Kitchen Plumbing in Barnet: Getting the Boring Bits Right

Kitchen plumbing is unglamorous and it's where most retro-fitted kitchens fail. Below are the details we insist on when we do kitchen plumbing and appliance installation across Barnet — worth knowing whether we do the work or your kitchen fitter does.

A sink waste needs a consistent fall of around 1:40 to the stack. In a lot of North London extensions the sink ends up on an outside wall a long way from the original soil pipe, and the waste ends up almost level. It drains slowly from day one, then blocks with grease. Plan the run before the units are fixed, not after.

Every washing machine, dishwasher and fridge with an ice maker should have its own accessible isolation valve. When the machine floods at 7am, you want to shut off one valve, not the house.

Washing machine and dishwasher hoses connected too low, or pushed too far into a standpipe, siphon dirty water back into the drum. The hose should form a high loop and the standpipe should have an air gap. It's a two-minute detail that prevents a recurring smell nobody can trace.

Very popular in Barnet kitchen refits. They need a fused spur under the sink, space in the cabinet for the tank, and — in our hard water area — a filter that actually gets changed. Fit a scale filter and set a calendar reminder, or the tank will scale up within a couple of years.

Any change to a gas run must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and the appliance should be tested and certificated on completion. We handle gas, water and waste in the same visit, which avoids the classic three-trades standoff on kitchen fitting day. See gas safety certificates.

First fix (pipework and waste) before plastering, second fix (taps, appliances, testing) once the units are in. Booking your plumber only when the kitchen arrives is the most common cause of a delayed install in every job we've been called into rescue.