The Johnson Family Challenge

The kitchen in Sarah and Mark Johnson's 1980s Mansfield home had seen better days. With three kids aged 7, 11, and 14, their mornings were chaos. The old galley kitchen barely had enough worktop space for one person, let alone a family of five trying to prepare breakfast and pack school lunches.

"We'd bump into each other constantly," Sarah laughs. "The kids would fight over the tiny bit of counter space, and I'd end up making packed lunches on the dining table because there was nowhere else to work."

The kitchen had other problems too. The cupboard doors hung crooked (one had completely fallen off), there was zero storage for school bags and sports equipment, and the dated honey oak units made the whole space feel dark and cramped.

But here's the thing - Sarah and Mark had a deadline. The summer holidays were starting in six weeks, and they wanted their kitchen finished before the kids broke up from school. Most kitchen companies told them it couldn't be done. We told them we'd have it completed in five working days.

Why Speed Doesn't Mean Compromise

When I tell people we can fit a complete kitchen in five days, they often think we're cutting corners. The opposite is true. Our speed comes from proper planning, experienced teamwork, and not wasting time fixing mistakes.

I've been fitting kitchens for over 15 years, and Emma's been organising projects for nearly as long. We work with the same team - Andy on electrics, Nick on gas safety, and Johno on installation - because we know exactly what each person needs to do and when.

The Johnson project was perfect for our five-day approach because:

• The room layout wasn't changing dramatically
• The electrics just needed updating, not complete rewiring
• The gas supply only needed minor repositioning
• The family were organised and prepared

Day 1: Demolition Done Right

Monday, 8:00 AM - Our team arrived at the Johnson house bang on time. First job was protecting the rest of their home. We covered the dining room carpet, sealed doorways with plastic sheeting, and set up dust extraction equipment.

The kids were fascinated watching us work. Eleven-year-old Jake kept asking Johno questions about the tools while seven-year-old Mia wanted to know if she could "help with the hammering."

8:30 AM - Demolition started, but we don't just rip everything out like you see on TV. We carefully disconnected the old electric hob and oven first - that's Andy's job as our qualified electrician. Then we turned off the gas supply and safely disconnected the old cooker.

The old units came out systematically. We saved what we could (the Johnsons wanted to use some base units in their garage), and everything else went straight into our skip.

12:00 PM - By lunch, the kitchen was stripped back to bare walls. But here's where experience matters - we'd already spotted a potential problem. The back wall wasn't perfectly straight, probably due to settlement over the years. In the afternoon, Johno spent time levelling and preparing the wall so our new units would fit perfectly.

Sarah made us all tea and said watching us work was "like a well-choreographed dance." Everyone knew their role, no one got in each other's way, and by 5:00 PM the space was ready for day two.

Day 2: Getting the Infrastructure Right

Tuesday, 8:00 AM - Andy arrived first to start the electrical work. The old kitchen had just four power sockets and one light fitting. The new design needed under-cupboard lighting, an island with power sockets, and proper task lighting over the sink area.

9:00 AM - While Andy worked on the electrics, our plumber started repositioning the water supply for the new island. The original kitchen only had the sink on one wall, but Sarah wanted a prep sink in the island too.

10:00 AM - Nick arrived to sort the gas supply. The new range cooker was going in a different position, so the gas pipe needed extending. Nick's Gas Safe registered, which means everything's done properly and certificated.

This is why we use the same team every time. Andy knows exactly where Nick needs to route the gas pipe, Nick knows which circuits Andy's working on, and neither of them gets in the other's way.

2:00 PM - Mark Johnson came home from work early to see the progress. "I was expecting chaos," he said, "but you can barely tell anyone's been working except for all the new cables and pipes appearing in the right places."

By the end of Tuesday, all the first-fix work was complete. Electrics tested and certified, plumbing pressure tested, gas work signed off. Ready for the fun part.

Day 3: Building the Foundation

Wednesday, 8:00 AM - Kitchen installation day. Johno started with the corner unit - that's always the trickiest bit because it sets the position for everything else. Get the corner wrong and nothing else fits properly.

The new kitchen was Langdale in Harbour - a lovely blue-grey colour that made the room feel bigger and brighter immediately. Sarah had chosen it after spending an hour in our showroom, touching different door samples and seeing how they looked under different lights.

10:00 AM - Base units going in one by one. This is where Johno's experience really shows. He's fitted hundreds of kitchens and can spot potential problems before they happen. The back wall we'd noticed on Monday? He'd already factored that into his measurements.

12:30 PM - The island was delivered and positioned. It's a big piece - nearly two metres long - and needed four of us to get it in safely. But once it was in position, you could immediately see how the whole kitchen was going to work.

Young Jake was home from school by 3:30 PM and couldn't believe the transformation. "It actually looks like a proper kitchen already!" he said.

5:00 PM - All base units fitted, levelled, and secured. The kitchen was starting to take shape, and the Johnson family could see their vision becoming reality.

Day 4: Bringing It All Together

Thursday, 8:00 AM - Worktop day. Sarah had chosen quartz in a light grey that complemented the Harbour doors perfectly. The templater had been earlier in the week to measure precisely, so the worktops arrived cut exactly to size.

Installing quartz isn't a DIY job. It's heavy (needs four people to lift safely), expensive (one mistake and you're buying another piece), and needs perfect precision. Johno's fitted hundreds of worktops and makes it look easy, but I've seen what happens when inexperienced fitters try to rush this bit.

11:00 AM - Wall units going up. This is where having accurate measurements really matters. The wall units need to align perfectly with the base units below, and there's no room for error when you're drilling into walls.

2:00 PM - The sink went in, and Andy connected the under-cupboard lighting. Suddenly the whole kitchen came alive. The LED strips under the wall units provided brilliant task lighting, and the space felt modern and professional.

Sarah was nearly in tears when she saw it. "It's exactly what I imagined, but better," she said.

4:00 PM - Handles fitted, doors adjusted, drawers tested. Every single door and drawer has soft-close mechanisms - we fit them as standard because they make such a difference to daily use. No more slamming doors waking the baby, no more trapped fingers when the kids are in a hurry.

Day 5: The Finishing Touches

Friday, 8:00 AM - Final day, and the kitchen was 90% complete already. Andy connected the new appliances - a built-in oven, induction hob, and integrated dishwasher. Everything fitted perfectly because we'd measured and planned properly.

10:00 AM - Nick did the final gas connection for the range cooker and ran his safety tests. Everything passed first time.

12:00 PM - Johno made the final adjustments to doors and drawers. After 20 years of fitting kitchens, he's obsessive about getting everything perfect. Every door aligned, every drawer running smoothly, every handle straight.

2:00 PM - Final clean and handover. We cleaned every surface, vacuumed thoroughly, and removed all our protective coverings.

3:00 PM - The Johnson family saw their completed kitchen for the first time.