Thanks folks. I'm still waiting for final advice from the law firm as to what to do, but I have done a good first draft of the sob story! We have a theory that they are trying to get us all paid off and out of the way asap.
Anyway, I now have a carpeted dining room and a nice tile-effect floor covering in the kitchen, which actually looks better than I had hoped. I managed to drag the fridge back this afternoon out of my hallway, and Peter is going to put the plinths back on the units and the other appliances back sometime tomorrow. Before that, however, he has to take the back door off and plane a bit off the bottom, as it is catching a bit on the brass bit the fitters put to finish off the edge of the little step into the kitchen. The door will only open about two thirds, and the washer etc have to come in through it.