Kitchen renovation on the Côte d'Azur

In the UK or US you might buy units from a big-box store and hire a joiner, or use one kitchen company for everything. France has the same split, but the specialist route is more common. A cuisiniste is a kitchen showroom that designs, supplies and fits as one package, usually with its own installers. You can still buy units elsewhere, even abroad, and pay a local artisan or the cuisiniste's fitters to install them. Both routes are common on the coast.

Whichever route you take, the devis is what protects you. A cuisiniste's design consultation is often free. Once you approve a layout, get the devis in writing with every line priced separately: units, worktop, appliances, delivery, fitting, and any plumbing or electrical work the fitter can't do. A verbal figure from a showroom means nothing once the invoice arrives.

The fitters install the units and worktop. Moving a sink, a hob or a socket usually needs a plumber or an electrician as well. If the showroom doesn't employ those trades, ask who books them and in what order. A kitchen fitted before the plumber has moved the sink outlet gets fitted twice.

TVA is French VAT. On a home over two years old, the fitting labour, the units built into the layout and the worktop are taxed at 10%. The oven, hob, dishwasher and fridge stay at 20%, even when they're built in. So does freestanding furniture, such as a table or an island on castors. That's why a good kitchen devis shows two separate TVA lines. The TVA guide explains the reasoning behind the split.

You certify on the devis or invoice that the home is over two years old. If that statement is wrong, the tax office can come to you for the difference. If the cuisiniste puts the appliances at 10% as well, ask for a correction before you sign.

A kitchen usually involves three or four trades: the fitters, a plumber, an electrician, and sometimes a tiler or plasterer if walls are opened up. Buy the whole package from a cuisiniste and their project manager usually sequences the trades, even subcontracted ones. If the kitchen came from abroad or an independent artisan is fitting it, the sequencing falls to you or to whoever you hire.

Pipes and cables inside the walls have to move before the units go in. If you can't be on site for the whole job, a maître d'oeuvre or a cuisiniste with in-house project management earns their fee here. A missed step means pulling a finished kitchen apart to fix it. At the end, walk round the kitchen with whoever ran the job and write every defect into the réception record, because a visible defect left off it counts as accepted.