Restaurant & Café Kitchen Fit-Outs Derby
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01332-529933
A restaurant or café kitchen has to pass the same environmental health inspection as any commercial kitchen, but it also has to work for a business that loses money every day the doors stay shut. Derby Kitchen Fitter designs, supplies and fits out kitchens for restaurants, cafes, bistros and pub kitchens across Derby, building the layout and finishes around what an inspector will actually check -- wipeable walls, slip-resistant flooring, and a workflow that keeps raw and ready-to-eat food visibly separate -- and scheduling the work around the date you need to reopen.Because one crew handles the design, plumbing, electrics, gas and joinery rather than a chain of separate subcontractors, there's nobody to chase if a snagging point needs sorting before your first covers go out, and no gap in the schedule waiting for the next trade to turn up.
What a Restaurant or Café Fit-Out Covers, Front of House Included
- Design consultation covering back-of-house kitchen workflow and any customer-facing servery, counter or pass-through the front of house needs
- Food-safe, wipeable and slip-resistant wall and floor finishes specified to hold up to an environmental health inspection, not just look presentable on the day
- Gas Safe certified installation and commissioning of ranges, ovens and gas interlock safety systems
- Part P registered electrical first and second fix for kitchen lighting and power circuits, including any front-of-house lighting on the same certificate
- Plumbing, drainage and grease trap installation sized to the covers you're planning, not a generic fit
- Extraction canopy and ductwork specified for the cooking equipment and for noise and odour limits where the kitchen sits close to a dining room
- Strip-out and legal disposal of old units and equipment as a registered waste carrier
- Scheduling built around your planned reopening date, with trades sequenced to cut the number of trading days lost
- Final commissioning, certification handover and a staff walkthrough of new equipment before your first service
Not Included / Costed Separately
- Structural work needing building control sign-off, such as knocking through to extend the kitchen into a store room, is surveyed and quoted separately once the site visit shows what's involved
- Catering equipment beyond what's agreed in the specification -- an extra oven, a glass-fronted fridge, a second dishwasher -- is costed as an addition rather than folded into the base fit-out price
- Registering the food business with the local authority and any alcohol licensing stay the operator's responsibility, though we'll flag what's likely to apply during the design visit
- Evening or weekend working to protect your trading hours during the fit-out is available but carries a premium over standard daytime scheduling
- Ongoing maintenance after handover is a separate arrangement and isn't part of the installation guarantee
How a Restaurant or Café Fit-Out Runs, From First Visit to First Service
- Site visit and design consultation: We look at the space in person, talk through covers, service style and your reopening date, and put together CAD layout options that work for kitchen workflow and any front-of-house servery or counter customers will see.
- Written itemised quote: You get a firm, itemised quote covering every trade and every finish in the specification before any work starts, built around the reopening date you've given us rather than a generic schedule.
- Strip-out and first fix: Old units and equipment come out and are disposed of legally as a registered waste carrier, then plumbing, electrical and gas first-fix work goes in while the kitchen is stripped back to bare walls and floor.
- Extraction, surfaces and second fix: The extraction canopy and ductwork go in matched to the cooking equipment, wipeable and slip-resistant wall and floor finishes are laid, and second-fix plumbing, electrical and joinery work goes in around them.
- Gas and electrical commissioning: Gas Safe registered engineers commission every range, oven and gas interlock safety system, and Part P registered electricians test and certify the lighting and power circuits before anything is signed off as ready to use.
- Final sign-off and staff walkthrough: Everything is tested as a working system, certification is handed over in writing, and we walk your staff through the new equipment so the kitchen is ready for an inspection and ready for service on day one.
Budgeting for a Restaurant or Café Kitchen Fit-Out
A café or takeaway kitchen fit-out typically starts from around £15,000 and takes 2-3 weeks once the space is cleared. A full restaurant, pub or hotel kitchen usually runs from £30,000 up to £100,000 or more, over roughly 6-8 weeks, depending on the number of covers, the equipment specified and how much of the extraction and drainage has to be run from scratch. Those figures are a starting guide, not a quote -- the only way to price a specific kitchen accurately is a site visit, because access for equipment deliveries, the state of existing drainage and gas supply, and whether you need to stay open during the work all change the cost.
