Kitchens for gîtes and holiday lets
A kitchen in a let is not a family kitchen. Different hands every Saturday, nobody being careful, and a changeover that has to be done in four hours. It needs different choices — and a calendar that respects your season.
We equip gîtes, chambres d’hôtes and holiday lets across the Périgord, the Lot and the Corrèze, in English. Three practical points: choose for wear rather than for fashion — compact or ceramic worktops, drawers on full-extension runners, matt fronts; survey in summer, when you are in the house, and fit between October and March, when it is empty; and ask us for an itemised invoice made out to your business, so your accountant can deal with the VAT question properly. Your price is worked out on the plan, after the survey, and set out item by item on the quotation — appliances always on their own lines.
The Dordogne alone counted 8,030 registered furnished holiday lets — 43,836 beds — and 1,078 chambres d’hôtes at the end of 2025, and the Lot recorded 8.9 million overnight stays that year. Around 41 % of the Dordogne’s tourist nights fall in the summer, which is precisely why the work has to happen in the winter.
Six choices that earn their money back.
None of these costs much more than the alternative. Together they are the difference between a kitchen that still photographs well in year eight and one you replace in year five.
Worktops that survive a hot pan
Compact laminate or ceramic rather than standard laminate. They take heat, they take knives badly used, and they wipe clean after a changeover. Natural stone is beautiful but wants sealing — think twice for a let.
Drawers rather than cupboards
Full-extension runners rated to 55 kg, soft-close as standard. Guests find things without emptying a cupboard onto the floor, and nothing gets slammed.
Matt fronts, not high gloss
High gloss shows every fingerprint and every wipe mark, which is exactly what a changeover photograph does not need. Matt melamine in a mid tone hides use and costs less.
Handles you cannot break
Either a simple metal bar handle or a handleless groove. Delicate handles are the first thing to go in a house that changes hands every Saturday.
Induction and a proper extractor
Induction wipes clean, cools fast and is the safest hob for guests who do not know the house. Pair it with an extractor that vents outside if the building allows it.
Parts you can still get in ten years
A hinge, a runner or a front from a European volume manufacturer is still available a decade later. That is worth more in a let than any design detail.
Behind all six: cabinets built in a German factory, dowelled and glued, tested for fifteen years of use, with a 10-year OXIA guarantee on the furniture — backed by our manufacturer’s ten-year commitment to us — and spare parts that stay available. In a let, availability of parts matters more than anything on the door.
Surveyed in summer. Fitted in winter.
Your kitchen cannot be out of action in July, and neither can your income. So we work to the opposite calendar to everyone else.
- June to September
We meet and measure
You are here, the house is open, and we can see the kitchen in use. Thirty minutes on video first if you prefer, then a survey on site.
- September to October
Plan, specification, price
A 3D plan, a written specification and a net price. You order when the season is over and the money is in, not before.
- October to March
Delivery and fitting
The house is empty, the trades are available, and nobody loses a booking. We photograph each stage and send it to you.
- Before Easter
Ready for the season
Handover certificate, guarantees, and the care instructions left in the property for whoever manages the changeovers.
Lead times to build into that calendar: four to six weeks from order for Prêt-à-poser and for Assistance de pose, whose fitting visit is arranged once the units have been delivered; six to ten weeks for Sur-mesure posé; ten to fourteen weeks for Clé en main including the building work. The German factories close for three weeks in the summer, so an order placed in June or July is delivered in September.
We give your accountant what they need.
Whether VAT on a kitchen for a let is recoverable depends on how your letting activity is registered in France — whether you are VAT-registered, whether you provide para-hotel services, and so on. That is a question for your accountant, and we will not pretend otherwise.
- An invoice made out to your business, with your SIRET and, where relevant, your VAT number
- Units, delivery, fitting and each building trade itemised separately
- The rate applied to each line, and the declaration of the age of the property where the reduced rate applies
- A copy sent by email the day it is issued, so nothing has to be reconstructed at year end
This page describes our invoicing, not your tax position. Ask your accountant before you order, and tell us what they need on the paperwork — it is easier to get right the first time.
A series costs less than four one-offs
Identical kitchens or kitchenettes are designed once, ordered together, delivered in one load and fitted in one visit. Delivery and travel are shared across the units, and that shows on the quotation rather than disappearing into a margin. Tell us how many you have and what each one has to do.
Talk it through →Within 80 km of Brive
The Périgord noir, the Vézère valley, the Dordogne valley, the Gramat causse, the Bouriane, and down to Cahors and Figeac. Every town has its driving time and its distance published, and the travel charge is worked out from the driving time and printed on the quotation before you order.
Towns and travel times →Frequently asked questions
Can I reclaim the VAT on a kitchen for my gîte?
That depends on how your letting activity is registered in France, and it is a question for your accountant, not for us. What we can tell you is what we provide: a compliant French invoice made out to your business, showing your SIRET and, where relevant, your VAT number, with the units, the fitting and any building work itemised separately — which is what an accountant needs to answer the question. We are kitchen fitters, and we do not give tax advice.
Will the work fit between two lettings?
Not comfortably, and we would rather say so. A Sur-mesure posé kitchen is fitted in one to three days, but the lead time from order is six to ten weeks. Plan it for the closed season: survey in summer, order in autumn, fit between October and March.
I have several units to equip. Do you price a series?
Yes. Several identical kitchens or kitchenettes are designed once, delivered in one load and fitted in one visit, which saves on delivery and on travel — and those savings appear on the quotation. Tell us how many units and what each one has to do; the Prêt-à-poser option often makes sense for the smaller ones, Assistance de pose where you or your caretaker can do the carrying and the unpacking, and the Sur-mesure posé option for the main house.
I live abroad. Who lets you in?
Your key holder, your caretaker or your neighbour — we work with whoever you nominate, and we agree the access arrangements in writing before delivery. We photograph the work at each stage and send it to you, and we sign the handover certificate with you on your next visit or by electronic signature.
Do you also do the utility room and the kitchenette?
Yes, and it is usually the same visit. Our manufacturer makes the utility room, the bathroom, the dressing room and the hallway from the same carcases with the same guarantees, so a gîte can be equipped end to end with one order, one delivery and one fitting.
Book the survey while you are here
If you are in the house this summer, that is the visit to make. We measure, we photograph, and we come back with a plan and a price you can decide on in the autumn.