Kitchen RenovationsDesign to Fit-OutOne Contract
Complete kitchen renovations across Harare — cabinetry, worktops, splashbacks, tiling, plumbing and electrical, sequenced so no finished surface is damaged by the trade that follows it.
Service overview
A kitchen is not a difficult room to build. It is a difficult room to coordinate. Cabinets cannot go in until the floor is down and the walls are true. Worktops cannot be templated until the cabinets are installed and level. The splashback cannot go on until the worktop is fitted. Painting has to happen before the units are unwrapped, or it happens awkwardly around them afterwards.
Every one of those dependencies is a place where a project stalls or something expensive gets damaged. When separate trades are booked independently, the gaps between them are where weeks and money disappear.
Tawaka Contracting delivers kitchen renovations in Harare as one contract with one programme. We hold the sequence, so a delayed worktop template is our problem to manage rather than yours to chase.
We work on family kitchens, open-plan conversions, scullery and pantry additions, and kitchen fit-out for guest houses and lodges. Tiling and decoration are our own trades, and any structural opening-up is handled by our construction team.
Why Tawaka
Kitchen projects rarely fail on quality. They fail on coordination, and on damage caused by trades working in the wrong order.
Our process
Eight stages, in this order, with the worktop template as the fixed pause in the middle.
We measure the room, locate existing water, waste, power and ventilation, and work through how you actually use the kitchen before settling a layout.
Itemised pricing covering strip-out, structural work, services, cabinetry, worktops, tiling and decoration, with a programme and a materials schedule.
Old kitchen removed and cleared, then any wall removal or opening-up carried out with proper propping and a beam where the structure requires it.
Water, waste, sockets, lighting, appliance points and extraction ducting installed to the new cabinet plan and tested before anything is closed up.
Walls made good and trued, ceiling finished, floor tiling or resin laid, and first-coat decoration completed while the room is still empty.
Carcasses installed, levelled and scribed to the walls, then the worktop templated and sent for fabrication — the fixed wait in every kitchen programme.
Worktops fitted and sealed, splashback installed with accurate socket cut-outs, then sink, taps, appliances and handles fitted and every service tested.
Final coats, silicone to all junctions, protection removed, room cleaned, then walked with you with appliance documentation handed over and snags closed.
Applications
A family kitchen is judged on how it looks and feels. A commercial kitchen is judged on hygiene, durability and how fast it can be cleaned.
Family homes across Harare, from a straight replacement to opening the kitchen into the living space.
Lodges, guest houses, staff facilities and light commercial catering, where cleaning and durability lead the specification.
Materials & systems
Kitchens are where the gap between a good and a poor material choice shows fastest, because everything gets wet, hot and knocked every day.
| Element | Options and guidance |
|---|---|
| Quartz worktop | Engineered, non-porous, needs no sealing and resists staining well. The most practical premium choice for a family kitchen. |
| Granite worktop | Natural stone, highly heat tolerant, each slab unique. Needs periodic sealing to stay stain resistant. |
| Laminate worktop | Economical and effective for rentals and budget refits. Vulnerable to standing water at joints and to hot pans. |
| Solid timber | Warm appearance for islands and breakfast bars. Requires oiling and careful management around sinks. |
| Cabinet carcasses | Moisture-resistant board with edge banding to all exposed edges — the detail that decides whether a carcass survives a leak. |
| Door finishes | Matt and gloss melamine, sprayed MDF and timber. Matt hides fingerprints far better than gloss in a busy kitchen. |
| Splashback | Tiled, large-format porcelain, matching stone or glass. Continuous stone behind the hob is the easiest surface to keep clean. |
| Floor finish | Large-format porcelain for most kitchens, or a seamless resin floor where a jointless, coved surface is preferred. |
| Extraction | Ducted to outside wherever the layout allows, sized to the hob. Recirculating only where an external duct is genuinely impossible. |
| Ironmongery | Soft-close hinges and runners throughout. The single upgrade clients notice most in daily use. |
Benefits
Project gallery
More completed renovations in our project portfolio.
