What a quote's line items are actually telling you
A quote is a list of promises with a price attached, and the price only means something once you can see what each line is actually paying for. Two quotes with the same total can cover different work: one trader's figure might include taking out the old kitchen and making good the walls afterwards, while another leaves both out and expects you to arrange them separately.
Reading a quote line by line is how you catch that before you sign. Where a line is missing, the effect is the same: a cost that turns up later as an extra, at a point when you have less room to say no.
Working through your own quote against a fixed list is easier than trying to remember every line from memory. The Kitchen Quote Checker lets you tick off what your quote already shows, grouped under strip-out, units and worktops, fitting, and money and terms, and it returns the items left unticked along with a question to put to the trader about each one. It runs in your browser and makes no judgement about the trader or the price; it just shows you where the gaps sit.
The line items a kitchen quote should show
A supply-and-fit quote is really several separate jobs priced as one. Each line below is something a trader has to account for somewhere, whether or not it has been written out separately.
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Strip-out and disposal
Removing the old kitchen and taking it away is a distinct job, and it should appear as its own line.
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Units listed by product code
Every cabinet, door and drawer box should carry the code you can check against the maker's own page and against what you were shown in the showroom.
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Worktops priced by length
Worktop cost depends on the run length and the number of joints, so the quote should state each length.
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Templating for stone or solid worktops
Where the worktop is stone or another templated material, the visit to measure the finished carcasses before cutting should appear as its own step, with its own timing.
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First fix and second fix
Electrical and plumbing work happens in two stages, before the units go in and after, and a quote that separates them makes clear what each trade does and when.
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Making good
Patching plaster, redecorating around new sockets or filling gaps left by removed units is finishing work that either belongs on the quote or is stated as excluded.
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Waste removal
Packaging, offcuts and rubble need taking away, and the quote should say whether that cost sits with the trader or falls to you.
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VAT basis and payment schedule
The quote should state whether the figures include VAT, and set out the deposit, any staged payments, and what triggers the final one.
A quote missing one of these lines is not necessarily wrong, but you want to know whether it is excluded or just left off. Tick your own quote against this list with the Kitchen Quote Checker, which shows what is missing and the question to ask the trader about each gap.
A worked example with its gaps marked, and the pre-contract information a trader must give you
A worked example turns the checklist into something you can hold up against your own paperwork.
A quote with its gaps marked
| Line item | What the quote showed | What was missing |
|---|---|---|
| Strip-out | "Removal of existing kitchen" as one line | No note on who removes the waste or where it goes |
| Units | A single total for "kitchen units" | No product code against any individual unit, so nothing to check against the maker's own page |
| Worktop | "Laminate worktop" | No length, no edge profile, and no mention of a templating visit (the fabricator's visit to measure the finished opening before the worktop is cut) |
| Electrics | "Electrical work" | No split between first fix (the wiring run before the units go in) and second fix (sockets and appliance connections once they are) |
| Making good | Not shown | No line for patching plaster or repainting where the old units came out |
| Payment | "Deposit due on order" | No stage payments set out for the rest of the balance |
None of these gaps mean the supplier is planning a poor job. They mean the quote has not been broken down far enough for you to check it against what actually turns up on site, or to hold the trader to a specific figure if something changes along the way.
What a trader owes you before you sign
A quote is one document, and the pre-contract information a trader has to give you is another; the two do not always arrive together. If you order online, over the phone, or sign anywhere other than the supplier's own premises, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 set out what you must be told before the contract is formed: the total price, when the work will be carried out, and how you can cancel. Where a showroom order works differently from an online or at-home one, Your Rights When Buying a Kitchen sets out which rules apply to each.
Once you have a quote in front of you, the Kitchen Quote Checker works through it in the same order as the table above. You choose whether your quote is supply and fit or fit only, then tick off what it actually shows against a set of grouped checkboxes covering strip-out, units and worktops, fitting, and money and terms. Whatever is left unticked comes back as a list of what the quote leaves out, each with a question to put to the trader, and you can print the result to take back to them. It works out what your own ticks show it and nothing more, so a gap it misses is still worth checking by eye against the worked example above.
Once your quote has the right lines, check the numbers behind them
A cooker hood spec and a worktop height are two more figures worth checking before you sign, and the line items themselves are worth a second pass against your own quote.