My new kitchen thread

[Adam]

I like reading these threads so thought I'd create my own to cover the progress of my new kitchen. This is the original kitchen from 1999 which in fairness has worn pretty well. I was originally going to replace the kitchen first when we moved in, but it's turned out to be one of the last major jobs.

Before:

 

[Adam]

Day 1 - The kitchen is in the skip

Tomorrow/Wednesday the electrician comes in to move the sockets (which the fitter marked out on the wall and to install 11x spotlights

 

[Adam]

Day 3 - Electrics (moving sockets and adding wiring for the spot lights)

 

[Adam]

Day 4 - Plastering (taken today as the plasterer worked from 7.30am until 8pm yesterday to get it done within a day)

 

[Adam]

Who are you getting your kitchen from and has it already been ordered?

I originally paid a deposit with a high street kitchen place, got a great deal as they matched an online kitchen place with a hefty sale on. However, I had a tough time finding a good fitter at a reasonable price. The guy I wanted came in too high, one guy was a complete cowboy who would text me every other day asking if he got the job and another was booked up for ages. In the end someone was recommended to us who was moving out of the fitting business into making the cabinets himself.

I structured the deal in a different way, offering him £XXk to do everything and I'll supply the appliances and miscellaneous items such as the spotlights, sockets, radiator, skip, sink and tap etc. We have ended up with a bespoke kitchen, have been able to choose the colour of the internal cupboards and have some nice german made "J" profile doors. He also improved upon the design and could make cabinets in different sizes to fill the gaps. A really great experience so far and his tradesmen have been brilliant.

That old kitchen didn't look too bad, doors and worktop looks in good order, could have got a few quid for the lot.

It's in the skip if you want it

 

[Adam]

Made some progress over the last few days. I got a mist coat on to seal the plaster. The kitchen fitter has made a start with the cupboards. Everything is a bit all over the place in the pictures below but it's starting to settle down as he gets the cupboards on the wall. The range cooker is also in today too You can see the quartz has been templated and that will be fitted on Saturday. We have gone for a mid grey colour with cashmere units/doors.

 

[Adam]

Here is another update. Since the last update the wall units have been put up, the range cooker, dishwasher and washing machine have been installed (although only the washing machine is working right now).

 

[Adam]

Latest update:

 

[Adam]

Very nice... But are you not worried about spilling paint everywhere now it's all in?

Are the units good/where you order from? I need to do my kitchen end of the year

Not really, I was going to do it myself but we are now going to get a painter in. The kitchen fitter said that it could be done before but he would need to mark the walls for guidance or may knock it installing things, he recommended waiting until after.

These are bespoke cabinets finished with German made doors, very impressed with the quality.

 

[Adam]

Big changes after the quartz was fitted, I'm really pleased with the outcome. Some of the doors haven't arrived yet so I'm missing 9 in total, not a huge problem as they'll be fitted mid next week. The flooring will also be fitted at the end of the week too.

And finally a couple of touches I was particularly pleased with such as the sink and tap (bargains!) and the pullout unit.

 

[Adam]

Is it not easier to fit the flooring prior to all the units?

The cooker, washing machine and tumble dryer will need to be pulled out and the flooring go underneath as they are freestanding but everything else is integrated so only needs flooring up until the edge. Once that's done the fitter comes back to fit the plinths, skirting and architrave.

Nice kitchen. Are you able to reveal the supplier?

It's a small independent firm who manufacture the carcasses themselves. Happy to pass on the details if you are in Essex or the surrounding areas.

@The Craig worktops are indeed expensive. I saw a beautiful granite yesterday, and asked price only to be told "that one is £6000 sir". Put me back in my box [/QUOTE]

I had some quotes in the region of that but it wasn't quite that much

I've been watching this closely as on the face of it your ideas seemed pretty close to what I have in mind for my new kitchen, but the end result is not what I was expecting - personal taste and all that, but I find your choice of colour scheme extremely dull and lifeless. Not convinced by the grey on grey at all.

What made you go for quartz and in such large amounts? Was the splashback always going to be a feature or was it something that came about during planning? And what's with the odd-shaped sink - did you not want (or was it not possible) to have the quartz cut so the bridge between them was covered up?

It does look a bit different in the flesh. The cupboards and carcasses are cashmere with a dark grey trim. The tiles will add a bit of colour as will the floor. See below for the splashback.

As for the sink, I'm pretty sure that's how it's meant to be? When I google "under mount sinks" the majority of the 1.5 sinks are exactly the same as mine. It's quite narrow and hard to fit a standard sized bowl in anyway so it would be obscured even further with an extra piece of quartz in between them. The manufacturer is also printed in between the 2 sinks as well so I'd imagine it's not intended to be covered up. I might be wrong though!

In my opinion it all looks great apart from the splashback wall above the cooker. I think because it's stretched out across the entire width of the wall and is single colour it just looks a bit dominating. I think some design tiles or it's kept the width of the cooker may look better? Great job overall anyway.

The splashback wasn't planned before hand. Well it kind of was in the fact that we were having a matching splashback but due to how much material they had to order for the kitchen we were given the opportunity to fill that entire wall. It would only have been wasted otherwise. It certainly makes cleaning easier We are having both walls tiled in between the worktop and wall cabinets, probably the sage green colour in the picture with the sink.

 

[Adam]

Great job, look forward to the finished article

I hope the cupboard surrounding the boiler doesn't have a bottom on? i.e open at the bottom

Yes there is a big gap, there is a baton going across the front with about 75% open. Presumably due to the heat the boiler throws out?

 

[Adam]

+1 colour - Looks good, I like the professional (Germanic?) greyish colour.

About the sink : what was your thinking to not continue with larger Stainless sinks, maybe with a drainer,
so that you have excess space for the washing up larger pans,woks,30cm+ dinner plates ?
an accompanying drainer with ridges&rim can help prop up dishes for draining
..... but maybe the quartz drainer has more contour, on front in particular, than the picture reveals.

Do you have a utility room with another sink ?

Do you mean a sink like this? http://www.screwfix.com/p/franke-ascona-inset-sink-s-steel-1-bowl-1000-x-175mm/37197

We did have a sink in the utility room (see the first pictures) but I removed it in favour of the larder.

No its not needed for that its so you can get access to the bottom screws to remove cover should it ever need fixing

Glad your fitters been sensible and left access, most don't!

Ah that makes sense, I never considered that. Yes he has done a great job actually, very pleased.

 

[Adam]

@Adam Any pics of the finished article yet?

Finished article, no. I do have an update though:

Since the last post I have had the flooring (laminate), tiles (sage green metro) and the architrave and skirting fitted. I decided to pay a painter to paint as a) I don't really have the time and b) it will be very fiddly around the cabinets and quite frankly I don't think I'll do a great job.

I'm still missing the last of the doors (they are with my kitchen fitter but I have asked him to hold off until after the painting is done so he can fit the towel radiator afterwards.

The laminate isn't the ideal choice and I was originally looking at Amtico/Karndean. This was coming in at over £800 for 15sqm whereas I had a couple of boxes left of the laminate from when we did the living room, dining room, hall and conservatory. I like the idea of keeping things consistent. Also I couldn't find much that I liked and most of the wood effect ones would have been different to what we had in other rooms. My carpenter used some click seal to hopefully seal the joints. Only time will tell if I have made a terrible decision

 

[Adam]

Pretty much finished besides some caulking, some trim around the windows and putting right the poor job the painters did