New Kitchen Time

[chipperhead]

Just finalising specs for our new kitchen and utility room, thought I'd chuck it up on here first and then it'll turn into a progress thread.

Here's the kitchen, you can see the wall that was removed last year

And the utility

So here's the current plan:

Jobs to do before the kitchen install:

Remove the outbuildings wall to make a bigger kitchen
Bigger window in the kitchen
Block up the old hall to kitchen doorway
New external door in the utility and also hinged to the other side
New window in the utility
I intend to remove the existing ceilings and old plaster to get a complete fresh start
Install underfloor heating in the kitchen and dining room and tile this area and the utility

This is the style of units we like:

And our design:

Utility:

Just currently pricing up appliances and granite worktop.
It's a big job so we're looking at approx 4 weeks from start anything less will be a bonus

The work is booked in to start on June 11th

 

[chipperhead]

Looks like a nice project. Did you just plasterboard over the lintel where the wall was removed?

I have something similar and was thinking of getting hollowed out oak beam to cover it up. Nice bit of contrast.

Yeah, we needed 2 lintels, 1 for the wall and another to carry the chimney.

 

[chipperhead]

Infact here's a picture so you can see underneath.

Wooden noggins were hammered into the beams, then a wooden frame attached to the noggins.
The far lintel is slightly lower so the plasterboard was stuck to the far lintel and screwed to the framework at the near side, you can see the wooden framework is lower than the lintel.
We then needed to use fire proof plasterboard and sealant.

 

[chipperhead]

Looking very nice. Good luck with it all.

It may be the aspect ratio or something, but I notice that the ovens and grill (if that is what they are) appear to be quite high - they look about chest height.

I wouldn't fancy lifting hot stuff out of appliances set that high.

I am a short **** though!

They should be fine, it's a standard unit, height approx were the oven is now

Chipperhead: Don't skimp on sockets, & double check with boss they are in the correct locations, & think about locations for two/three switching for lights.

The jobs I've done, where you discuss with the client about socket locations, only to have them say when job is finish, we should had a socket here or there.
It was the same with light switches.

When I redid our bedroom I fitted 22 sockets, the misses just laughed.
She isn't laughing now she has her hair straightners, dryer, lighted mirror, lamps, alarm clock, phone, laptop, tv, etc plugged in.
I also fitted 6 light switches.
I agree you can't have enough.

 

[chipperhead]

If it was me I would have the hob and the oven closer together as when cooking it is a pain to walk all the way over the kitchen and back.

It's a valid point, I wanted the hob facing the dining room so you can cook and still chat to people, the island extractor will be above head height.

I suppose the ovens, fridge and hob form a triangle, just a big one

 

[chipperhead]

What appliances have you bought?

Just pricing them up now.
Probably going for Siemens cookers, microwave, hob, extractor (maybe neff), dishwasher. Miele larder fridge and tall freezer. Beko tumble dryer.

 

[chipperhead]

You were doing so well until you mentioned Beko.

Siemens and Bosch are the same thing so save some cash and buy the Bosch.

I wanted an A rated dryer and the Bosch etc ones are £700 plus, for what we need I can't justify that so scrimping on the Beko.

 

[chipperhead]

i cant see where your door is now on this plan, it seems as though you got an american style fridge in front of where it would be?

just had a similar refit done at mine, as mentioned before, put the utility and kitchen on seperate rings,

We don't need that door now since we knocked the wall between the dining room and kitchen down.

I decided not to go with an American style, the freezer part isn't very big, the ice cube makers have a tendency to break and take up a large chunk of space inside. Instead I'm going for a 600mm wide Fridge and 600mm wide freezer bolted together.

 

[chipperhead]

Just a quick update, only a week to go.

We needed to choose the actual pieces of granite for our worktop so went to a granite importers, the place was freakin huge and it was a difficult decision to make.
The guy showing us around was really knowledgeable, explaining about each piece and were they came from. They own the quarries and he regularly visits them.

