Ceiling cassette
air conditioning
A cassette sits flush in the ceiling and sends the air out across the room from above, so nothing goes on the wall. It suits open-plan rooms, kitchens and commercial spaces, and it needs one thing a wall unit does not: space above the ceiling.
- Free survey and a fixed written price
- We will tell you when the cheaper option is the right one
- No obligation and nothing to sign
Prefer to talk? 020 3393 1331
Accredited, and fitting the brands you know
Air conditioning we have fitted
Our own jobs, photographed on site. Real rooms, real outdoor positions, nothing from a catalogue.
Air conditioning
Outdoor unit on wall brackets
Above brick, isolator and cabling run tidy
Air conditioning
Condenser going up on straps
Lifted into a wall position, no scaffold
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Wall unit, commissioned
Set to 24 degrees and handed over
Air conditioning
Black wall unit in a sitting room
Chosen to sit with the room, not against it
Air conditioning
Ceiling cassette
Recessed flush into the ceiling
Air conditioning
Samsung Wind-Free
Cooling without a draught on the room
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Rooftop commissioning
Pressure tested and charged on gauges
Air conditioning
Outdoor unit at ground level
On paving beside the house, easy to service
Air conditioning
Black wall unit, running
Quiet enough for a bedroom
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One-way ceiling cassette
Only the grille shows
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Outdoor unit on paving
Against render, clear of the boundary
Air conditioning
Condenser high on a wall
On brackets where the ground was not an option
A ceiling cassette adds 500 to 900 pounds per indoor unit to the price of the same system with wall units. The difference pays for the work in the ceiling void, the condensate pump and making good the ceiling afterwards. One room with a wall unit is 2,400 to 3,200 pounds fitted.
It is the better choice when the wall is the problem, and the more expensive choice when the wall is fine.
Your estimate
£2,400to£3,200
Supplied, fitted, commissioned and certificated. Includes VAT.
Send this on WhatsAppPrice the fitted option
A fitted split system, priced. It is the option this page is comparing against, and this is what it actually costs.
Last step: what number should we call with your fixed price?
Every figure on this site is an estimate built from the quotations we issued in 2026 and our own installation experience. It is not a quotation. The price you are given after the free survey is the price you pay.
From first call to cool rooms in three steps
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Free survey
We measure the rooms, find the outdoor position and check permission for your address.
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A fixed written price
Units, pipework and electrics itemised. The number does not move unless the job does.
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Fitted in a day
One room a day, tested in every mode, and shown to you before we leave.
Read the full guide: 5 sections, about 3 minutes
Side by side
| Ceiling cassette | Wall-mounted unit | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it goes | Flush in the ceiling; only the grille shows | High on a wall |
| What it needs | A void above the ceiling deep enough for the unit | A clear wall, ideally an outside one |
| Air distribution | From the middle of the room, in 1, 2 or 4 directions | From one wall across the room |
| Condensate | Pumped up and away to a drain | Usually runs away by gravity |
| Price per indoor unit | +£500 to £900 over a wall unit | The baseline: £2,400 to £3,200 for one room |
| Typical rooms | Open-plan kitchens, extensions, offices, shops, classrooms | Bedrooms, living rooms, home offices |
| Grid ceilings | 600mm square cassettes drop into a standard ceiling tile grid | Not relevant |
| Disruption | The ceiling is opened and made good | One hole through the wall |
Every figure on this site is an estimate built from the quotations we issued in 2026 and our own installation experience. It is not a quotation. The price you are given after the free survey is the price you pay.
When a cassette is the right answer
When there is no good wall. Kitchens with wall cupboards, rooms with glazing on two sides and extensions with a roof light often have nowhere sensible for a wall unit, and a cassette in the ceiling solves it.
When the room is big or open-plan. A 4-way cassette in the middle of the ceiling spreads the air evenly in every direction, where a wall unit at one end leaves the far side of a long room warmer.
When there is a suspended ceiling already, as in most offices and many shops. Our new nursery in East Barnet EN4 has twelve ceiling cassettes on one Samsung system, photographed from bare pipework to the units in the ceiling grid.
When it is the wrong answer
When there is no void. A flat with a concrete ceiling and nothing above it but the flat upstairs has nowhere for the unit to go, unless a lowered ceiling is built first, and that usually costs more than the cassette.
When the wall is perfectly good. In a bedroom with a clear outside wall, a quiet wall unit does the same job for 500 to 900 pounds less, and it is easier to reach for a filter clean.
When the room is small. A cassette is at its best spreading air across a large space; in a small room it is an expensive way to do what a wall unit does.
What the extra cost buys
The work above the ceiling: the unit hung from the structure, the refrigerant pipework and cables run through the void, and a condensate pump to lift the water away to a drain, because a cassette sits too low for gravity.
Then the ceiling itself: the opening cut to the unit's size and made good around the grille, which is plastering and decorating that a wall unit never needs.
The same cassette can run alongside wall units on one multi-split outdoor unit, within one manufacturer's range. See single split vs multi-split.
Other things people weigh up
Split vs portable air conditioning
A portable unit costs 300 pounds and a fitted split costs 2,400.
CompareSingle split vs multi-split
If you want more than one room cooled, this is the decision that shapes the whole installation: several small outdoor units, or one bigger one serving all of them.
CompareAir conditioning vs air source heat pump
These are the same technology wearing two names, and the confusion costs people real money.
CompareDaikin vs Mitsubishi Electric
We fit both, so we have no reason to talk you into either.
CompareDucted air conditioning hidden from view
With a ducted system the indoor unit sits out of sight in a ceiling void, a loft or a cupboard, and the air reaches the room through ducts and grilles.
CompareWhat happens on a survey
An hour, nothing to sign, and a written fixed price afterwards. The fastest way to settle any of this properly.
Free surveyQuestions people ask
How much does ceiling cassette air conditioning cost?
In a London home, one room with a wall unit is 2,400 to 3,200 pounds fitted, and a ceiling cassette adds 500 to 900 pounds to that for each indoor unit.
Commercial jobs are priced from a survey and a heat load calculation, because the ceiling, access and working hours vary so much. See commercial air conditioning.
Do I need a false ceiling for a cassette?
You need a void above the ceiling deep enough for the unit, its pipework and its condensate pump. A suspended ceiling gives you that, and 600mm square cassettes drop straight into a standard tile grid.
In a home, the void between a ground floor ceiling and the floor above often works. The survey checks the depth and the joist direction before anything is quoted.
Is a 4-way cassette better than a 1-way?
For the middle of a large room, yes: it sends the air out on all four sides. A 1-way cassette is narrower and blows in one direction, which suits a ceiling near a wall or a long, narrow room.
The room's shape decides, and the survey is where that gets settled.
Does a ceiling cassette heat as well as cool?
Yes. Every system we fit is reversible, so the cassette that cools in August heats in February, at roughly three to four units of heat for every unit of electricity.
Not sure which way to go?
Tell us the rooms and what you are trying to achieve. We will say which of these we would fit in your property and why, before anybody quotes anything.
Monday to Friday 9am to 7pm, Saturday 10am to 3pm, Sunday closed
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