You can do most of the physical installation yourself — carcasses, doors, worktops, and even the plumbing if you’re competent — but gas connections must be carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and any new electrical circuits or consumer unit work requires a Part P-qualified electrician. Isolating and reconnecting an existing cooker point or gas supply isn’t a DIY job, full stop. Plan the trade elements in advance so they don’t hold up the rest of the fit.

Door drop is almost always down to the hinge cup screws working loose in the carcass — the fix is usually to remove the screws, inject a little wood glue or push in a wooden toothpick to give the screw fresh material to bite into, then refit and re-tighten. Most modern concealed hinges have three-way adjustment built in, so once the door is level you can fine-tune height, depth, and side-to-side alignment with a screwdriver in under five minutes. If the hinge itself is broken or the cup hole has completely blown out, replacement hinges are cheap and universally available from any DIY merchant.

Use the template supplied with the sink — if one wasn’t included, trace around the sink upturned and then draw a second line 12–15mm inside that to give the lip something to sit on. Drill a starter hole just inside your cut line, then use a sharp jigsaw blade designed for laminate to cut slowly and steadily, supporting the offcut as you finish to prevent it tearing away and chipping the surface. Always cut from the underside if the worktop is laminate, as jigsaws cut on the upstroke and will chip the face if you cut from the top.

If it’s a traditional pillar tap with a rubber washer, a washer replacement costs pennies and takes twenty minutes once you’ve isolated the supply — well worth doing. On ceramic disc cartridge taps, replacement cartridges are available for most brands and are a straightforward swap, though finding the right cartridge for a budget or unbranded tap can be frustrating. If the tap body itself is corroded, the spout is pitting, or you’ve had it more than fifteen years, a full replacement is the smarter spend.

A like-for-like kitchen refit — same layout, no structural changes — doesn’t typically require building regulations approval in England, Wales, or Scotland. However, if you’re moving a load-bearing wall, adding a new electrical circuit, or altering gas pipework, those elements individually trigger the relevant regulations and must be notified to your local authority or carried out by a competent person registered under an approved scheme. Always check with your local building control if you’re unsure, as getting it wrong can cause problems when you come to sell.