Fitting a kitchen myself?

[snadge]

HI

I just finished doing our kitchen first time..kitchen was from IKEA

I installed new ceiling with recessed lights, new floor, new plumbing for sink and waste, new electric sockets, new wall mounted towel rail, new extra doorway into dining room, plasterboarded all walls...and of course installed new kitchen...

with the help of many on this forum I managed to finish it - although theres just TILING left too do which we are paying someone to do simply cos i cant be arsed...

my girlfriends advice is: dont do it !!! pay someone... just cos the hassle it can cause is not worth it...

my advice will be: do it... hehe it saved us £3500 just on the kitchen installation..i shudder to think how much builder would have charged for ceiling, floor, walls, plumbing etc etc

1. ensure your walls are straight and corners (where corner units go) are exactly 90 degrees , not over or under - put the units up loose hanging off the screws and then fix them together first before securing them into the corner/walls...we had problems here as angle was greater than 90 degrees because the stud wall (that was already there) wasnt straight and caused us problem.

2. if your bathroom is above kitchen ensure theres no leaks...or even do your bathroom first if it is to be done in future as you dont want leaks coming into your new kitchen, we had problems with leaky bathroom which we fixed before we started.

3. make sure you have all the tools and materials before you start so its not months and months from payday to payday..

4. plan out your kitchen and see if you need to get electrician in to move any switches or add any new ones etc..
- she used IKEA's online kitchen planner which plans it and orders all the stuff you need, we had no problems with this.

5. make sure you have a 1.8M level of a decent brand and a smaller one for wall units... i just used a cheapo 2ft level and its caused many problems cos it wasn't exactly level..fork out for a good one so you know when its level..ITS LEVEL!

6. make provisions for a temp kitchen somewhere else in your house...we used the downstairs toilet to wash cutlery in the sink there and moved the microwave into dining room.

7. when you rip old kitchen out..get a corgi gasman in to show him where your new hob/oven is going so he can make a first fix then if needs be... nothing worse if you have worktops fitted and the gasman cant get in or under to the pipe-work (this didnt happen to us but was advised of it so passing it on)

8. install the fridge/freezer unit first OR work out how high its going to be so you know how high to install your wall units... we didnt do this and are now in process of lowering our wall units to same height as fridge/freezer unit.

we also paid someone to cut mitres on the oak worktops, although i was close to buying a router and jig myself but it was only £50 extra to hire someone to do it ...so got a pro in...took him 5 hours for 3 lengths, 2 mitres and 1 join - I cut my own sink and gas-hob out though.. your looking at a region of £150 for the worktops to be installed (for 3 anyway) - one guy try to charge us £560 haha got rid fo him

just take your time and plan everything in advance too - make sure the wife/partner is not around to nag while your working away at it - it really is quite easy, the units come with instructions.

 

[vv2806]

The IKEA cabinets don't have space behind the back panel - something IKEA advertises as a benefit, utilising all the space, etc. But if your walls are plastered and skimmed (not drylined with plasterboard) they might be not ideally straight and it might be more difficult to install IKEA units than other brands. A friend had this problem recently. It is not said to put anybody off the IKEA kitchens, just something to take in account when planning.

 

[joinerjohn]

IKEA kitchens have always required very careful planning and preparation. As you rightly point out, they are no good where walls are not straight or plumb. Services usually need re-routing, to avoid running along or up the wall. However, the units are quite good and solid. (if a bit awkward sized) You really need extra depth worktop with their units.

 

[snadge]

hmmm, im not so sure thats a problem about the back panel as the sides, top and bottom of your unit is still going to flush up to the wall anyway? so if its not plumb its going to be out anyway? so i dont think it matters much...also you should know our ikea kitchen units had different slots so we could bring the back panel in a bit if we wanted... the wall units didnt have this but there was about 2mm gap anyway

 

[Monkeh]

hmmm, im not so sure thats a problem about the back panel as the sides, top and bottom of your unit is still going to flush up to the wall anyway? so if its not plumb its going to be out anyway?

If you've got space to work with there's nothing to stop you cutting it down a bit. If you haven't got a service gap to work with you can't do that so easily..

 

[curium]

All great tips guys. I think I will attempt to fit myself. Once I've ripped the old kitchen out if the walls and corners are horribly out what are my options? Do I then need a good carpenter to make the units fit?

I'm a long way from such problems as I'm still waiting for the OH to decide on the replacement kitchen and cooker hob. She's not sure if she wants a builtin cooker or a free-standing one we can take with us. I suggested that a free standing one would have small gaps between it and the worktop which may end up filled with crap.
Also need her to decide on flooring, lino or tiles.

So a long way from ripping out yet but keep the tips and experiences coming!

 

[curium]

okay it looks like we'll be getting something from the B&Q Cooke & Lewis Range. They any good?

They've got 60% off at the moment so I'll drag the missus along and get her to pick something so we can take advantage of the savings. They're also doing 0% finance.

 

[curium]

Had a look at the B&Q kitchens.

My main concern is with fitting the work surface myself, cutting it to be precise.

We were looking at something called speedstone which looks like a type of stone laminate, so particleboard with a 15mm layer of stone-type compound.

Has anyone dealt with this material before? B&Q were telling me that if I use their fitting service they can manufacture the surface in one piece such that there is no seam at the 90-degree turn. Just one seamless piece of worktop which is very appealing but they said fitting starts from £3,500 so that's out of the window.
I figured that a day-rate of £150/day for 2 blokes is 2k for 7 days if they did everything so £3,500 is a ****take!

Am I wrong?

What about this speedstone? Easy enough to cut?

 

[ivixor]

okay it looks like we'll be getting something from the B&Q Cooke & Lewis Range. They any good?

They've got 60% off at the moment so I'll drag the missus along and get her to pick something so we can take advantage of the savings. They're also doing 0% finance.

Yeah, they are not too bad at all. Nice little touches make the assembly much easier than your average ikea flatpack.

Don't know what style you are after - I got the Carisbrooke. Good, but the door surrounds can be very fiddly and not too sure about how they are held on. May end up replacing the dowel-type fixings with normal brackets in due course.