Recent related projects
Completed
Residential · Harare
Full kitchen renovation in matt black cabinetry with a marble-effect island, waterfall edge and continuous splashback carried behind the hob and around the return.
Completed
Residential · Harare
Cabinetry, worktops and splashback delivered as one sequenced package, with cut-in decoration completed before units were unwrapped so no finished surface was disturbed.
Completed
Residential · Chisipite, Harare
Open-plan living and kitchen area redecorated in an occupied home, with furniture sheeted, floors protected and the space handed back cleaned each day.
Questions answered
Practical answers from our team in Harare. Still unsure? Ask us directly.
A full kitchen refit in Harare typically runs two to five weeks on site, depending on scope and whether walls are being moved.
The critical constraint is almost always worktop templating. Stone worktops can only be templated once the cabinets are installed and level, then fabricated off site, which adds a fixed wait in the middle of the programme.
Not in that room. We can help you set up a temporary arrangement elsewhere in the house — a fridge, kettle, microwave and a sink you can reach — and we will tell you honestly which days water and power will be off.
Most clients plan around roughly two weeks without a usable kitchen.
We can work from a designer's drawings, from a cabinet supplier's plan, or design the layout with you ourselves based on how you actually cook and where the services already are.
The most valuable thing we bring at design stage is knowing what is buildable — where the drainage can realistically go, which wall is structural, and where an extractor can actually vent.
Often yes, but any wall removal needs the structure checked first. If it is load-bearing it requires a beam sized by a structural engineer and proper propping during the work.
We will tell you at survey whether a wall looks structural and arrange the engineering input rather than guessing.
Either of us. Many clients order cabinetry and appliances themselves and we install them; others prefer us to handle the whole supply chain.
If you are supplying, get everything on site before the strip-out begins. A missing appliance at second-fix stalls the whole programme.
Granite and quartz are the most popular in Harare and both perform well. Quartz is non-porous and needs no sealing; granite is natural, heat-tolerant and needs periodic sealing.
Laminate is far cheaper and fine in a rental or budget refit, but it will not tolerate standing water at joints or a hot pan.
We handle plumbing and electrical first and second fix, including sockets, lighting, extraction, dishwasher and washing machine points, and sink and waste alterations.
For gas connections we bring in a qualified gas fitter and coordinate them within the programme.
Sometimes. If the carcasses are sound and the layout is staying, replacing doors, handles and worktops gives a dramatic change for a fraction of a full refit.
If the carcasses are chipboard that has already swollen from water, replacement is the honest answer — new doors on failing carcasses is money wasted.
Sequencing. Cut-in painting and messy work happen before units are unwrapped, and installed cabinetry is covered and protected until the final clean.
Because our own decorators are on the job, they protect the joinery instead of arriving after someone else has finished and working around it.
An extractor ducted to outside is far more effective than a recirculating filter, and we will run the duct properly where the layout allows it.
Where an external duct genuinely is not possible we will say so and specify the best recirculating option rather than promising performance it cannot deliver.
Yes — tiled, large-format porcelain, stone matching the worktop, or glass. Continuous stone or large-format splashbacks with no joints behind the hob are the easiest to keep clean.
Cut-outs for sockets and switches are made accurately so no trim or filler is needed to hide a rough edge.
We work across Harare from our base in Greendale — Borrowdale, Highlands, Avondale, Mount Pleasant, Marlborough, Belgravia, Chisipite, Newlands, Glen Lorne and surrounding suburbs.
We also take on kitchen fit-out for guest houses, lodges and staff facilities.
Where we work
We work from 33 Western Road, Greendale, and cover Harare and the surrounding suburbs. Travel time matters on a project like this — being local means we can get back to site quickly if something needs attention after handover.
Outside these areas? Tell us where the property is and we will let you know honestly whether we can deliver our standard there.
Related services
Most projects need more than one trade. We run them under a single contract so the sequencing is our problem, not yours — see all services or browse our completed projects.
Tell us the property, the suburb and roughly what needs doing. We will visit, measure properly and send an itemised quotation — no obligation.