A kitchen looks like a furniture installation — units, a worktop, some appliances. But behind the units it is one of the most service-dense rooms in the house: water supply and waste, a gas line in many homes, multiple electrical circuits, and the plasterboard that covers all of them. The order those trades work in is not a matter of preference. It is fixed by what depends on what, and getting it wrong means the plasterboard you just closed has to come back off to reach a service that was skipped.
That is why the sequence matters more than the size of the room suggests. A kitchen is not slow or expensive to fix because the work is hard; it is unforgiving because so much of the work is hidden, and hidden work has to go in before the surfaces that cover it. A homeowner who knows the order can see a job running out of sequence before it costs them — which is the entire point of understanding it.
A kitchen hides its plumbing, gas, and wiring inside the walls — sequence the trades wrong and the plasterboard you just closed has to come off.
What follows is the correct order of trades for a kitchen renovation in Ireland — the sequence, the first fix that controls it, and the points where it most often goes wrong.
Why the order of trades decides a kitchen renovation
Every trade in a kitchen depends on the one before it, and many of them are buried. The plumber's pipes and the electrician's cabling run inside the walls and under the floor; the plasterboard covers them; the flooring goes under the units; the units carry the worktop; the appliances and fittings connect last. Each layer locks the one beneath it, which means a layer installed out of turn has to be removed to reach what was missed.
This is why an out-of-sequence kitchen costs so much more than one built in order. Discovering after the plasterboard is up that a circuit or a water point is in the wrong place is not an adjustment — it is opening a finished wall, redoing the first fix, and re-closing it. The sequence is the cheapest insurance in the project, and it is the same logic that governs every room in the 12 phases of a renovation.
The correct order of trades for a kitchen
A kitchen renovation in Ireland moves through these stages in this order. The dependencies are what fix the sequence — each stage needs the previous one finished before it can start.
- Strip-out and demolition. The old kitchen, fittings, and floor coverings come out, and the appliances are disconnected. This exposes the existing plumbing, wiring, and structure so the real condition of the room is visible before anything new is planned around it.
- Building work and any layout changes. If a wall is moved, an opening created, or the layout reworked, the building work happens now — before any service is run. Larger works can be notifiable under Building Regulations and Building Control, so confirming what your project requires is part of the planning, not an afterthought.
- First fix: plumbing, gas, and electrical. The buried trades go in together while the walls are open. The plumber sets the sink supply and waste and any gas line, and the electrician runs the circuits for the oven, hob, and appliances. Gas work must be done by a registered installer and electrical work by a registered contractor, for the same reason it is hard to reach once buried — this is the stage everything downstream depends on.
- Plasterboard, skim, and paint. With the first fix in, the walls are boarded, skimmed, and painted. The bulk of the painting is done now, while the room is empty and before units are in the way.
- Flooring. The floor covering goes in and runs under where the units and appliances will sit, so the surface is continuous and a future appliance swap is not fighting a unit-height lip.
- Units install. The units are installed and levelled against finished walls and floor. The cabinetry is the spine of the kitchen, and everything after it depends on it being in and square.
- Worktop template, fabrication, and install. Only once the units are in can the worktop be templated, because it is measured to the units as built. The template goes to the fabricator, and stone is cut and returned one to two weeks later — a gap with units in and no worktop that is the most commonly forgotten part of the schedule.
- Splashback, second fix, and appliances. The splashback is fitted, the plumber and electrician return to connect the sink, taps, hob, oven, and appliances, and the kitchen is finished and cleaned. The appliances are last because everything they connect to had to exist first.
- Snagging and final sign-off. The work is checked — unit alignment, drawer action, worktop joints, appliance function, no leaks under the sink — and the snagging list is completed before the project is closed and final payment released.
Price the kitchen before the trades start
The free Renovation Cost Calculator gives you a trade-by-trade estimate in under 5 minutes — before your first trade conversation. It shows you what each trade in the sequence costs, so nothing in the order is a surprise.
The first fix that has to happen before the walls close
The single most important stage in a kitchen is the first fix, because the buried trades all have to put their work inside the walls and floor before the plasterboard goes on, and each has requirements that cannot be improvised later. The plumber sets the supply and waste for the sink, and the gas line if the hob is gas. The electrician runs the circuits — a kitchen carries more electrical load than almost any room, with dedicated circuits for the oven and hob and multiple sockets for worktop appliances.
Both are work that must be done by registered trades in Ireland, and for the same reason they are also the trades whose work is hardest to reach once buried. Gas installation must be carried out by an installer registered with RGII, and the electrical work by a contractor registered under Safe Electric. All of it depends on the final layout being fixed, which is why building work comes before the first fix and the plasterboard comes after. Move the sink or the hob a metre after the wall is closed and you reopen the work of both trades.
