Critique my Kitchen Designs!

[Martynt74]

Well don't have the keys still but i've also just ordered a hob. AEG are doing a promotion of free pans on selected hobs and i had some vouchers for Currys so picked one up.

75cm wide split into 4 zones which can be bridged for larger pans. That'll do me.

 

[ShivP]

The bridging is a useful feature, even some woks etc can take up more than 1 zone so gives more even heating

 

[Martynt74]

Yeah that was quite a key feature for me, along with the bigger size too allow for more large pans rather than knocking them off zones.

 

[Martynt74]

Right, kitchen design is finalised and ordered for delivery the 25th June. Gotta hope the exchange goes through before then!

Spoke to one kitchen place at the weekend but he was about £3k more than me. I accept that these places need to make their margins but i'd hoped a lot of those could've been made on the cupboards/worktops etc and if he came in £500-£1000 more than my plan i'd have considered it just to remove the hassle of worrying i've done everything right.

So here's the final plan. Ignore the horrific DIY Kitchens render! The plan is to bring the open shelving unit out level with the edge of the breakfast bar.

I've had to knock the length down slightly as we went and measured up and having it 5m long would've been stupid so the whole thing now comes in at 4.5m which is pretty much in line with the second window (again ignore the messed up 3D render)

My only concern is the short wall where the oven is. From the outer wall to the edge of the doorframe is 203cm. My plan fits that exactly (2m of units + 2cm end panel). If there's any bend in the outer wall then that's going to start getting tight. Not sure whether to ring them and swap for a 300mm tall unit to give me that safety net. The 400mm would be nicer though and could be perfect if all goes to plan.






We have also finally agreed on an extractor! The Elica Dolce in peltrox finish. There are a lot of cheap Italian based suppliers or i order from a UK retailer. The difference is about £200 but i think it may be worth it.

https://www.angelappliances.co.uk/images/C/elica-sweet-cast-iron-85-cm-wall-mounted-hood.jpg

 

[the_r_sole]

that skewed full height unit doesn't look great imo

 

[Martynt74]

I'm inclined to agree based on the above, however

1 - It looks better in person, we saw a similar unit in their showroom. Plus on a 3D render another kitchen place did, it looks much better.

2 - It gives us masses of storage which would be otherwise lacking due to the lack of wall units.

 

[paintguy]

I remember seeing those diagonal corner units in the showroom, they're enormous! In fact my son kept hiding in one

We were looking at them but couldn't really fit one into our design. As you say, they look much better IRL and can store loads.

 

[immy]

did diy kitchens give you the 10% off despite the offer finishing? Did they throw in any extras? free soft close

 

[jpaul]

we saw a similar unit in their showroom.

Is there some mechanism to get access to the back of cupboard (pictures) - 1m is a reach - with a lecreuset .
some of these sliding wire racks apart from mechanism reliability, look problematic to clean and restrict size/weight of articles

reversing the door opening would mean you do not walk 'blind' into kitchen area ... plus opened door does not upset line.

 

[Martynt74]

did diy kitchens give you the 10% off despite the offer finishing? Did they throw in any extras? free soft close

I placed the initial order when it was 10% but didn't put in a delivery date. This allowed me to bag the discount but not commit to a design list. If i make changes they then apply the discount to any new units.

Is there some mechanism to get access to the back of cupboard (pictures) - 1m is a reach - with a lecreuset .
some of these sliding wire racks apart from mechanism reliability, look problematic to clean and restrict size/weight of articles

reversing the door opening would mean you do not walk 'blind' into kitchen area ... plus opened door does not upset line.

In the cupboard, rather than one big shelf, you get an "L" shape running along each of the back walls. My plan is to mainly use this for tinned goods and general stuff we don't use much (mainly appliances that you don't use much like a blender/juicer). Good call on reversing the door opening.

Here's a pic of the inside of the unit. They do do an even bigger unit which is more of a walk-in style, but that wouldn't fit for me. It was also 3 times the price!

