Kitchen respraying in London

In London the respray itself is the easy part. More than half of households live in a flat, nearly four in ten homes are leasehold and more than half of households rent, so the lease, the landlord, the stairs and where the van stops all want sorting before the doors come off. Send two photos and we price the job from them.

Get my free photo quote

London in numbers

What	London	What it means for your kitchen
Households in a flat	54.0% (England and Wales 21.7%)	Every door and drawer front goes down to the van and comes back up again. Check the stairs, the lift and the communal hall before a date is fixed.
Flats in a converted house	11.1% (3.4%)	About three times the national share. Expect a shared staircase and no lift, so the doors leave by hand.
Leasehold homes	38.9%, about 1.44 million (England 19.9%)	Your lease says whether alterations need permission. Read that clause, and any building rules on contractors and working hours, before you book.
Households that rent	53.1% (37.4%)	A new colour on the cupboards is the landlord's decision as well as yours. Get their yes in writing first.
Private rentals that are leasehold	65.1% (England 41.0%)	Your landlord may have their own lease to check before agreeing, so ask early.
Homes built before 1945	51.3% (35.2%)	Most London homes are old, but the kitchen in them is usually a later fit. The doors in your photos, not the age of the building, decide whether a respray suits.
Congestion Charge	£18 a day	Inside the zone the van pays on the day the doors go and again on the day they come back. Check the quote covers it.

A respray when your kitchen is in a flat

The 2021 Census counted 3,423,890 households in London. 40.3% live in a purpose-built block, 11.1% in part of a converted or shared house, and smaller shares over shops or in converted schools, churches and warehouses. Add them up and 54.0% of London households live in a flat, against 21.7% across England and Wales.

That matters because of how the job runs. If you go ahead, we take the doors and drawer fronts away to be sprayed, spray the fixed parts in your kitchen, and bring the doors back to refit. In a house that means a short walk to the van. In a fourth-floor flat it means every door down the stairs or the lift, and back up again when they are ready.

So before the date goes in the diary, it helps to know a few things about your building. When you agree the date with us, have these ready:

Which floor you are on, and whether there is a lift. If there is, whether it can be booked or padded for contractors, and whether a tall larder door fits inside it.
Whether the managing agent or concierge needs notice of contractors, and which hours work is allowed.
How far it is from the front door of the building to the nearest place a van can stop.
In a converted house, whether the shared hall and stairs are narrow or have tight turns. London has about three times the national share of these flats, and most have no lift.

Read the lease before you book

The government's latest estimate puts about 1.44 million London homes on a lease, 38.9% of all homes in the capital, double the 19.9% across England. Almost all of them are flats: 94.4% of London's leasehold homes, and 65.2% of its flats.

Gov.uk is plain about where the answer lies: your lease will tell you the conditions you have agreed to, for example whether you need permission to make alterations. It also warns that breaking the conditions can end with a court ordering you to pay for any damage. A respray changes the colour of the cupboards rather than the structure, but whether your lease treats it as an alteration is for the lease to say, not us.

Read the alterations clause, and look for any building rules on contractors, lifts and use of the common parts. If the lease asks for consent, ask the freeholder or managing agent in writing before you book the date. If you own a shared ownership home, check your lease the same way.

Renting in London

More than half of London households rent: 30.0% from a private landlord or letting agent and 23.1% from a council or housing association, against 37.4% renting across England and Wales. The cupboards belong to the landlord, so a change of colour is their call. Get their agreement in writing, with the colour named, before the doors come off.

In London there is often a second layer. 65.1% of the capital's privately rented homes are leasehold, compared with 41.0% across England, so your landlord may need to check their own lease, or ask their freeholder, before saying yes. Asking early saves a booked date being moved.

Where the van stops

The doors leave on one day and come back on another, so the van needs somewhere to stop twice. In London that depends on which road you live on.

Inside the Congestion Charge zone, driving in costs £18 a day between 7am and 6pm on weekdays and noon to 6pm at weekends and on bank holidays. That is two charges for one respray. TfL's postcode checker shows whether your address is inside the zone, and the quote says exactly what is included, so check the charge is in it.
On most streets, parking is the borough's business. TfL says roads with yellow lines, meters or residents' bays are run by the London borough, not by TfL. Check your borough's visitor permits or bay suspensions for both days, and who will buy them.
On a red route, which TfL says is 5% of London's roads but carries more than 30% of its traffic, a loading bay is for goods that need a vehicle, such as a piece of furniture, and only at the hours on the sign. Find the nearest bay and its hours before the date is set.
If loading will run past a red route bay's time limit, or the van would have to stop on the red lines, TfL needs a dispensation: £48 a day on red lines or £38 in a bay, with at least 6 working days' notice. TfL may refuse one when other parking is nearby, so the nearest bay comes first.

Old houses, newer kitchens

London's homes are older than most. The Valuation Office counts 20.9% of London properties as built before 1900, 29.1% before 1919 and 51.3% before 1945, against 35.2% before 1945 across England and Wales. Only 16.9% date from 1945 to 1972, against 25.5% nationally.

The kitchen in an older house is usually a later fit, though, so the age of the building tells you little about the cupboards. What decides whether a respray suits is the doors themselves: what they are made of and the shape they are in. That is why the quote starts with one photo of the whole kitchen and one close up of a door. Our notes on painting laminate cupboards and on respraying against a new kitchen cover the doors that are and are not worth spraying.

Common questions

Can you respray a kitchen in a London flat?

Yes. The doors and drawer fronts come out to be sprayed and go back to be refitted, and the fixed parts are sprayed in the kitchen. In a flat the things to sort first are the stairs or lift, any notice the building needs for contractors, and where the van can stop.

Do I need my freeholder's permission to respray my kitchen?

Your lease says. Gov.uk says the lease sets out whether you need permission to make alterations, so read that clause and any building rules on contractors. If consent is needed, ask the freeholder or managing agent in writing before you book.

I rent in London. Can I have my kitchen resprayed?

Only with your landlord's agreement, in writing and with the colour named. Most London private rentals are leasehold, so your landlord may need to check their own lease first. Ask early.

Will the Congestion Charge be on my quote?

If you live inside the zone, the van pays £18 on each day it drives in, and a respray means two trips: doors out and doors back. The quote says exactly what is included, so check the charge is covered.

I live on a red route. Where will the van park?

In the nearest red route loading bay, within the hours on its sign. If loading needs longer, or there is no bay nearby, you can apply to TfL for a dispensation, at £38 a day in a bay or £48 on the red lines, with at least 6 working days' notice.

How much does a kitchen respray cost in London?

It depends on the number of doors and drawers, what they are made of and how much prep they need, which is why we price it from two photos. What drives the price is set out in what a kitchen respray costs, and the respray process covers how the job runs.

Where these figures come from

Checked November 2026.

Other cities: Norwich, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow

Get a quote in London

Send two photos of your kitchen and we'll price the respray from them. The quote costs you nothing.

Get my free photo quote