New kitchen

doohan

Hi Folks,

How difficult would it be to fit a kitchen (B&Q jobbie) It's not a terribly big kitchen or anything aprrox 9 units, nothing intergrated. Keeping the exisiting extractor, cooker is an all in one and the fridge is free standing. Maybe move the sink a little and the washing machine (not intergrated).

If it is difficult is there anyone out there willing to do it as a nixer??I'll do all the labouring etc (donkey work)

Cheers
A.

Noelie

where are you based, my dad might be interested.

doohan

I'm in Clondalkin Dublin 22. how much are we looking at etc..

cormac_byrne

Been there done that, as they say.

The units themselves are straight forward enough to assemble

trickiest bits
- getting the middle shelf into corner units (think ahead)
- be careful moving units, the black plastic legs will break if you try 'walking' them

Bolting units together, adjusting leg heights, affixing units to wall - very hassely, (especially if you have uneven floor and walls and 90 degree corner not exactly 90 degrees etc...)

There is a bit of surplus at the back of the units that can be shaved off if you can't get all the units tight against the wall.

The back edge of the worktop should be cut so you have the same amount of overhang all along the front. N.B. this cut has to match the contour of your wall (i.e. may not be exactly straight)

Overhead cupboards are more difficult.
Not so easy to bolt them together first then put them up.
(maybe if you have a few people helping)

The cupboards hang from brackets that you fix to the wall.
Obviously they need to be in a horizontal line and spaced correctly so that they meet the brackets on the back of the cupboards.

They are wide enough to allow some horizontal movement of the cupbard and bracket to compensate for slight errors. The bracket allows a slight amount of vertical adjustment to be made. The bracked also allows a slight amount of adjustment away from the wall. You will need this if the wall isn't exactly flat.

This adjustment can be a nightmare if there is a long run of cupboards, the wall isn't flat and you are putting them up one at a time on your own.

If you have a concave wall and the cuboards are bolted together at the front, there will be a slight gap between them at the back. Alternatively if they're bolted tgether front and back, the centre cupboards will be a slight distance out from the wall. (assuming the adjuster will go that far, or you planned ahead and put a spacer behind the wall bracket)

A convex wall would be worse, even slight gaps at the front of the cupboards would look terrible. And you may or may not get away with an end cupboard being away from the wall.

It took me ages to get this right(ish)

Maybe some of the professionals on here might have better tips to resolve this?

Another tricky job is cutting holes in the worktop for cooker and sink.
Worktops can be heavy, best to have have help moving them, particularly when they're weakened by the holes and could snap.

I marked out the 4 corners for the hole for the sink on the underside of the worktop, drilled them out and then cut between them with a jigsaw. Unfortunately when I turned the worktop over I discovered that the blade at times had decided to bend (possibly hadn't supported the cutout piece properly?), so my perfectly straight line on the underside was anything but straight on the other side.

Luckily had spare worktop so chopped off the bad bit and tried again (this time working from the topside with upside down jigsaw blade and masking tape to protect surface)

Again the professionals on here might have better advice on how to do it.

Remember to paint anywhere you have cut the worktop to give some protection to the exposed chipboard, otherwise it will swell if it gets wet.

Noelie

Hi Doohan, just talked to him last night about it and i'm sorry to say he isn't interested, he's saying he has too much work on at the minute.