Need a bit of advice from a kitchen fitter

[gary01773]

1. Should this have been mitred? A bit of a difficult call. Were the upstand solid wood, then absolutely, bit as it is edged and end lipped MDF in practical terms I think he has given you a more durable option than a mitred joint. Had it been me I'd have pointed out to the customer that a mitred joint in MF-MDF will always have a sharp edge on it and be far more prone to chipping over time (sanding it to remove the arris leaves s white line in the corner). But I would at least have given the customer the option of choosing which they preferred. Agree that the upstand joints could have been neater. I also tend to silicone the worktop to upstand and upstand to wall joints as part of the install

2. Should these be screwed from the top? Ideally, no. Any screws from the top will need to have shorter screws and so will be a poorer fix. Screwing them from the top should not have presented problems to a kitchen fitter - tools like drills with right angle chuck adaptors should be in evey fitter's kit these days - but the fix would not have been as good. As others have said, though, he should have at least covered the screws with FastCap or Quikcap covers (small self adhesive melamine discs) to hide them. There are clip systems available to install cornices which are invisible but these are relatively unknown in the UK - e.g. Gratverbinder by Knapp Verbinder (Austria)

3. Is this good enough? Frankly, NO!

4. Drawer will not soft close, he says it is faulty runners? A slightly tricky one. As he hasn't supplied the kitchen you are actually asking him to spend his time to fix someone else's problem. Under the circumstsnces I think he should have suggested that you get him a new drawer/runners and that he would fit it/them. That is just good customer relations

5. Should these gave been screwed from underneath? I don't think so. But they could have been hidden better by the judicious aplication of some (well masked) white spray paint

Jobandknock thanks so much for the input it really helped I know its a bit of a crap job just wanted a bit of input from other people. there has been a few problems all through the job within a day 2 of the door handles came off in our hands? he said it was faulty knobs but I'm not that stupid he had cut the screws to small so it had no hold Thanks again

 

[gary01773]

Thanks a lot woody but I thought it it was the correct way there were no screws on the old kitchen it was screwed from top and bottom, I did google it before I but the post just to see the correct way to do it and both wren and Wickes do the screwing from top and bottom

and the Wickes one is is at around 2 minutes in. Thanks a lot for the input this is exactly what I wanted different opinions

 

[^woody^]

Thanks a lot woody but I thought it it was the correct way there were no screws on the old kitchen it was screwed from top and bottom, I did google it before I but the post just to see the correct way to do it and both wren and Wickes do the screwing from top and bottom

and the Wickes one is is at around 2 minutes in. Thanks a lot for the input this is exactly what I wanted different opinions

Manufacturers videos. Sometimes they relate to an alternate universe

The thing is your ceiling looks really close, can someone even get in there to drill and screw anything?

 

[ETAF]

Current kitchen is from Wickes , the fitters were really brilliant and told us all the way through what they were doing and why, and often if more than 1 way to do something, they discussed with us. They also replaced our drop ceiling and the top Cornices are screwed from the cupboards up, the fitter did say what he was going to do.
The Plinth is on Clips attached to the legs

Old MFI kitchen which I fitted , Plinth on clips attached to legs
Ceiling higher and so we were able to screw from the top

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Sorry, @^woody^, but when I was fitting kitchens (granted a while back) I used to carry several sorter boxes with screws, angle brackets, cabinet joiners, plinth clips, Fast Caps, white paint, masking tape, etc. on the grounds that it was easier to have spares with me (or stuff that wasn't supplied) than make a return visit. I still know a couple of guys who fit kitchens and do the same sort of thing. BTW spare fittings, etc at the end of the job go into my boxes even today

 

[^woody^]

Sorry, @^woody^, but when I was fitting kitchens (granted a while back) I used to carry several sorter boxes with screws, angle brackets, cabinet joiners, plinth clips, Fast Caps, white paint, masking tape, etc. on the grounds that it was easier to have spares with me (or stuff that wasn't supplied) than make a return visit. I still know a couple of guys who fit kitchens and do the same sort of thing. BTW spare fittings, etc at the end of the job go into my boxes even today

You should see the leftovers in my garage, not just from kitchens, from every damn job I do! Its pathological

But the point is, a customer can only expect a fitter to fit a kitchen to the standard and methods specified by the manufacturer and using only the fixings supplied by that manufacturer.

Yes the OP's fitter has left caps off and may not have taken the best of care, but the OP can't expect the fitter to start freestyling and using all his own different fixings for what is a routine bog-standard kitchen (no offence OP). Whether like you (and me) we know what we might need and choose to bring additional stuff to help us is a different matter, but it's not an obligation.