We were after a light coloured granite with dark tints. We narrowed it down to two, Delicatus and eventually chose one called Bianco Antico.
It's similar to this but each slab has it's own features and tints of other colours, we needed to chose two 'slices'.

You get standard granite like the plain blacks you often see but this is one of the exotics, great, once again the price of the kitchen goes up.

Because the wall is coming down the kitchen sink is being moved along from were it is now, this would have been half in front of the window so a bigger window has been fitted.

We also wanted a new window in the utility with a window that opens, I wasn't sure whether to get frosted again or go for clear due to there being next doors garage wall. I decided to go for clear, we can always put blinds up but it really doesn't bother me.
We were initially happy to have a white upvc door but after seeing a composite door thought they looked much better, another little nudge up for the costs.

I've got a skip coming Wednesday and plan to rip the kitchen out, take out the ceilings and plaster back to brick and take the wall down. It's not load bearing so pretty straightforward.

The more I can do before they start on Tuesday the better.

 

[chipperhead]

Are you not having a door into the ultility room at all then? I would think though its another door to open, with the washing machine/tumble dryer in there a door would help keep the noise shut out from what will become a main living area in the house.

I thought from pictures of current kitchen you have fridge/freezer in the ultility room but new kitchen they'll be in the main area. A door there would be a constant pain when going back and forth to fridge/freezer while cooking a meal, but for storage and washing, I'd put a door there to keep the noise out of the way as much as possible.

Noise was my concern, because the other work looks fab, shame to spoil it with something you can't easily 'plan' in the 3D software, but you can think about it!

Shame to be worrying about hob placement to chat with friends if there's a washer+dryer banging away in the background!

No, there's still a door to the utility room, we are losing the door from the hallway to the kitchen.
There was one from hallway to kitchen and one from hallway to dining room, since the kitchen and dining room have been knocked through we don't need both these doors.

 

[chipperhead]

Ok made some serious progress today.

Firstly lifted some boards to gain access to isolate gas, electric and water.

Cleared out the utility.

Dining room cleared, deciding what to do with the original fire surround, hate to do it but probably going to rip it out.

Nice wiring lurking behind the cupboards!

Kitchen ripped out, going to keep the tall housing and wire the oven up in the garage.

And temporary one set up in a spare bedroom.

 

[chipperhead]

A bit more progress today, more work on the plumbing, electrics and demolition time.

 

[chipperhead]

Haven't posted for a while as I've been so busy, a little update:

All walls knocked out, plaster off walls and ceiling down.

In the utility, removed all plaster and ceiling. Door and windows boarded up to avoid damage.

So the plan to install underfloor heating in the suspended timber floor.
Take the floor boards off the top of the joists and roughly nailed them to the underside, we also decided at this point to beef the floor up as we didn't want any movement and risk the tiles cracking so nailed more 4x2 joists alongside the original.

75mm kingspan was cut and fitted in between the joists and then pipework is clipped to the kingspan except were units etc are going.

This is then infilled with a dry 8:1 sand cement mix.

Took delivery of the kitchen today and also on with the plastering.
Hopefully start tiling next Tuesday and start fitting the kitchen back end of next week.

 

[chipperhead]

And the costs keep rising

15 bags of adhesive
2 bags grout
2 bottles flexi additive

With trade discount £809

 

[chipperhead]

You were doing so well... until the end... You can't get black Granite...

Looks a nice slab of stone and looks like it may actually be granite however. Considering you went to a specialist I assume they could tell you exactly what it was?

You've puzzled me there, I've seen loads of black granites, African Black, absolute black, star galaxy?

The one we have chosen is called Bianco Antique.

 

[chipperhead]

Another little update, starting to take shape now.

Tiling done, need to seal, grout, seal tiles this weekend. Coving done and chucked some paint on the walls and ceiling.

