DIY - A new kitchen for Mum

[Guest]

Still a WIP but thought I'd share a few pictures of where I'm up to.

I've fitted a few kitchens in the past, including our new kitchen/utility room extension last year, but this one was for my mum so the pressure was on to get it right!

Here's what it looked like to begin with:

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The pantry cupboard in the corner which goes under the stairs was hard to access due to poor unit and worktop placement not allowing the door to open much. The "arched" tops to the main run of wall units isn't a camera effect, that's how they were in real life.

So I started ripping things out, which revealed some rather interesting wiring solutions! Cables run around and through units, diagonal runs in the walls, botched wiring extensions, and a multi adapter stuffed around the back to run the oven. They'd even hacked a bit out of the back of the oven to fit it around the plug sockets :flushed:

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My wife works for an electrical testing and safety company so sent one of her guys around to assess the situation. He made a couple of things safe, and gave me a plan for installing the new circuits needed for the additional sockets, new oven position, and the hefty 6mm cable needed for the electric hob. He left me to do the donkey work of chasing out the walls, fitting cables & back boxes, then returned at a later date to terminate and test everything.

And here we are with some of the new units in place showing some of the new wiring runs behind. The cupboard doors are gloss white but covered in blue protective film. Not pictured but there is now a base cupboard at the side of the washing machine, with a worktop return, giving a small peninsular.

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I'd also fitted new laminate flooring by this stage. In the past I've tried fitting it after and around units, but it's such a pain that I laid it first and placed the units on top

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And a bit of plumbing too. The original stopcock was deep in a corner of the room and pretty much seized solid, so a new Surestop one was added, with a remote switch, so she doesn't have to climb into the back of a cupboard in an emergency. You can just see the (water pressure operated) switch here, along with hot & cold feeds for the taps, feeds for the dishwasher & washing machine, and waste for them all.

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There has been a bit more progress since these pictures including a fair bit of plasterboarding over the dodgy walls and it's all now fully functioning, but I've been waiting for mum to decide on tiles. Once they arrive I can crack on with those then start adding fiddly bits like cornice, plinths etc to finish it off.

[Guest]

And a few shots of my own kitchen that I finished around this time last year. A substantial extension on the back of the house let us expand the kitchen quite a lot, and create a new utility room.

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Again, 99% of the work was done by myself, including plasterboarding, flooring, tiling & plumbing. I only got trades in to do the parts I'm not allowed to by law (gas & certain electrics). Plinths not yet fitted in some of those pictures.

The old kitchen units got upcycled with a lick of paint and new worktops, then fitted into the new utility (shown here before tiles & decoration).

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[Guest]

I feel like I’m watching the before and after bits of Homes Under the Hammer

[Guest]

I'm sure it won't be everyone's cup of tea and I don't expect to draw a crowd, but it fits squarely into the "other hobbies and interests" brief :smiling3:

[JR]

Andy having spent many years making and fitting kitchens yours and your Mums are good.
We've all seen the past work of so called "experts " the novice gas fitter was the most frightening,

I would offer one suggestion , remove those doors until the job is done, far to easy to whack one of those doors as you fit the plinth.

[Guest]

Thanks John.

I hear you about the doors. I think in the picture of mums above I'd just finished fitting the corner post so had popped them on to check alignment. Thankfully with the Blum hinges they just snap off quickly when I need them out of the way.

It's actually a fair bit more advanced than that now with the peninsula and all worktops in, sink, hob & oven fitted, I just haven't got any up to date pictures.

[JR]

Thanks John.

I hear you about the doors. I think in the picture of mums above I'd just finished fitting the corner post so had popped them on to check alignment. Thankfully with the Blum hinges they just snap off quickly when I need them out of the way.

It's actually a fair bit more advanced than that now with the peninsula and all worktops in, sink, hob & oven fitted, I just haven't got any up to date pictures.

I wasn't picking Andy but I've seen it happen to many times. Nice to read you have Blum hinges, either those or Hettich , both of course German.
Out of interest I fitted a pull out larder unit, the lady supplied it herself, and got a "good " deal from the rep where she worked
Of course it was made in China, within a couple of months the bearings couldn't take the weight and the whole thing sagged when the cupboard door and unit were pulled out. Cost under a £ 100 , the Blum version was 3 times the amount version and would have been perfect. She even worked for a kitchen company. !

[Guest]

Nice work Andy - can you come and do ours?

[Guest]

I wasn't picking Andy but I've seen it happen to many times.

Of course not John, I always welcome advice from those more experienced than myself. I know we all learn by our mistakes, but I've found it even better to learn by those made by others :smiling3:

Nice work Andy - can you come and do ours?

Thanks Peter, my wife has circulated some pictures of our kitchen around her office and a few of her team have already asked the same question!

[Jim R]

Hi Andy
Very nice - very talented.
Jim

[Si Benson]

Seriously impressed Andy:thumb2:

I started my kitchen in 2009 and it’s still not finished! I did knock out a wall, bricked up two doors and cut out another for patio doors, replaced the electrics, re-routed the gas and water, replaced the ceilings, levelled the floor, tiled etc etc..... having never done anything like it before, I bit off way more than I could chew!

The only thing I got trades in for was to check my gas/electric work and some plastering.
Not that much left to do now, might have it done this century :smiling5:

[JR]

Seriously impressed Andy:thumb2:

I started my kitchen in 2009 and it’s still not finished! I did knock out a wall, bricked up two doors and cut out another for patio doors, replaced the electrics, re-routed the gas and water, replaced the ceilings, levelled the floor, tiled etc etc..... having never done anything like it before, I bit off way more than I could chew!

The only thing I got trades in for was to check my gas/electric work and some plastering.
Not that much left to do now, might have it done this century :smiling5:

All that and cooking and gardening :smiling5::thumb2:

[Guest]

Thanks Jim & Si

In the past Si I've been known as the 99% man. I tend to get a project virtually complete then lose interest at the final hurdle. Our last kitchen, fitted around 13 years ago, never got that final piece of edging trim fitted! The wife stood over me with a big stick until I saw this one through to the end, but I wasn't brave enough to do the initial building work as you did, we got a builder from a few houses down our street to do that part.

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(Our old back door just wedged into place until the new one arrived)

[Si Benson]

I must be a 75% man then:smiling5:

[stillp]

Interesting to hear your wife's job Andy. I used to look after Standards Issues for a major multinational electrical manufacturer, and for some years worked with the chairman of the Wiring Regs committee. I did industrial and automation, he did installations and what we used to call "Toys and Fancy Goods"! (Wiring accessories).
Pete