylic | Mid to premium | Microfibre cloth only, to avoid scratching the reflective surface | Modern kitchens and smaller rooms that benefit from reflected light |
| Solid timber (oak, beech, walnut) | Premium | Occasional oiling or waxing; can be sanded and refinished over time | Period properties and anyone wanting a door that ages well rather than needs replacing |
Getting Doors to Sit Right on an Existing Carcase
Door replacement lives or dies on how well a new front sits against the carcase that's already there, which is a different job from fitting a kitchen from scratch. Before anything is cut, the joiners measure each opening individually rather than assuming a uniform size - even a run of matching units can be a few millimetres out after years of use, and boring a new concealed hinge in the wrong spot is the kind of mistake that shows up as an uneven gap on the day the job's finished. That measuring and hinge-drilling work is carried out by joiners with formal City & Guilds training and a bench-joinery background, to the same tolerances whether the new doors come from the workshop or arrive supply-only from Howdens, Wren Kitchens, Magnet or a premium German handleless range - the independent-installer status means
doors bought elsewhere aren't turned away. If the carcases underneath are sound and it's really only the doors that are tired rather than damaged, the team's own spray-finishing service is often the cheaper route and gets pointed out rather than skipped past in favour of a full replacement. Every fitted door carries the same 5-year labour guarantee and 2-year product guarantee as a full kitchen fit, put in writing before work starts, and the old doors and hinges go with a registered waste carrier rather than into a skip.
Door Fitting Across Derby and the Wider County
The team works out of a workshop on Stenson Road in Sunny Hill, Derby, and covers door fitting through the rest of Derbyshire and into Nottingham. Belper and Duffield both sit in the Derwent Valley Mills heritage corridor, where a good number of kitchens are in old mill-worker terraces with narrower, non-standard cabinet openings - worth measuring properly rather than assuming a modern standard size will fit. Wirksworth's hillside streets are lined with 18th-century stone cottages, often with uneven floors that need extra care when levelling a new run of doors. Matlock, on the edge of the Peak District, has a similar mix of older stone-built houses alongside newer estates. Chesterfield, known for the twisted spire on its parish church, is an easy day job, and neighbouring Dronfield has a lot of 1970s and '80s kitchens now due a door refresh rather
than a full refit. Swadlincote, in South Derbyshire's old pottery-making area, tends to have more recent housing stock where a straightforward door swap is usually all that's needed. Bakewell and Buxton are the furthest regular jobs - Buxton is the highest market town in England, so a hard winter can occasionally affect scheduling out that way. Distance rarely holds up a job that's normally in and out within a day or two, but for anywhere beyond the usual Derby and Nottingham run, it's worth flagging when you get in touch so a visit can be scheduled efficiently.
Got Questions?
Frequently Asked Questions
Will new doors fit my existing cabinets?
In almost all cases, yes. Rather than assuming every opening in a kitchen is the same size, the joiner measures each one individually during the free design visit, because even a matching run of units can be a few millimetres out after years of use. New concealed hinges are bored to match those measurements, so the fit is not left to chance. The only exception is where a cabinet carcase itself is swollen, delaminating or otherwise unsound - at that point it's the carcase that needs replacing, not just the door.
Can I keep my current worktops and just change the doors?
Yes - a door swap doesn't touch the worktop at all, so if it's still in good condition there's no reason to replace it at the same time. If you do want new worktops later, that's handled separately by the in-house stonemasons and priced as its own job.
Can you fit doors I've bought myself from Howdens, Wren Kitchens or Magnet?
Yes. The team fits as an independent installer for major supply-only brands, including Howdens, Wren Kitchens, Magnet and premium German handleless systems, so doors bought elsewhere aren't turned away - they're measured and hung to the same tolerances as doors made in the workshop.
How long does a full set of new doors take to fit?
Most kitchens are done in a day or two, since the doors are made or ordered to the recorded measurements before the fitting date, so very little time is spent on-site waiting rather than working. A small run of doors on a handful of units can sometimes be finished in a single visit.
What if a hob or sockets are in the way of the new doors?
Disconnecting or refitting a gas hob or range cooker needs a Gas Safe registered engineer, and any new sockets or rewiring go through the Part P registered electricians - both are priced as add-ons rather than being included in the standard door fitting cost, since they're a different trade to the joinery itself.
What happens to my old doors once the new ones are fitted?
They're taken away as standard, along with the packaging from the new ones, by a registered waste carrier rather than left for you to skip yourself. A wider clear-out - old flooring or wall tiles, for example - would need its own separate waste plan.
Would it be cheaper to repaint or resurface my existing doors instead of replacing them?
Sometimes, yes. If the carcases are sound and the doors themselves aren't damaged, just tired-looking, the team's own spray-finishing service can be a cheaper way to get a similar result, and it's the option pointed out during the visit rather than skipped in favour of a full replacement.
What guarantee comes with new kitchen doors?
The same terms as a full kitchen installation: a 5-year guarantee on the labour and installation, and a 2-year guarantee on the doors and hardware supplied, both put in writing before work starts.
Ready to See Your Kitchen With New Doors?
Doors and drawer fronts take the most day-to-day wear of anything in a kitchen, and a swap is usually finished within a day or two rather than the weeks a full refit takes. Book a free design visit to get doors measured against your existing units and a written, itemised quote before anything is ordered - with the same 5-year labour guarantee and 2-year product guarantee as a full kitchen installation.
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