Quite a few units assembled and fixed

Going to do some work on the electrics tomorrow including cutting the ceiling downlights.

Granites getting templated tomorrow and will be ready in a week and appliances coming Friday so by back end of next week should be about there.

Utilities coming on as well.

 

[chipperhead]

Wow, how did I miss this thread. Great work. Love open planned living spaces and that granites nice, but must have cost you a bomb?

We've been here 10 years but decided to wait until we could afford to do it properly
It is costing a fortune, the coving for the kitchen was over £300 and tile adhesive and grout over £800.

Rubbish picture of the utility but you get the idea.

 

[chipperhead]

Disaster

6 appliances arrived today whilst I'm at work, the kitchen fitters make sure the correct number have arrived and check the packaging for obvious damages.
The driver is in a rush and wants them to sign the paperwork so they sign and write unchecked.

10 minutes later they unpack the fridge and freezer and:

They ring me at work and I tell them to open and check everything else before I contact the company, half an hour later they ring me back and everything else is fine.

I contact the company who inform me as per their terms and conditions everything must be opened and checked before the driver leaves...I argue it took half an hour to open and check everything else no driver will wait that long.

She tells me to send her photos when I got in from work, so I've done that and told her it looks like possibly the driver has ratcheted them to the wagon too tight.

The packaging consisted of a piece of polystyrene top and bottom and pallet wrap to the sides. These are Miele at £900 each, the crappy Beko tumble Dryer from Asda had more packaging and protection

It's put a right downer on things, roll on Monday and hopefully get it sorted. It took nearly 3 weeks from ordering to get these here so whatever happens it's going to get drawn out.

And photos never do justice the fridge has a massive dent in it.

 

[chipperhead]

After sending them photos and speaking to them today, they are going to exchange them as they realised it's clearly the delivery company at fault
But I've learnt a massive lesson, from now on I will inspect everything and if the driver isn't prepared to wait I'll write that on the paperwork.

 

[chipperhead]

Getting close now!

Utility room is nearly finished, need to install the lighting. I went for 14w Megaman CFL's, I have these in an extension and I'm really pleased with them. I haven't seen any led's that I'm happy with yet, cfl's take some time to get to full brightness but with 22 lights in the kitchen and utility 50w just wasn't an option for me.

A section of pelmet was damaged in transit so got another piece coming this friday, also needs a lick of paint, and socket fronts.

Also need to tweak the water meter and stop valve boxing in unit.

I also need to decide what's happening with the 100mm filler piece to access the network cables that will go into the cupboard for the server, switch etc and also how I'm going to butcher the cupboard for cabling, ventilation and how to rack out the server, switch, matrix, pvr, tv amp etc.

As for the kitchen, ovens are coming tomorrow, damaged fridge and freezer getting returned and also granites getting fitted.
Sink and tap have just this minute been delivered, I bought them nearly 3 weeks ago and the company have been fobbing me off, I had to have the sink by the time the granites getting fitted as it's an undermount sink and the installer will fit this. In the end I cancelled on Monday and rang round till I found someone with one in stock.

Delivery men aren't happy now as I make them wait until I open and inspect everything but I've learnt my lesson there.

Extractors up but the waiting for the new fridge and freezer will hold things up, might chuck the old ones back in but we really wanted to enjoy the full new kitchen, so I'm tempted to wait.

Dishwasher is under the right side of the window with sink going next to it.

So here's looking from the kitchen to the dining room end, plenty of room for the dining table, just need to decide were to put my computer desk, the alcove on the right or in the left one in the window.

Finally, having a hard time choosing which wallpaper to go for, we've got some samples called Songbird by Anna French. I like the one second to top (silver/black) but I'm thinking it's probably to dark so maybe going for the middle one (grey pencil on white) but maybe that's too similar to the tiles / paint?

http://www.annafrench.co.uk/collections/wild-flora/songbirds/index.shtml