Kitchen
renovation
in Cobham, KT11
Designers, Architects, Engineers & Builders Under One Roof.
One Studio. One Contract. One Team.
A new kitchen in a Cobham house is a layout question before it is a design one: which wall can open, where the extract leaves the building, and which circuits are new.
Cobham's houses give a kitchen very different starting points. A semi-detached house in The Tilt shares a wall with the house next door; an older Church Cobham house may have a timber frame behind its brick front; with a detached house on a large plot, we look at how the kitchen meets the garden.
So before anyone chooses units we establish the structure, the fall to the drain and the route for the extract. Those three things set the plan, and the cabinets follow it.
Permission for a kitchen in a Cobham house
The planning act does not count as development any works confined to a building's inside, or that leave its exterior materially unaltered. A kitchen refit inside an unlisted house therefore does not normally need planning permission, though building regulations approval is a separate matter and both may be needed.
A listed house is the exception: listing covers the inside as well as the outside, and the council's consent is required before work touching its special interest. Where a kitchen brings a new window or door into a planning application in the Cobham Conservation Area, the appraisal asks for doors of painted timber and for the joinery details to be submitted with it.
Taking out a loadbearing wall to open the kitchen into the dining room is a structural alteration, which may need building control approval: Elmbridge Building Control Services (EBCS), for Elmbridge Borough Council, until 31 March 2027, and from 1 April 2027 the provider named by East Surrey Council, or a private registered approver.
Sources: legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives): Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 55 (meaning of development); GOV.UK: Building regulations approval; Elmbridge Borough Council: Cobham Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plan (endorsed 11 June 2019); Elmbridge Borough Council: Building control
Ventilation and electrics for a Cobham kitchen
Approved Document F says that when building work is done in a kitchen, existing fans and cooker hoods that extract to the outside should be kept or replaced, and checked to see they work. A cooker hood that only recirculates the air does not, on its own, meet Part F.
If the old kitchen had no ventilation system, the new one need not add one, though additional ventilation may be necessary if the work is likely to leave the house less compliant with the ventilation rules than before. A gas hob or other combustion appliance also brings Part J into the design.
Those ventilation points are taken from the 2021 edition of Approved Document F. Gov.uk now also lists a 2026 edition for buildings subject to the 2026 standards, and says earlier versions continue to apply to buildings under previous standards, so we confirm with building control which edition covers your kitchen.
Under Approved Document P a new circuit, or replacing the consumer unit, is notifiable; a built-in cooker is not, unless it needs a new circuit. Swapping an extractor on its existing cabling needs no notification either, and an electrician registered with a competent person scheme certifies notifiable work so you do not apply yourself.
Sources: GOV.UK (MHCLG): Approved Document F, Volume 1: Dwellings, 2021 edition; GOV.UK (MHCLG): Ventilation: Approved Document F (publication page); GOV.UK (MHCLG): Approved Document P: Electrical safety, dwellings (2013 edition); GOV.UK: Building regulations approval
Opening up a kitchen in Cobham
Many of The Tilt's houses were built as semi-detached pairs. Making a cut in the wall the two houses share, or taking a chimney out of it, needs notice to the neighbour under the party wall rules, so we deal with that before the opening is designed.
In Church Cobham's much-altered older houses the appraisal finds much early fabric, usually timber framing and possibly early chimney stacks, hidden behind later brick, so we open a small inspection area first and let the engineer see what the wall really is.
Our structural engineer sizes the beam and its bearings from what the inspection shows, and the calculations go to building control before the wall is touched.
When the kitchen moves into a new extension near the Mole, the council's flood assessment sets requirements for its floor. In Flood Zone 3 it asks for evidence that a householder extension either keeps floor levels no lower than existing, with flood proofing where appropriate, or raises them 300mm above the known or modelled 1 in 100 year river flood level including climate change; in Flood Zone 2 it asks for floor levels no lower than existing, with flood proofing where appropriate. So we fix the kitchen floor height with the extension, not afterwards.
Rain from a new kitchen roof needs somewhere to go as well. According to the council's flood assessment, the main built-up area is likely to be highly compatible with soakaways, while on the floodplain of the Mole they are likely to face very significant constraints; we dig a trial hole before a soakaway goes on the drawings.
Then the kitchen is drawn to the room's measured dimensions: the waste run and its fall to the existing drain, the extract route to an outside wall, each new circuit and socket, and the appliance positions, all fixed before cabinets are ordered.
If you are living in during the work, we set up a temporary sink and power elsewhere in the house and seal the kitchen off, so dust and noise stay where the work is.
Outside Cobham, and in London rather than Surrey: Holland Avenue, Wimbledon SW20. That completed project of ours combined a loft conversion, a double-storey extension to the rear and side, and a whole-home refurbishment, as its case study describes.
Sources: Elmbridge Borough Council: The Tilt Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plan (2015); GOV.UK: Party walls and building work (printable guide); Elmbridge Borough Council: Cobham Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plan (endorsed 11 June 2019); Elmbridge Borough Council: Level 1 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, April 2024 (AECOM); Hampstead Renovations: Holland Avenue, Wimbledon SW20 case study
Kitchen Renovation in Cobham: Questions
Do I need permission to renovate a kitchen in Cobham?
Not planning permission, in most unlisted houses: works affecting only the interior, or not materially changing the outside, are not development under the planning act. Building regulations may still apply, for example to a structural opening, new circuits or new drainage. A listed house needs listed building consent for work that affects its special interest, inside or out.
Can the kitchen be opened into the dining room in a Cobham home?
Usually, once a structural engineer has designed how the wall's load will be carried. Removing a loadbearing wall is a structural alteration, which may need building control approval. Where the house is one of a pair, a cut into the party wall, or removing a chimney from it, needs notice to the neighbour, and in older Church Cobham houses we check first for timber framing hidden behind later brick.
What do the ventilation and electrical regulations mean for a Cobham kitchen?
Under the 2021 edition of Approved Document F, existing extract fans and hoods that vent outside should be kept or replaced and checked, and a recirculating hood on its own does not meet Part F; gov.uk also lists a 2026 edition for buildings subject to the 2026 standards, so we confirm which applies. On electrics, a new circuit or a replacement consumer unit is notifiable under Part P, while a built-in cooker on an existing circuit is not. A registered electrician can certify the notifiable work.
How do you scope and quote a kitchen renovation in Cobham?
After a measured survey and, where a wall is coming out, an inspection of what it is made of. The scope lists the structural work, the drainage and extract routes, the electrical work, the units, worktops and appliances you choose, and the finishes, and the price is built from that list. Choices you have not yet made are listed as open items.
Can a kitchen renovation in Cobham use a registered building control approver instead of the council?
Yes. You can choose the local authority route, which is Elmbridge Building Control Services (EBCS), for Elmbridge Borough Council, until 31 March 2027, and from 1 April 2027 the provider named by East Surrey Council, or a private registered building control approver. Electrical work done under a competent person scheme is certified by the installer either way.
What can a feasibility visit for a kitchen renovation in Cobham tell me?
Whether the wall you want to remove looks structural, where the drains and the outside walls are for waste and extract, whether the consumer unit will cope, and whether listing or a conservation area applies. From that we tell you which surveys and drawings come next, and whether the idea fits the house before money is spent on design.
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Completed renovation project example
