Kitchen Cabinets from China: A UK Specification and Enquiry Guide
What to confirm before ordering kitchen cabinets from China for a UK project: real costs, specifications, quality checks and a simple enquiry pack.
Read the guideA fitted wardrobe in the UK costs between £1,500 and £7,000 installed in 2026, depending on span, material and door type — with the average standard three-door installation landing around £3,250 including VAT. In Ireland, the same specifications run €1,200 to €6,300+, with VAT at 23% rather than 20%. The tables below break down exactly where that money goes — carcase, doors, internals, installation — what a like-for-like specification costs in Ireland, and what the same budget buys from a local joiner versus a national brand versus an overseas factory.
What Fitted Wardrobes Cost in the UK: The Benchmarks
The single biggest driver of price is what the carcase and doors are made from. The table below shows installed prices (labour and 20% VAT included) for a standard 2.4m-high wardrobe, compiled from Checkatrade's 2026 cost guide, published installer price lists and current market quotes.
Benchmark installed prices, UK, September 2026. Includes installation and VAT at 20%. Sources: Checkatrade fitted wardrobes cost guide, jvcarpentry.com published price list, Sharps 2026 price guide, UK market quotations.
| Material (carcase / doors) | 2m span | 3m span | 4m span | Scope & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flat-pack customised (e.g. IKEA PAX + joiner fitting) | £700–£1,200 | £900–£1,500 | £1,200–£1,900 | Units £250–£400 + carpenter at ~£270/day; no scribing to walls |
| MFC (melamine-faced chipboard) | £1,400–£2,200 | £1,900–£2,900 | £2,400–£3,600 | Entry-level made-to-measure; limited colour range |
| MDF carcase + painted MDF doors | £1,800–£2,800 | £2,500–£4,000 | £3,200–£5,000 | The UK mid-market standard; any colour, shaker or flat doors |
| Plywood carcase + veneer/lacquer doors | £2,400–£3,600 | £3,200–£5,000 | £4,200–£6,400 | Stronger screw-holding, better for heavy mirrored doors |
| Solid oak / premium bespoke joinery | £3,500–£5,500 | £5,000–£8,000 | £6,500–£10,000+ | High-end joinery workshops; genuinely bespoke projects run £6,000–£45,000+ |
Two useful sanity checks against the market: Checkatrade puts the average standard three-door fitted wardrobe at £3,250 (range £2,500–£4,000), a two-section custom-built wardrobe at £3,400, and sliding-door versions at £3,700; Which? reports a national spread of roughly £1,000 to £7,000 depending on specification. London pricing carries a clear premium — HCabinets' 2026 London guide splits the capital's market into basic (£1,500–£2,500), mid-range custom (£2,500–£4,000) and large bespoke (£4,000–£7,000+), with the average London installation around £2,600.
On a per-metre basis, budget £800–£1,300 per linear metre for mid-range painted MDF, installed. If a quote comes in far below £700 per metre, check whether installation and VAT are actually included (see the risks section below).
What the Same Specification Costs in Ireland
Irish prices track the UK closely once you account for the exchange rate and the 23% VAT rate. At the September 2026 rate of £1 = €1.17, a small, simple fitted wardrobe starts around €1,200–€1,800 in Ireland, a mid-range larger wardrobe runs €2,000–€4,000, and a fully bespoke painted shaker wardrobe from a Dublin specialist starts around €6,300 supplied and fitted. Dublin labour carries a similar premium to London's; expect quotes in Cork, Galway and regional counties to come in 10–15% below Dublin for equivalent work.
The roughly 10–15% gap between Irish and UK prices for the same specification comes down to three things: VAT at 23% instead of 20%, a smaller installer market concentrated around Dublin, and higher material import costs. Irish buyers should also note that ordering from a UK supplier post-Brexit means customs declarations and Irish VAT on import — ordering from an EU-based or export-experienced factory avoids the double-handling. Ireland applies VAT at the standard 23% rate to fitted furniture and installation, per Revenue's VAT guidance.
Where the Money Goes: The Cost Build-Up
A £3,250 quote for a 3m wardrobe is not a single number — it is five separate cost blocks, and understanding them tells you where a quote can be negotiated and where it can't.
Cost build-up for a 3m fitted wardrobe, painted MDF, UK, September 2026. Percentages of total installed price.
| Component | Cost range | % of total | What moves it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carcase material & manufacture | £700–£1,100 | 25–30% | Material grade (MFC < MDF < plywood < solid), number of units, ceiling height |
| Doors | £600–£1,000 | 20–25% | Flat < shaker < mirrored < sliding mechanisms; painted vs vinyl-wrapped |
| Internals (drawers, rails, shelves, lighting) | £350–£700 | 12–18% | Drawers are the big one — £60–£120 each fitted; LED strips £40–£80 per run |
| Installation labour | £540–£900 | 20–25% | 2–3 days for a two-person fit; carpenters charge ~£270/day to install fitted wardrobes (labour only, per Checkatrade) |
| Design, survey & margin | £400–£800 | 12–20% | Showroom brands load the most here; factory-direct loads the least |
Two upgrade rules of thumb: switching from flat to shaker doors adds roughly 15–20% to the door line, and mirrored sliding doors add 25–40% to the whole door budget once you include the track mechanism and soft-close hardware.
