Go to a kitchen showroom when the new kitchen goes where the old one stood, standard cabinet sizes suit the room and what you mainly want is a good product at a fixed price. Have an interior designer plan it when the room itself changes: a wall comes down, the kitchen opens onto the living area, pipes and cables have to move, or the cabinets must fit uneven walls and high period ceilings. The two can be combined: the designer plans the room with its services and lighting, and the kitchen units come from a showroom or from a joinery that builds them to the designer’s drawings.

How a kitchen showroom works

In a showroom you see fronts, worktops and appliances on display, often from one manufacturer or a small number of them. A kitchen planner measures your room and puts the kitchen together from cabinets in fixed modular widths, with filler panels closing the gaps. Planning is usually included in the purchase price, and you end up with one quote for units, appliances and fitting.

For many kitchens this works well. If you are replacing a kitchen in the same place, have a fixed budget and need a working kitchen soon, a showroom gives you a proven product, a clear delivery date and one contact for complaints. In rented flats and apartments with a simple layout, that is often all you need.

The limit is the room. A showroom generally plans the kitchen itself and gives you a plan showing where water, drainage, power and extraction need to arrive. Who runs the pipes and cables there, opens the wall, levels the floor and places the ceiling lights is usually for you to arrange with your own trades. The choice also ends with the brands the showroom carries.

How an interior designer plans a kitchen

An interior designer starts one step earlier, with the floor plan. They work out where the kitchen should go, whether it opens onto the living space, whether a wall has to come out for that and where the building’s pipes run. Then they draw the cabinets for that room, plan task lighting and room lighting, choose appliances for the way you cook and match wood, stone and colours to the rest of the home.

The kitchen is then built by a joinery to those drawings, or assembled from a manufacturer’s units that fit the plan. Electrician, plumber, ventilation, stonemason and joiner work to one shared schedule. For you, that means more decisions at the start and less coordination on site.

In Berlin’s period apartments the difference often shows first. Replacing a kitchen without changing the layout usually needs no permit in Berlin. If a load-bearing wall is to be opened for it, a structural engineer and, as a rule, a permit procedure come into play. Moving the kitchen elsewhere depends on reaching the building’s risers, and any work on common property needs a resolution of the owners’ association.

What is different in Mallorca

A kitchen in Mallorca has to cope with high humidity, salt in the air and sharp swings in temperature. Fronts, worktop and hardware should be chosen with that in mind. Kitchens under 20,000 € are rarely built for this climate.

Then there is shipping. Imported brand kitchens arrive by sea, with longer lead times and import costs, and reorders take the same route. At the same time, the island has joineries that build very good bespoke kitchens, and with a local workshop, complaints are dealt with close by. If you live abroad, you also need someone on the island to oversee measuring, delivery and installation.

What each route costs

At a showroom you pay one price for units, appliances and fitting, with planning usually included. Pipes, walls, floor and lighting come on top as invoices from your own trades. With an interior designer you pay for the kitchen, the work in the room and a design fee.

For Mallorca, our price guide names three classes: solid kitchens in standard sizes cost 20,000 to 30,000 €, mid-range bespoke kitchens 30,000 to 60,000 €, and premium and designer kitchens 60,000 to 150,000 € and more. The prices cover carcasses, fronts, worktop, appliances and fitting. For Berlin, our cost calculator works with guide values of 2,800 € per square metre for a kitchen in a full renovation when quality and budget are balanced, and 4,500 € when quality comes first.

At CARLO Design the design fee is 10 to 15 % of the construction cost, with project management and site supervision charged on top. On small jobs the share is higher, because the design takes almost as much work as on a larger project. How fees are structured is explained in How much does an interior designer cost.

Questions to settle before you decide

  • Will the kitchen stay where it is, or will the layout, walls or services change?
  • Who plans and installs electrics, water and extraction, and who coordinates those trades with the fitting?
  • Are the cabinets planned in modular widths with filler panels, or drawn for the room?
  • What exactly does the price include: appliances, worktop, fitting, connections, removal of the old kitchen?
  • Is lighting part of the plan, from task light at the worktop to the pendant over the dining table?
  • In Mallorca: can the fronts, worktop and hardware cope with humidity and salt air, and who handles complaints on the island?

How CARLO Design plans kitchens

CARLO Design is an architecture and interior design practice with studios in Berlin and Palma. We do not sell catalogue modules. We first decide where the kitchen belongs in the floor plan, draw every cabinet at 1:20 and have the kitchen built by joiners we have worked with for years, in Berlin among them a workshop in Wedding, in Mallorca workshops on the island. You see wood, stone and hardware as real samples before anything is ordered, and after detailed design you receive a binding cost framework.

We coordinate electrics, plumbing, gas, ventilation, stone and joinery on one schedule through to handover, and we choose appliances for the way you cook. A bespoke kitchen typically takes four to seven months from first design to installation, eight to sixteen weeks of that in the workshop. Many clients bring us in for the kitchen as part of a larger project, and then it shares its materials and light with the other rooms. More on our Kitchens on Mallorca and Kitchen design in Berlin pages.

FAQ

Does a kitchen showroom also plan the electrics and plumbing?

Usually only as far as the kitchen itself. The showroom sets out where water, drainage, power and extraction need to arrive and gives you a connection plan. The pipes and cables up to those points are generally run by an electrician and a plumber you hire yourself, unless the showroom arranges them. Room lighting, walls and floors are usually not part of the kitchen plan.

Is it worth hiring an interior designer just for the kitchen?

Yes, if the room changes: if the kitchen moves, opens onto the living area, or the cabinets have to fit awkward dimensions, as in a period building. If you are replacing a kitchen in the same place with standard sizes, a showroom is usually enough. On small jobs the design fee is a larger share of the construction cost than on big projects, so factor that in.

Can I combine an interior designer’s plan with a kitchen from a showroom?

Yes. The designer then plans the position, services, walls and lighting, and the kitchen units are bought from a showroom or manufacturer to that plan. Before ordering, agree who is responsible for the dimensions on site and who coordinates fitting with the connections. Alternatively, a joinery builds the kitchen to the designer’s drawings.

How much does a bespoke kitchen cost in Mallorca?

According to our 2026 price guide, a solid kitchen in standard sizes costs 20,000 to 30,000 €, a mid-range bespoke kitchen 30,000 to 60,000 € and a premium or designer kitchen 60,000 to 150,000 € and more. An open-plan kitchen with an island usually comes in at 50,000 to 100,000 €. The prices cover carcasses, fronts, worktop, appliances and fitting.

Is a kitchen from a local joinery in Mallorca an alternative to a brand kitchen?

Yes. Good joineries on the island build bespoke kitchens to a quality comparable with premium brands, and often more individual ones. Complaints and reorders are handled close by, while imported brand kitchens arrive by sea with longer lead times. In our experience, bespoke work already pays off from the mid-range of 30,000 to 60,000 €.

Your next step

Tell us where the kitchen is, what should change in the room and whether you already have a quote from a showroom. In the Project Check we look at the room and the plans and tell you which route suits your kitchen.

You can work out roughly what your project costs in two minutes. Open the cost and timeline calculator.