Café, Restaurant or Phased Fit-Out: How Commercial Projects Compare
| Project type | Typical cost guide | Typical installation time | Scheduling approach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Café or takeaway kitchen | From around £15,000 | 2-3 weeks | Usually completed in one continuous block once the space is cleared |
| Restaurant, pub or hotel kitchen | £30,000 to £100,000+ | 6-8 weeks | Can run as a single project or be split around opening hours if the business needs to keep trading |
| Working kitchen staying open during the fit-out | Quoted individually against the base project cost | Extends beyond the equivalent closed-kitchen timeframe | Split into sections, evening/weekend shifts, or temporary facilities to protect service |
Built Around Your Reopening Date, Not Just the Spec
What sets a restaurant or café fit-out apart from a bigger industrial job isn't the trades involved, it's how much a closed kitchen costs you every day it stays shut. We work as one crew rather than a chain of separate subcontractors, so the schedule doesn't stall waiting for the next trade to turn up, and it's built around the reopening date you give us rather than fitted in around other jobs on the books. We've been planning and fitting kitchens across Derbyshire for around 20 years, and every installation still carries a 5-year labour and installation guarantee and a 2-year guarantee on the products themselves, in writing, before we start -- as the team here puts it, "We only fit kitchens to the standard we'd want in our own homes." As a registered waste carrier we strip out and dispose of your old kitchen ourselves rather than you needing to bring in a separate contractor for that job, and as members of CITB and FSB, the business behind that guarantee answers to industry bodies, not just its own marketing.
From the Sunny Hill Workshop to Kitchens Across Derby and Derbyshire
Cabinetry, servery counters and any bespoke joinery for a fit-out are built at our workshop on Stenson Rd in Sunny Hill, south Derby, before they go on site. Most of our restaurant and café work is in Derby itself, and the same crew travels out for hospitality jobs in Chesterfield, Long Eaton, Belper, Ilkeston, Heanor, Alfreton, Swadlincote, Ripley, Duffield and Wirksworth. In market towns further out -- Matlock, Bakewell and Buxton -- older high-street premises can mean tighter access for extraction ductwork and equipment deliveries than a purpose-built unit, which is worth raising at the site visit rather than discovering it when a delivery gets stuck at the door. We also take on restaurant and café projects into Nottingham.
Got Questions?
Frequently Asked Questions
Will the finished kitchen pass an environmental health inspection?
We build to the finishes and layout an inspector checks for -- wipeable, slip-resistant surfaces, a clear split between raw and ready-to-eat food areas, and handwashing points where they need to be -- but the food hygiene rating itself is assessed by the local authority on how the kitchen is run day to day, not just how it's built. What we can do is give you the best possible starting position going into that inspection and flag anything in the layout that inspectors commonly query.
Can you fit a new kitchen while we stay open?
Yes, on smaller or phased jobs. We can split the work into sections, or move to evening and weekend shifts to keep you trading through the day, though that comes at a premium over standard daytime scheduling because the crew is working around your service hours rather than a clear site.
How much does a restaurant or café kitchen fit-out cost?
As a guide, a café or takeaway kitchen typically starts from around £15,000, and a full restaurant, pub or hotel kitchen usually runs from £30,000 to £100,000 or more. The real figure depends on covers, equipment and how much drainage and extraction work is needed, so a firm price needs a site visit.
How long does a fit-out take?
Around 2-3 weeks for a café or takeaway kitchen, and 6-8 weeks for a full restaurant, pub or hotel kitchen, assuming the space is cleared and available for the whole period. Staying open during the work extends that timeframe.
Do you handle gas interlock systems and range cooker installation?
Yes -- our Gas Safe registered engineers install and commission ranges, ovens and gas interlock safety systems as part of the fit-out, and certify the work before it's signed off.
What happens to our old kitchen units and equipment?
We strip them out and dispose of them ourselves as a registered waste carrier, so you don't need to arrange a separate contractor or skip hire for that part of the job.
Do you supply catering equipment, or just fit it?
We can specify and supply equipment as part of the design if you want us to, but anything beyond what's agreed in the original specification -- an extra oven, a second dishwasher -- is costed and agreed separately rather than assumed into the base price.
What guarantee do you offer?
Every installation carries a 5-year labour and installation guarantee, and a 2-year guarantee on the products themselves.
Do you deal with food business registration or licensing?
No, registering the food business with the local authority and any alcohol licensing are the operator's responsibility, though we'll tell you what's likely to apply to your kitchen during the design visit.
Get a Site Visit Booked Before You Set a Reopening Date
The earlier we see the site, the more accurately we can price the job and the more of the build window we can protect before you've already told customers when you're reopening. Get in touch to arrange a design visit and a written, itemised quote.
Kitchen Fitters Derby, Fitted Kitchens, Derby
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