Kitchen renovation in Barcelona

A kitchen is the hardest job to sign off remotely, because it is decided by centimetres and by where the gas and the extract can actually go. These are the four things that decide whether it goes smoothly.

Extraction is the constraint, not the design

You cannot always vent a kitchen where you would like to. The extract duct either runs into the building’s existing shaft or out through the façade — and the façade is a communal element, so a new penetration needs the comunidad de propietarios to approve it at a junta, and in a catalogued building the council may refuse it outright. Recirculating filters avoid the problem but do not remove humidity. We establish which route is available before designing the layout, because discovering it afterwards means the island moves.

Gas, or the decision to drop it

Moving a gas point requires a registered installer and a new certificate; the alternative many non-resident owners choose is going all-electric with an induction hob, which removes the gas paperwork entirely but increases the electrical load. That usually means uprating your supply capacity, which needs a butlletí elèctric — the electrical certificate the supply company asks for before raising the contracted power. Cheaper to decide at design stage than after the wiring is in.

Permissions

A kitchen refit in the same position is a comunicat previ, a prior notification to the council. Opening the kitchen to the living room by removing a partition stays a prior notification; if that wall turns out to be loadbearing it becomes a minor works licence with a technical project and structural calculations, adding weeks. Nothing here triggers a derrama unless the façade or a communal shaft is involved.

What we send you before manufacture

• Two or three workable layouts with their real trade-offs, not one flattering render
• Elevations with the appliance positions and the worktop height set to who actually cooks
• The extract route confirmed in writing, with photos of the available shaft or façade point
• Appliance technical sheets checked against the openings before cabinetry is cut, if you are supplying your own

Why bespoke usually wins in a period flat

Eixample kitchens have chamfered corners, boxed-in stacks and ceilings near three metres. Modular units stop at standard heights and leave a dead band above; bespoke cabinetry takes that band as full-height storage. In an irregular kitchen the difference in usable storage can exceed 20 %, which matters more when you are letting the flat and every cupboard counts.