Five Factors That Move the Quote
1. Span and height. Pricing is driven by linear metres of wall covered. A full alcove-to-alcove wall (3m+) costs proportionally less per metre than a single 1.5m unit, because the survey, delivery and set-up costs are fixed. Floor-to-ceiling designs (2.4m+) add 10–15% over standard 2.1m heights.
2. Carcase material. Moving from MFC to painted MDF adds roughly £400–£600 on a 3m run; moving to birch plywood adds another £600–£900. Plywood earns its premium where doors are heavy (mirrored sliders) or where the wardrobe will be dismantled and moved. The material and finish options across our wardrobe range map onto these same tiers, so the benchmarks above translate directly to a like-for-like quotation.
3. Door type. Hinged flat doors are the baseline. Shaker adds 15–20% to the door line; a three-panel mirrored sliding system adds £300–£600 including tracks and soft-close gear. The price gap is only part of the story — hardware lifespan, door weight and swing space differ just as much, which we break down number by number in our sliding vs hinged wardrobe doors comparison.
4. Internals. A basic rail-and-shelf interior adds almost nothing; a full drawer-stack interior adds £350–£700. Five soft-close drawers alone account for £300–£600 of any quote.
5. Room condition. This is the factor quotes hide. Victorian and Edwardian walls are rarely plumb — scribing carcases to out-of-true walls, working around skirting and chimney breasts, and dealing with sloped ceilings typically adds £150–£400 in fitting time on a 1930s-or-older property. A quote that doesn't mention your walls hasn't looked at them.
Worked Example: A 3.2m Alcove-to-Alcove Wardrobe in a 1930s Semi
To make this concrete, here is a full line-item quotation for a realistic job: the main bedroom of a 1930s semi-detached house in Manchester, alcove-to-alcove span of 3.2m, ceiling height 2.4m, painted MDF carcase with shaker doors, and a mid-level interior (two drawer stacks, double hanging, shelving). If your room is a single chimney-breast alcove rather than a full wall, the dedicated alcove wardrobe price breakdown covers that scenario line by line.
Illustrative itemised quotation, 3.2m specification, September 2026. Two-person fit over 3 days; walls assumed moderately out of true.
| Line item | Specification | Cost (inc. VAT) |
|---|---|---|
| Carcase material & manufacture | 4 units, 18mm MFC-core carcase, painted finish | £960 |
| Doors × 6 | Shaker style, primed + 2-pack painted, soft-close hinges | £830 |
| Hardware | Hinges, handles, hanging rails, fixings | £160 |
| Internals | 2 × 3-drawer stacks, double hanging rails, 6 shelves | £520 |
| Installation | 2 fitters × 3 days @ £150/fitter-day, incl. scribing to walls | £900 |
| Survey & design | Laser measure, 2D drawings, one revision | £180 |
| Total (UK, inc. VAT @ 20%) | £3,550 | |
| Same specification in Ireland | € equivalent + VAT @ 23% | ≈ €4,400 |
That £3,550 sits right in the market mid-range — and it illustrates the two things worth remembering: installation is a quarter of the bill, and the 'wardrobe' itself (carcase plus doors) is barely half.
Want this table filled in with your room's actual numbers? Send us your measurements and we'll return an itemised quotation you can compare line-for-line against any local quote — free, and typically back within 24 hours.
Local Joiner vs National Brand vs Overseas Factory
The same 3m painted-MDF specification buys three very different things depending on who you order from:
Supplier route comparison, 3m painted MDF specification, UK, September 2026.
| Route | Price (3m spec) | Lead time | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local joiner / carpenter | £2,800–£4,500 | 2–4 weeks | Awkward rooms, one-off designs, buyers who want a single point of contact |
| National brand (Sharps, Hammonds, Wren) | £4,000–£7,000+ | 4–8 weeks | Buyers who value showrooms, finance packages and a national warranty |
| Overseas factory (export-experienced, e.g. China) | £1,800–£3,200 landed | 8–12 weeks incl. sea freight | Budget-driven buyers, landlords and developers fitting multiple rooms |
A note on the national brands' headline prices: Sharps' official pricing starts at around £2,000 for a fully fitted bedroom, with a small but stylish room realistically starting near £3,000 — third-party market data puts a typical Sharps bedroom at £3,000–£10,000+ before discounts. At the budget end, independent carpenters publish alcove wardrobes from £1,000 + VAT (bespoke versions with basic interiors from £1,650 + VAT). Both brands also run perpetual '40–50% off' sale structures, so their quoted price is a starting position, not a fixed one. Negotiate, and get the itemisation in writing either way.
The overseas route's saving is real — factory-direct pricing typically lands 30–50% below national brands for the same materials — but it requires comfort with a longer lead time and a supplier who handles UK/Irish delivery and installation properly. We break the full landed cost down, line by line, in our companion guide: Custom Wardrobes from China vs UK Joiners: Landed Cost Compared.
