Installing appliances in a new flat: what tends to cost more
The Abimeister team · Updated · 5 min read
New developments in Tallinn are often handed over with the kitchen plumbed and wired to a point, but no appliances actually connected. Buyers are left with a hob, an extractor hood, a washing machine and a fridge sitting in boxes, and no single obvious number for what fitting them all should cost. The honest answer is a range, because it depends on how many trades are involved and how much of the flat is finished. This guide sets out what drives the total when several appliances go in during the same visit.
How much does it cost to install several appliances at once
For a straightforward set — fridge, washing machine, a gas or induction hob already wired to a switch, and a recirculating hood — a single visit usually lands somewhere between 120 € and 220 € in total, once the call-out is absorbed into the job. Each appliance on its own would cost close to the minimum hourly charge, so doing four in one visit is markedly cheaper per item than booking four separate call-outs.
If any appliance needs new wiring, a dedicated circuit, or ducting run through a wall for an extractor hood, the total moves up, often to 250–450 €, because that work is priced separately and takes longer than a straight connection. A fixed quote is worth asking for once you know exactly what needs doing, since it removes the guesswork from the final invoice.
Appliance installation as a standalone job starts from 55 € — that figure covers a single, simple connection with the appliance and fittings already in place. Bundling several appliances into one visit is usually where the saving is, not in any one appliance being cheap on its own.
What affects the price the most
The biggest factor is how many separate trades are needed. A washing machine and fridge are usually plug-and-connect jobs; a hob or hood that needs new wiring pulls in an electrician, and that time is billed at the electrician's rate, not the general handyman rate.
Access matters more than people expect. A new-build with everything roughed in behind the right wall is quick. A flat where the washing machine has to go into a cupboard that was built before the appliance arrived, or where the extractor duct route runs through a load-bearing element, takes longer and sometimes needs a different solution altogether.
The number of appliances done in one visit changes the arithmetic directly. One call-out fee, one arrival, and shared time between jobs — levelling and connecting a washing machine while the fridge is unpacked, for instance — brings the average cost per appliance down noticeably compared with four separate bookings.
What is included in the price and what costs extra
A standard installation price covers unpacking and positioning the appliance, connecting existing supply and drainage or an existing socket, levelling it, and a basic function check — does the washing machine fill and drain, does the hob's rings light, does the fridge run cool.
What is not included as standard: any new plumbing pipework, any new electrical circuit or socket, cutting an opening for ducting, disposal of the old appliance if one is being replaced, and fittings such as a new supply hose, waste trap, or hood ducting kit if the ones supplied don't fit.
Materials we buy on your behalf carry a 10 % handling fee on top of the material cost, or you can buy them yourself in advance if you know exactly what's needed — a washing machine supply hose or a hood charcoal filter, for example.
- Included: unpacking, positioning, connecting to existing supply, levelling, function check
- Extra: new electrical circuit or socket work
- Extra: new plumbing runs or moving existing pipework
- Extra: cutting or extending ducting for an extractor hood
- Extra: removal and disposal of an old appliance
- Extra: replacement hoses, traps or fittings not already supplied
What needs an electrician, what needs a plumber, what is a normal fit
Connecting a washing machine or fridge to an existing tap, drain and socket is a normal appliance installation job — no separate trade required, and it's the kind of work covered by the from-55-€ installation price.
A hob or oven that needs a new circuit, a dedicated fuse, or any work inside the consumer unit has to go through a qualified electrician, billed from 49 € per hour. This is also true if a socket needs moving or a spur needs adding because the appliance doesn't reach the existing one.
Anything involving a gas supply — a gas hob or gas water heater connection — falls outside what we do, and needs a licensed gas fitter. If plumbing work involves moving a stack or altering shared building pipework, that's also outside a standard visit and worth raising with the apartment association first.
How to keep the total bill sensible
Book all the appliances that need fitting in one visit rather than spreading them across separate call-outs. The saving comes from one call-out fee and shared time on site, not from any appliance being cheap individually.
Have the flat ready before the visit: appliances unpacked from their outer packaging, connection points (socket, tap, drain, duct opening) visible and not boxed in, and any fittings you've bought yourself on hand. Time spent finding a socket behind a cupboard panel is billed the same as time spent connecting an appliance.
If you already know a hob or hood will need new wiring, mention it when booking so the visit can be quoted properly from the start, or booked alongside the electrician's time rather than discovered halfway through and rescheduled.
Fitting several appliances in one visit is usually cheaper per item than separate call-outs, but new wiring or plumbing work is priced and billed separately from a standard connection.