Kitchens and bathrooms concentrate everything that is complicated about building work: plumbing, electrics, ventilation, waterproofing, tiling and the fitting of units and appliances, all within a few square metres and in an order that leaves no room for improvisation. That is why they cost more per square metre than any other room, and why they separate a proper builder from an amateur.
At Grupo Construcciones Alicante we renovate kitchens and bathrooms across Alicante and the province with our own teams, coordinating plumber, electrician, tiler and fitter so the job never stalls between trades. We always renew the services that end up hidden, because having to break out tiling again in five years to change a pipe is the worst money you can spend.
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These are the two renovations with the highest return. A refitted kitchen and bathroom change the entire perception of a property: they are the first thing anyone buying or renting looks at, and what decides whether a home reads as cared for or as a project. For far less than a full renovation, the effect on value is disproportionately high.
And in daily use the difference is immediate: steady water pressure, hot water without waiting, sockets where you actually need them, a shower you walk into without stepping over anything, and a kitchen where the fridge, sink and hob are a sensible distance apart. Things that don’t show in a photograph and that you notice several times a day.
Kitchens and bathrooms bring every trade together, and the order between them is not negotiable:
We measure the room and check where the water, waste and ventilation runs, and what can be moved without compromising the falls. The position of the waste dictates more than taste does.
A fixed written quote covering every item: strip-out, services, tiling, units, sanitaryware and fitting. With the specific sanitaryware and taps named, not a provisional sum.
We strip out and remove the rubble while protecting the rest of the property, and expose the old installation to check its real condition before deciding the new layout.
We install new plumbing and electrics, pressure-test them for leaks, and waterproof the shower area before the tiler starts.
We tile floors and walls to a set-out plan, and check the falls towards the drain by running water before signing off the shower.
We fit units, sanitaryware and taps, seal the junctions, clean up and go through every fitting with you, in working order, before handing over.
The bathroom. The star job is still replacing the bath with a shower, and these days almost always one that is level with the floor: it gains space, removes the step and is far safer. There is more work underneath than it looks: forming the falls, continuous waterproofing that runs up the walls, a properly sized linear or central drain and perfect sealing of the junctions. That is the part nobody sees and the part that decides whether you get a leak.
The kitchen. Everything starts with the working triangle between sink, hob and fridge, and with the position of the extractor, which dictates the flue route. Then come the decisions on worktop (porcelain and compact surfaces for durability, wood for warmth), the splashback, under-cupboard lighting, which is the light you actually cook by, and enough sockets in the right places.
Hidden services. We take the opportunity to renew the pipework in the room, fit accessible isolating valves, check the wastes and separate the electrical circuits with their own protection. In a kitchen, today’s appliances need dedicated circuits that older installations simply do not have.
Ventilation. In internal bathrooms with no window, an extractor on a timer connected to a duct that actually ventilates prevents the condensation and mould that appear so easily near the coast. In kitchens, an extractor ducted outside wherever possible.
The decision that most affects the budget is not the tiles: it is whether the wastes get moved. Relocating the toilet or the sink means reforming the falls and, in some cases, lifting or building up the floor. Where the existing layout works, keeping it frees up budget for finishes you will actually enjoy.
The second is the order of purchase. Kitchen units and worktops have lead times of several weeks, and the worktop can only be templated once the units are fitted. Choose late and the kitchen sits waiting for materials even though the building work is done. That is why we close those decisions before anything is stripped out.
And a word on wall-hung sanitaryware, which everybody likes: it looks good, makes cleaning easier and hides the cistern, but it needs a frame correctly fixed to a solid wall, not to a light partition without reinforcement. Properly installed it will never give trouble; badly installed, it starts to move within months.
Kitchen and bathroom work we carry out regularly in Alicante:
Two to three weeks for a full bathroom, covering strip-out, services, waterproofing, tiling with its setting times and fitting the sanitaryware. A kitchen runs to three or four weeks, and the timescale depends mainly on the delivery date of the units and worktop, which is templated after fitting. If you are only swapping the bath for a shower without touching the rest, it is done in under a week.
Yes, if there is a second bathroom. Where there is only one, we organise the work to leave it usable overnight as far as possible, although there are two or three days (plumbing and floor tiling) when it cannot be used. A kitchen is easier: you can live at home with a temporary set-up, knowing you will be a few weeks without a full kitchen.
Yes, and it is a sensible option when the tiling is sound and simply looks dated. You can tile over it without breaking out, paint it with a specialist tile enamel, or change only the sanitaryware, vanity unit and taps. It saves a lot and you have a different bathroom within days. The one drawback is that you don’t get the chance to renew the buried pipework, so it’s worth checking its condition first.
Porcelain and sintered compact surfaces are the most resistant to heat, scratching and staining, and they are what we recommend for heavy use. Granite remains very hard and good value. Wood is warm but needs regular maintenance, and marble reacts badly to kitchen acids, so it usually ends up marked. The choice also determines the type of sink that can be fitted.
It depends on whether the wall is load-bearing. If it isn’t, opening up is straightforward; if it is, it can still be done, but with a lintel calculated by an engineer and propping beforehand, which adds cost and, on major works, requires consent. You also need to consider extraction, because once the space is open, cooking smells travel through the whole property and an undersized extractor becomes very noticeable.
Find the source before renovating. It may be a leak in your installation, in the neighbour’s or in a communal soil stack, and each case has a different responsible party. Renovate without resolving it and the stain will come back through the new tiling. We locate the point and tell you clearly what belongs to your property and what belongs to the building, so you can raise it with the community with evidence.