Most appliance problems we hear about aren't faults. They're installations that couldn't go ahead.
The oven arrives and there's no socket within reach. The gas cooker is delivered but no Gas Safe engineer is booked. The dishwasher turns up and the old one is still plumbed in with nobody willing to take it out. In every case the appliance is fine — the groundwork wasn't done.
This guide covers what to sort out before delivery day, which jobs legally require a registered professional, and the order to do things in.
Gas: What the Law Actually Says
This is the one people get wrong most often, so let's be precise about it.
The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 require that gas work is carried out only by people who are competent, and where that work is done in the course of business, by someone approved by the Health and Safety Executive. In practice, HSE approval means membership of the Gas Safe Register.
What that means for you:
- Anyone you pay to install a gas appliance must be Gas Safe registered. No exceptions. Ask for the card, and check the registration number on the Gas Safe Register website — the card alone isn't proof, and the register tells you which types of work that engineer is qualified for.
- If you're a landlord, this is an absolute duty. You must use a Gas Safe registered engineer for gas appliances you provide, arrange a safety check every 12 months, keep records for two years, and give tenants a copy within 28 days. You cannot pass this to the tenant.
- If it's your own home, the law still requires competence. The business-related registration requirement is aimed at people doing the work commercially, but that doesn't make DIY gas work a good idea. Getting it wrong risks a gas leak or carbon monoxide, and it can invalidate both your appliance warranty and your home insurance.
Practical advice: book the engineer before the appliance is delivered, not after. Gas Safe engineers get booked up, and a range cooker sitting in your hallway for a fortnight helps nobody.
Also worth knowing: many gas range cookers need a flexible hose and a bayonet fitting rather than a rigid connection, and the engineer will need to test the installation and check the stability bracket. If you're moving from electric to gas, or gas to electric, you may need a new supply run entirely — get that quoted before you buy.
Electrics: Plug, Hard-Wire, or New Circuit?
Appliances fall into three broad camps, and the difference decides whether you need an electrician at all.
1. Plugs into a normal socket
Most dishwashers, washing machines, fridges, freezers, microwaves and many compact ovens are supplied with a 13A plug already fitted. They need a standard socket — positioned in an adjacent cabinet where it stays accessible, not behind the appliance where you can't reach it and heat builds up.
No electrician required, provided a suitable socket already exists.
2. Needs hard-wiring to an existing supply
Most full-size single ovens, and many hobs, are connected to a cooker switch and an existing cooker circuit. This is work for a qualified electrician, but it's using a circuit that's already there.
3. Needs a new dedicated circuit
Induction hobs, range cookers and high-powered double ovens frequently need more than a standard kitchen circuit can carry. That means a new circuit run from the consumer unit.
Installing a new circuit is notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations in England and Wales. It must either be certified by an electrician registered with a government-approved competent person scheme — NICEIC, ELECSA, NAPIT, BESCA, Blue Flame or OFTEC — or notified to your local building control before work starts.
Replacing an appliance on an existing circuit, or adding a socket or spur, is generally not notifiable. It still has to comply with BS 7671, but it doesn't need building control sign-off.
The reason this matters beyond safety: when you sell the house, a buyer's solicitor may ask for the certificate. Notifiable work without one is an awkward conversation years later.
Checking your supply before you order
Add up what the appliance draws and compare it with what's there. An induction hob can pull considerably more than a ceramic one. Two ovens stacked in a tall unit draw more than one. If you're replacing like for like, you're usually fine; if you're upgrading, get an electrician to confirm the circuit and consumer unit can take it before the appliance is on a lorry.
Plumbing: Dishwashers, Washing Machines and Water Lines
Less regulated than gas or electrics, but the source of a surprising number of problems.
What you need in place:
- A cold water supply with an isolating valve you can actually turn off. If the existing valve is seized — and on older installations it often is — the fitter can't safely disconnect the old machine. Test it before delivery day.
- A waste connection, usually a spigot on the sink trap or a standpipe. Check it isn't already in use by another appliance.
- Enough slack in the hoses to pull the machine out for servicing.
Hot fill is mostly history. Almost all modern dishwashers and washing machines are cold-fill only. If your kitchen has an old hot-fill connection, it gets capped off, not reused.
Plumbed water and ice on American-style fridge freezers needs a dedicated supply run to the appliance position, usually with its own isolating valve and sometimes a filter. This is the single most commonly forgotten item on the list, because it has to be in place before the fridge is pushed into its gap — afterwards, access is gone.
Who Takes the Old One Away?
Check this at the point of order rather than assuming.
Under the WEEE regulations, retailers must offer a route for you to dispose of an old appliance when you buy a replacement — but "offer a route" is not the same as "an engineer will disconnect it and carry it out for you". Those are two separate things, and the second usually costs extra.
More importantly: most delivery teams are not permitted to disconnect gas, electrical or plumbed appliances. If your old cooker is hard-wired or connected to gas, it needs to be disconnected by a qualified person before the delivery arrives, and left in an accessible position.
Our guide to what actually happens on appliance delivery day covers what the team will and won't do.
The Bits People Forget
Measure the route, not just the gap. An appliance that fits the space perfectly is no use if it won't get through the front door, round the stair turn, or past the kitchen island. Measure the narrowest point of the journey. Our guide to measuring for kitchen appliances correctly walks through this properly.
Ventilation clearances. Ovens and integrated refrigeration both need airflow. The cut-out is deliberately larger than the appliance, and plinth and top vents must stay unobstructed. Boxing something in tightly shortens its life and can void the warranty.
Extraction for hobs. If you're changing hob type or position, the hood needs to match — see our guide to cooker hoods, extraction rates and ducting.
Flooring height. New flooring laid after the old appliance went in can leave you a few millimetres short. Freestanding appliances have adjustable feet; integrated ones in a fixed aperture do not.
Worktop cut-outs for hobs and sinks are joinery, not appliance installation. Book that separately and first.
Register the warranty. Several manufacturers require registration within a set window, and some extended guarantees are conditional on it. Our guide to appliance warranties and the 28-day trap explains what to watch for.
The Right Order to Do Things
- Measure the aperture, the appliance cut-out and the delivery route
- Confirm what supply the appliance needs — plug, hard-wire, new circuit, gas, water
- Get any joinery done: housing apertures, worktop cut-outs, plinth vents
- Get any new circuit or gas supply installed and certified
- Book the installer for a day or two after the delivery slot, not the same day
- Arrange disconnection and removal of the old appliance
- Clear the route and the working area before the delivery window opens
- Check the appliance for transit damage before you sign
- Register the warranty
A Quick Word on Cost
Installation is a real line in the budget, not an afterthought. A straightforward electric oven swap on an existing circuit is modest. A gas range cooker with a new supply run, or an induction hob needing a dedicated circuit, can add several hundred pounds. Build it into the decision before you choose the appliance, not after it's delivered.
If you're not sure which camp your chosen appliance falls into, ask us before you order — we'd rather tell you that a model needs a new circuit than have it arrive and sit in a box.
Browse our range, or get in touch with the model you're considering and we'll tell you exactly what it needs.
This guide is general information, not legal or technical advice. Regulations differ in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Always confirm requirements with a Gas Safe registered engineer or a qualified electrician for your specific installation.