 

[checjb]

I saw that tall corner unit in the DIY-K showroom as it really is awesome. We have a simple galley style kitchen and yet caught ourselves trying to think where we could fit on. It's gorgeous.

My DIY-K kitchen is coming w/c 18 June so best of luck to us both.

 

[paintguy]

My DIY-K kitchen is coming w/c 18 June so best of luck to us both.

Yes, good luck to you both.

I'm most of the way through fitting mine and I'm really impressed with the quality of the units. I'm having a bit of a nightmare with the fitting but that isn't the fault of the units. Floors that slope in all directions, pipework that ran underneath the original cupboards rather than behind, sockets in random locations that end up inaccessible, so almost every unit has had to be dry fitted, then removed for the plumbing and electrics to be sorted. I've even had to buy some shorter legs for a for units where the floor lumps up so much!

Steadily plodding on though, and really happy with their aftercare too. We noticed one of the unit doors was scratched well after the 10 day report period, but after sending them a picture they are making a replacement with no quibbles at all. All the hinges, drawer runners and other fittings are real quality and the units themselves are rock solid, even where I've cut big chunks out of them for pipework and appliances.

Get ready for delivery day though! Sturdy construction means some of the units are ridiculously heavy, especially the large drawer units that come pre-assembled

https://i.imgur.com/gEKgnbR.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/CSbmCrj.jpg

 

[Martynt74]

Looks great. Is that 2 different types of worktop you're using?

Ha, glad you said that about the units. I've recently switched the delivery from the cheap £75 to the £150 to ensure they carry it all in for me! Luckily there are french doors in the same room so should be easy enough.

I think the only units which don't come pre-assembled are the tall units right?

 

[paintguy]

The black worktops are just offcuts and pieces from the old kitchen, just to give us something to work on until I get the new white ones fitted.

Pretty stuck with that at present as my router isn't a widely used brand so I can't find stock of the base I need to run it through the cutting jig. Will find a way around that though, like everything else!

And by the time we'd finished moving all the units in from the kerbside that extra £75 would have been worth every penny! Just about everything of ours was pre-built. The tall larder unit had the internal drawers packed separately but the carcass and doors were all complete. The other two tall units were fully built. I'm guessing that tall corner cupboard of yours will come in pieces though as it would never fit through a standard doorway!

One tip once you've got them in the house. All the doors clip off super easy, the drawers too, and the shelves are stored in the bottom of each unit. Removing all those once you've unpacked will make them much easier/lighter to move around.

 

[Martynt74]

Sounds like you need a new router (then you can give me yours as mine is broken!)

 

[paintguy]

Haha. It's a proper animal of a router, Triton TRA001, but it lives 99% of it's time in my router bench, for which it has lots of features others don't. When it comes to hand held stuff and accessories a Makita/Dewalt/Festool would have been a better bet.

 

[checjb]

Thanks for the tips & tricks, Paintguy. I'll be upgrading my delivery (currently on the £75 level) and learning from you.

 

[paintguy]

Sounds like you need a new router (then you can give me yours as mine is broken!)

Sorry to keep going off topic but I've ended up doing exactly that. Yet another base plate arrived today and I still can't cobble together something that I'd be happy to use. Running a 2.4KW router freehand through something I've jerry rigged together is ringing all kinds of alarm bells! So Screwfix to the rescue again. They do a budget but well rated router that includes all the stuff I need for less than I've already paid in bits and bobs

Should have listened to the wife weeks ago when she told me to just buy a new one. Could have had the worktops in by now

 

[Martynt74]

If it’s going to go off topic for any reason then I’m glad it’s for power tools

I’m probably going to get the Erbauer one they do. I had the Titan but returned it as 2 of them were junk!

 

[paintguy]

I'll be picking an Erbauer one up tomorrow and may even put it straight into action, so can let you know how it goes.