Range Cooker Delivery Day: Access, Doorways and What Goes Wrong

Range cookers are heavy, rigid and awkward. The kitchen dimensions get checked carefully; the route to the kitchen usually doesn't. That's where deliveries fail.

Run this checklist before you order. Everything on it is solvable with notice and expensive without it.

Outside the house

Can the vehicle get close? Delivery is typically by a large vehicle. Narrow lanes, low bridges, weight-restricted roads, gated developments, and parking restrictions all matter. If the vehicle has to stop 100 metres away, that's a very different job.

What's the surface between vehicle and door? Gravel, steep drives, soft lawn and loose paving all make moving a heavy appliance harder and sometimes unsafe.

Steps. Count them, and measure the width of any path alongside. Steps with a handrail on a narrow path are a genuine obstacle.

Getting through the door

Measure the actual clear opening, not the door frame. Open the door fully and measure between the door face and the opposite frame — the door leaf itself steals width. Some doors can be lifted off their hinges, which buys you 40–50mm; check whether yours can.

Height matters too if the unit has to be tilted, and porches with a second inner door create a confined space that's often tighter than either door alone.

The hallway

This is the classic failure point. A hallway wide enough on paper can still defeat a delivery if there's a 90-degree turn in it, because a rigid appliance needs diagonal space to make the corner.

Measure the hall width, the width at the turn, and the distance from the turn to the opposite wall. If there's a radiator, newel post, or meter cupboard projecting into that space, measure to the projection, not the wall.

Stairs

If the kitchen isn't on the ground floor, say so when ordering. Carrying a range cooker up a staircase is a specialist job with weight limits and needs to be arranged, not discovered.

Floors

Check the floor between the door and the kitchen can take the weight and the wheeling. Newly laid engineered timber, delicate tiles and older floorboards can all be damaged. Lay protection in advance.

In the kitchen

Is the aperture ready? The cabinetry either side needs to be fitted and the gap correct before delivery, or the cooker sits in a box in the hallway.

Are the services in place? Gas connection for dual fuel, dedicated circuit for induction. Delivery is not installation — a Gas Safe engineer or qualified electrician connects it afterwards, and they need the supply already run to the right position.

Is the old cooker out and disconnected? Arrange this in advance with the appropriate trade.

On the day

Clear the route completely — furniture, rugs, pets, children. Have someone available who can make decisions. And inspect the packaging before you sign.

If you notice any damage, note it when signing for delivery and send photos of the damage, the box and the SKU to info@nuovoluxury.co.uk within 24 hours. That timeframe matters.

The one thing to do now

Walk the route with a tape measure today, not the week before delivery. Write down the narrowest point. If it's tight, tell us when you order and we'll plan around it.

Questions on access for a specific model — call 0330 133 6617.