Whichever route you shortlist, the supplier-vetting framework is the same — our 10 checks for choosing a fitted wardrobe company covers the guarantees, payment schedules and written lead times to demand before you sign with anyone.
If the project you're sketching is a whole room rather than a wall of wardrobes — a box room conversion or a dressing room off the main bedroom — the pricing logic shifts: minimum room sizes, walk-in layouts and the PAX-vs-custom trade-off are all covered in our walk-in wardrobe cost guide.
For hallway storage rather than bedroom storage, our under stairs storage cost guide compares fitted, joiner and factory-direct routes. And if the room is a loft or attic with a sloping ceiling, our sloping ceiling wardrobe cost guide prices the angled cuts and eaves runs that square-room pricing leaves out.
What Working with George Group Looks Like
George Group is a factory-direct custom furniture manufacturer supplying fitted wardrobes to the UK and Ireland. Every wardrobe is built to your room, not picked from a catalogue — we work from your measurements or drawings, design each unit in 2D and 3D, manufacture in our own factory, and deliver and install across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
What that means in practice:
- Itemised, per-room quotations — not catalogue pricing. Every pound in your quote maps to a line item you can query.
- Factory-direct pricing — typically 30–50% below UK national brands for the same specification, because there is no showroom chain or sales commission inside the price.
- Free design drawings — 2D plans and 3D visuals before anything is manufactured, with revisions until you're happy (see how our design service works).
- UK & Ireland delivery and installation — including Dublin and Cork routes, with VAT handled correctly on both sides of the Irish Sea.
Many clients also coordinate the rest of the room with us in the same shipment — made-to-order kitchen cabinets are the most common pairing, since the carcase materials, door finishes and lead times line up with the wardrobe order.
Why we ask for your measurements before quoting: a fitted wardrobe is priced by the room. Wall condition, ceiling height, span and interior configuration each move the price, so an honest 'price list' doesn't exist — anyone who gives you one is averaging. Send us your room dimensions (or a floor plan, or photos with rough sizes), and we'll return an itemised quotation you can compare line-for-line against any other quote you hold.
How a George Group quotation works, September 2026.
| What you send | What we review | What your quotation shows |
|---|---|---|
| Room measurements or floor plan | Dimensions, wall condition, ceiling height | Itemised carcase & door pricing |
| Photos of the room | Alcoves, skirting, sloped ceilings, sockets | Any site-cutting or fitting allowances |
| Style references (links, photos) | Door style, finish, colour match | Material & finish line items |
| Hardware & internals preferences | Hinges, drawers, rails, lighting | Hardware & internals line items |
| Your location (UK or Ireland) | Delivery route, install crew, VAT treatment | Delivery, installation & VAT breakdown |
Quotations are free, itemised, and typically returned within 24 hours —
Risks and Exclusions: What These Prices Don't Cover
The prices above assume a sound, dry room. In practice, quotes commonly exclude:
- Wall and floor remediation. Damp treatment, re-plastering or floor levelling is a separate trade — budget £200–£600 if your survey flags it.
- Electrics. Moving sockets or adding lighting circuits inside the wardrobe is an electrician's job (£80–£150 per point).
- Carpet removal and disposal. Some fitters include it, many don't. Ask.
- Decorating. Most installers leave walls around the wardrobe unpainted; touch-up painting is usually on you.
Two warning signs when comparing quotes. First, any quote below £700 per linear metre that claims to include installation and VAT is almost certainly missing something — get the exclusions in writing. Second, a quote without a survey is a guess; every reputable installer measures before committing to a number.
For Irish buyers: ordering from a UK-based supplier post-Brexit means your purchase is an import — customs declarations apply and Irish VAT at 23% is charged on arrival. This doesn't make UK suppliers unworkable, but it does add friction and cost that an export-experienced supplier handles for you. We cover the detail in our regulations and import guide.
Methodology and Sources
UK price data in this article was compiled in September 2026 from Checkatrade's fitted wardrobes cost guide, Which?'s fitted wardrobe cost research, MyBuilder's fitted wardrobe pricing guide, published installer price lists (jvcarpentry.com alcove wardrobe pricing, Sharps' official pricing and 2026 cost guide, HCabinets' 2026 London price guide), and Cornish Cabinet Company's 2026 bespoke price guide (accessed 17 September 2026), cross-checked against live market quotations. Irish pricing was compiled from Irish supplier price guides (drummkitchens.ie, custommade.ie, slideglide.ie) in the same month. VAT rates confirmed against GOV.UK VAT rates (UK standard rate 20%) and Revenue's current VAT rates (Ireland standard rate 23%), both accessed 17 September 2026. Currency conversions use the mid-market rate of £1 = €1.17, accessed 17 September 2026. Installation labour figures are from Checkatrade's 2026 fitted wardrobes cost guide (carpenters ~£270/day, labour only). All figures are market benchmarks, not George Group quotations — your itemised quote may be lower or higher depending on specification.