Where homeowners get the kitchen sequence wrong
The kitchen invites two specific sequencing mistakes, both expensive, both preventable.
Closing the walls before the first fix is complete and checked. The temptation to keep moving and get the plasterboard up is strong, but closing the walls before the services are in means that if anything is wrong, the new board comes back off. The check is the cheapest part of the job to honour and the most expensive to skip.
Choosing appliances and the layout after the first fix. A gas hob versus an induction one, a single versus double oven, the position of the fridge and dishwasher — each needs different services in different places. Buying the appliances or finalising the layout after the plumber and electrician have worked means the first fix was a guess, and a wrong guess is reopened. The appliances and layout are first decisions, not last ones. The errors that cost the most are gathered in the kitchen renovation mistakes that cost the most.
Both mistakes share a root cause — treating the kitchen as a furniture job rather than a services job. The units are the visible part; the plumbing, gas, and wiring behind them are the part that has to be right before anything covers it. The order is not a preference; it is what protects the result.
Everything that ends up hidden goes in first: plumbing, gas, and electrical, in one first-fix stage, before a single sheet of plasterboard.
If a trade that belongs inside the wall is being asked to work after the walls are closed, the sequence has already broken. The fix is never cheaper than doing it in order would have been. The order is the difference between building the kitchen once and building it twice.
How the order protects the budget and the schedule
Running the trades in order is what keeps a kitchen on its quoted price and its quoted timeline. When the first fix is complete and checked before the walls close, when the flooring is in before the units, and when the appliances and layout were decided before the plumber arrived, each trade walks into a room ready for it and walks out without rework. Nothing is opened twice, and nothing waits on a decision that should have been made earlier.
The prepared homeowner makes that happen by deciding the layout and appliances before strip-out, ordering the units early so they are on site for the install stage, and booking each trade to follow the one before rather than calling them when the room looks ready. That sequence is the difference between a kitchen that finishes on schedule and one that drags because a finished wall had to be reopened. The budget side of the same room is in the kitchen renovation cost guide.
See The Kitchen Renovation Blueprint
Every stage of a kitchen renovation in order, with the first fix to confirm, the checks to honour, and the layout and appliance decisions to lock first — so the kitchen is built once, not twice.
If the cost baseline is the right first step, use the free Renovation Cost Calculator — a trade-by-trade estimate for the specific kitchen, in under 5 minutes, before any trade has quoted.
Frequently asked questions
What is the correct order of trades for a kitchen renovation?
Strip-out first, then any building work or layout changes, then the first fix of plumbing, gas, and electrical together while the walls are open. The walls are then boarded, skimmed, and painted, then flooring, then units, then the worktop is templated and installed, then the splashback, second fix, and appliances, and finally snagging and sign-off. The sequence is fixed by dependency: each stage needs the previous one finished, and the buried services go in before anything covers them.
What has to be done in the first fix before the walls are boarded?
The sink supply and waste, any gas line for the hob, and all the electrical circuits — including the dedicated circuits for the oven and hob — have to be installed before the plasterboard goes on. In Ireland, gas installation must be carried out by an RGII-registered installer and electrical work by a Safe Electric registered contractor. Because all of it is buried, boarding the walls before it is in means reopening them.
Do I need to notify Building Control for a kitchen renovation in Ireland?
It depends on the scope. A like-for-like replacement that does not alter structure is generally straightforward, while larger works — moving a structural wall or significant alterations — can be notifiable under Building Control, and all work must comply with the Building Regulations and their Technical Guidance Documents. Confirming what your specific project requires before work starts is part of the planning, and a competent builder will advise on it.
Should flooring go in before or after the units?
Before. The flooring runs under the units and appliances so the surface is continuous, which avoids a unit-height lip and makes a future appliance swap straightforward. The units are installed on top of finished flooring and against boarded and painted walls, so they follow both the floor and the plasterboard in the sequence.
Why is there a gap with no worktop mid-renovation?
Because the worktop is measured to the units as installed, it cannot be templated until the units are in and level. The template then goes to the fabricator, and stone is cut and returned one to two weeks later. During that gap the kitchen has units but no worktop or working sink. It is a normal part of the sequence, and planning a temporary setup for it avoids the surprise.
Why does the order of trades matter so much in a kitchen?
Because so much of a kitchen is hidden and locked in by the layer over it. The plumbing, gas, and wiring are buried in the walls and floor, the plasterboard covers them, the flooring goes under the units, and the worktop sits on the units. A trade working out of order means undoing finished work to reach what was skipped, which is the most expensive work in the project. The order builds the kitchen once instead of twice.