Kitchens in Alexandria: design, manufacture and installation

What is different about a kitchen in Alexandria?

Three things set an Alexandria kitchen apart: humidity and sea air, the many older buildings with narrow kitchens and old services, and work inside occupied buildings.

Moisture reaches the cabinets from the air, from cooking steam and from around the sink, and in flats near the Corniche the salt air corrodes ordinary steel hinges and handles. An older flat may hide corroded pipes behind the kitchen wall, or wiring that cannot carry today’s appliances. And an occupied building has its own hours, a lift and neighbours, and long pieces have to go up the stairs or fit in the lift.

So a good kitchen does not start with the door colour. It starts with a survey: the real measurements, the state of the pipes and wiring, the ventilation, and the route the pieces will take into the flat.

Small kitchens in older flats: making the space work

In a narrow kitchen the layout matters more than any material, because it decides the worktop, the storage and the room to move.

In older buildings with tall ceilings, a second row of wall cabinets can take things you rarely use. Drawers in the base units use the depth better than shelves, and a tall unit that combines the fridge and oven saves worktop. If the washing machine lives in the kitchen, as it does in many flats, fix its position, size and drain from the start, not after the cabinets are made. A modern kitchen with plain fronts and recessed handles or a handleless profile looks calmer in a small space, and leaves nothing sticking out into a narrow walkway.

Behind the kitchen wall: pipes, power and gas before cabinets

In an older flat, check what is behind the kitchen wall before any cabinet goes up, because taking a new kitchen apart to fix a pipe is harder and costlier than fixing the pipe first.

• Pipes: old, corroded pipes under the sink and inside the wall are replaced before installation, and the new ones are pressure-tested before the wall is closed.
• Drainage: moving the sink away from its original place needs enough fall to the building’s drain stack, so check the route before the design is approved.
• Power: many older Alexandria buildings have aluminium wiring and boards that have been extended again and again. The oven, an electric hob, the dishwasher, the washing machine and the water heater each need a suitable circuit, so test the wiring before adding new appliances.
• Gas: any change to the natural gas line is a matter for the gas company, so ask them before you settle on a new position for the cooker.
• Extraction: a hood ducted to the outside clears steam, grease and moisture. If the kitchen looks onto a light well or the building’s façade, ask the building management where the duct may come out.

Mark sockets and water points on the kitchen drawing itself, not by eye on the wall, so that no socket ends up behind a cabinet side or under the worktop.

Materials that survive Alexandria’s humidity

Humidity does not hit the whole kitchen equally. It gathers in known places, and protecting those places matters more than the name of the door material.

The full comparison of HPL, acrylic, lacquer, wood and aluminium is in our kitchen materials guide. The Alexandria rule is simple: a good front on a weak board or with open edges will not last long.

The worktop: see the stone at our El Deresa showroom

Choose the worktop while looking at the stone itself, not a photo on a phone, because colour and veining look different in person and under kitchen lighting.

At our marble and granite showroom in El Deresa, Moharram Bey, you can compare granite, quartz, and Egyptian and imported marble, and compare polished with honed finishes. Bring a sample of the door colour and the kitchen measurements, so you choose the stone and the cabinets as one set. What is on show changes, so send us the name of the stone or the look you want before you come.

In short: granite copes with heat and scratches, quartz does not absorb liquids but needs a trivet under hot pans, and marble marks with lemon and vinegar. Our marble, granite and quartz guide compares them in detail.

• Thickness and edge profile: agreed before cutting.
• Sink cut-out: undermount or top-mounted, and where the tap goes.
• Hob or cooker cut-out: to the actual appliance, so settle the model before cutting.
• Joint positions: in a long kitchen, or if a slab will not go up the stairs or in the lift in one piece, the joints are set before cutting and kept away from the sink where possible.

The worktop is templated after the cabinets are fixed and levelled, so it fits the real kitchen, not the drawing. With us, the same team templates, cuts and installs the stone.

How a kitchen job runs, from survey to installation

1. Survey and measuring

   We measure the whole kitchen: walls, height, window, doors and the positions of pipes, gas and power, and we check the walls for damp. We also measure the flat’s front door, the stairs and the lift, because the pieces have to get in.

2. Layout, appliances and materials

   We agree the layout, where the sink, cooker, fridge and washing machine go, and the appliance models with their sizes, because the cut-outs are drawn around them; then you choose the carcass, fronts, hardware and stone, so the colours are approved together.

3. Drawing and written quotation

   You receive the kitchen drawing and a written, itemised quotation: cabinets, fronts, hardware, worktop, and plumbing and electrical changes, each as its own item. Nothing is made until the drawing is approved.

4. Preparing the room

   The pipes and wiring that need it are replaced, damp is treated, and the wall and floor are prepared before the cabinets arrive.

5. Making in the workshop

   The cabinets are made in our workshops to the approved drawing, which means less cutting and dust inside the building.

6. Cabinets first, then the worktop

   The cabinets are fitted and levelled, then the worktop is templated on the real kitchen, cut and installed, and finally the sink and appliances are connected.

7. Handover

   Open every door and drawer, check that the fronts and joints line up, run the water and look under the sink for leaks before you sign.

How to compare kitchen quotes in Alexandria

Compare quotes item by item, not by the bottom line, because two quotes for the same kitchen can differ in material, size and what each one includes.

• Carcass and fronts: the board type and thickness, whether it is moisture-resistant with every edge sealed, and the door material and finish.
• Hardware: the type of hinges, runners and lift systems, their load rating, and whether they suit sea air if the flat is near the water.
• Worktop: the stone, its thickness and edge, the number and position of joints, and the sink and hob cut-outs.
• What is included: removing the old kitchen and the debris, the sink and tap, plumbing and electrical changes, the splashback between the cabinets, and the installation itself.
• What is excluded: usually the appliances, and any work on the gas line, so ask for that in writing.
• How it is counted: some quotes go by the length of the kitchen and some by the unit, so ask what each includes so you compare like with like.

A quote that does not name the materials and their thickness is hard to check at handover. Our finishing quotation guide explains how to read any quote line by line.

Itmam and Alexandria kitchens

Itmam is a finishing, decoration and supply company from Alexandria: head office in El Ibrahimya, marble and granite showroom in El Deresa, Moharram Bey. Kitchens are made in our own workshops and fitted by our team, and stone tops are templated, cut and installed by the same team, so the cabinets and the worktop come from one set of measurements.

We visit, measure and give you a written, itemised quotation before work starts. On a finishing contract you pay each supplier directly at their price, and the tax invoice is in your name; our management fee for supervision and execution is agreed in writing before we begin, and we add nothing to the price of materials. If you only need the stone, supply-only is available.

Itmam was founded in 2016, with 20+ years in the trade. We work across Alexandria, on the North Coast and in New Cairo, and elsewhere in Egypt when the job suits.