Where do the figures in this guide come from?
This guide draws on Checkatrade's replacement kitchen doors cost guide, KitchenIN's hand-painted doors page, the Direct Kitchen Doors home page and Kitchenfair's primed doors page. Checkatrade writes a cost guide; the other three are suppliers describing their own ranges, so each price and promise from them is that supplier's own offer. Those pages also carry supplier-specific prices that depend on the range, size and date, and supplier-specific percentages that depend on the range and date, which this guide leaves out.
What do replacement kitchen doors cost in the UK?
Checkatrade puts replacement doors at around £1,300 to £2,250 for a whole kitchen, or roughly £131 to £162 per door, to supply and fit. Its table prices a 497mm x 715mm cupboard door at £131.10, a 597mm x 1306mm tall cupboard door at £161.55 and a 497mm x 715mm drawer set at £258.90, all including VAT at 20%. It sets that against a new kitchen starting from about £7,000 and calls its figures ballpark averages.
Door-only suppliers quote something else. KitchenIN lists hand-painted doors from £20.99 and £25.64 depending on the range, and says its doors start from just £13.11. Kitchenfair shows primed doors at £37.25 to £57.92 for a 570 x 497 mm example, with a J-pull handleless door at £47.40. Those are door prices, not a fitted job, so do not set them against Checkatrade's supply-and-fit figures.
How do you measure kitchen doors for a UK kitchen?
Checkatrade says to measure the width and height on the back of each unit in millimetres, and to avoid the front because bevelled edges can cause inaccurate readings. It notes that doors tend to be 4-5mm smaller than the cabinet, so a door for a 60cm wide unit will be 596mm wide, and that most cabinet doors are 22mm thick.
Hinge holes need the same care. Checkatrade says you can specify pre-drilled 35mm holes, usually two per door and occasionally three, measured from the top or bottom to the centre of the existing hole. KitchenIN says its doors arrive with custom pre-drilled hinge holes. Direct Kitchen Doors offers measuring and fitting guides and makes both standard and custom sizes. For standard widths and depths, see this guide to kitchen cabinet sizes.
Which kitchen door style and finish should you compare?
Checkatrade names Shaker and slab as the two main styles: Shaker has a recessed centre panel with a simple frame, while slab is a plain flat front. It adds that gloss shows fingerprints more than matt, matt hides marks well, painted MDF can be repainted later, and solid timber can be sanded and refinished but costs more.
Suppliers cut the range differently. Kitchenfair sorts its primed doors into Shaker, handleless and raised panel, and describes them as a blank canvas you finish in any colour. Direct Kitchen Doors lists slab, high gloss, woodgrain, handleless and Shaker ranges. KitchenIN says its Lucente, Windsor and Cambridge hand-painted doors come in 35 standard colours, and that it offers colour matching to Farrow & Ball, Little Greene and RAL colours.
What are kitchen doors made from, and does it matter?
Checkatrade sorts cabinet doors into melamine faced chipboard, MDF with an applied facing such as veneer, foil or vinyl, and solid timber. It says MDF is the most common choice at high-street kitchen retailers and that the choice is often in the finish rather than the core material.
The finish changes how a door wears. Checkatrade warns that foil and vinyl wraps are challenging to repair once scratched and can eventually let water into the MDF core, while solid timber can be repaired, sanded and repainted but costs more. It prices MDF board at around £13.91 per m², notes that a 72cm x 60cm door needs about 0.4m² of MDF and applied facing, so ten such doors need about 4m² and about £59.80 for the board. It puts vinyl wrapping at around £150 per door. For how material choices change long-term cost across a whole kitchen, see this kitchen renovation cost guide.
Should you replace the doors or the whole kitchen?
Checkatrade says replacing doors is worth it for most kitchens in good shape, at £1,300 to £2,250 against £7,000-£10,000 for a completely renovated new kitchen. It also says to check that units are straight, sound and free from damp first, because new doors will not hide damaged, warped or damp units, and that the layout stays the same.
Extras add up. Checkatrade lists plinths (150mm high) at around £35.40 per metre, cornices and pelmets at around £23.40 per metre, end panels (590mm x 715mm) at around £81.00 each and handles at around £5.25 each. Direct Kitchen Doors says changing doors and accessories can be up to 75% cheaper than a full kitchen, a claim from a door supplier. If the units are tired, weigh whether to replace the doors or rebuild the kitchen.
How long do kitchen doors take to arrive and fit?
Direct Kitchen Doors says its door ranges, including made to measure, are available within 8-9 working days for orders placed before 11.30am, then take another 2-3 working days to be delivered. KitchenIN lists 25-30 business days against its hand-painted ranges while promising 7-10 day delivery elsewhere on the same page, so ask which figure applies to your colour.
Fitting is quicker than ordering. Checkatrade says a kitchen fitter charges around £320 a day and the job usually takes about one day, longer for a kitchen with lots of doors and drawers. For made-to-measure doors, see doors made to your measurements.
Can a stainless steel kitchen change the door decision?
Fadior's kitchens use 304 stainless steel cabinet bodies, with doors, finishes and worktops specified separately, and carry a 30-year cabinet-body structural warranty; terms per contract. They are assembled and packed at our Foshan factory. The final order document confirms the freight charge, destination and service level before an order is accepted. So comparing a Fadior kitchen with a door swap means comparing a whole-kitchen specification with a door-only job.
The Fadior Real Homes case for white framed kitchen doors shows a private home in Shanghai, China, not a UK installation. Its white kitchen doors have decorative frame lines and small gold-tone knobs, and the case says the decorative white fronts cover 304 stainless steel cabinet bodies. It advises choosing where the decorative frame should repeat and where glass, drawers or open rails matter more than matching doors. More cases sit in Fadior Real Homes, and the Fadior materials library lists finishes.
| Decision | Ask every UK door supplier | Also ask Fadior |
|---|---|---|
| Cabinet body | Whether your existing units are straight, sound and free from damp | That the body is 304 stainless steel, with doors, finishes and worktop listed separately |
| Door size | Whether sizes come from the back of each unit, in millimetres | Which door and finish specification applies to each cabinet |
| Finish | How the finish wears and whether it can be repaired or repainted | What the contract says about finish and cabinet-body warranty terms |
| Quote | Whether doors, hinges, handles, plinths and fitting are on separate lines | Whether the final order document confirms the freight charge, destination and service level |
Where can you ask Fadior about a stainless steel kitchen?
The Fadior contact form asks for Name, Email and Phone, with Country, Project type, Budget range, Company and Message optional. Fadior's contact text suggests sharing the room type, country, approximate timeline, and drawings or site photos if you have them. For the room itself, the Fadior kitchen page shows what the kitchens include.
