IKEA base units wont fit other stores worktops 8(

[tez]

Hi

After much searching I have finally found some kitchen door and base units I like - at IKEA - 'ADEL white'. The only problem is I dont like any of the worktops at IKEA.

I have found a nice worktop in Wickes - 'smooth black' worktop (not the shiney plastic looking worktops but has a hard compound on the chipboard that makes it feel smooth to the touch)

THe problem is IKEA units seem to be a different depth to other kitchen manufacturers. Their units are all 60cm in depth, their worktops are 62cm to overhang the units slightly. All the other stores I have been t, including Wickes, sell 60cm depth worktops.

I have asked at Wickes in Bradford to see if they will cut a worktop with a depth wider than 60cm but they wont.

Does anyone know of a store around leeds/bradford which sells this type of smooth worktop and is prepared to cut them deeper than 60cm?

THanks for any help

[Andrew Gabriel]

I've fitted two IKEA kitches. In one I used Wickes worktops and in the other, B&Q worktops. They were both a perfect fit on the IKEA units. Are you sure you haven't measured something wrongly? Neither are in my house, so I can't actually check any measurements until I next visit them.

[tez]

Another kitchen installer told me that as well. He said the worktops were deeper than 60cm.

I have been into the Wickes showroom in Bradford and measured the full depth of the worktops( including the bevelled bit), and checked the measurments in their kitchen booklet and both were 60cm depth.

The person who install Kitchens showed me a tool (board with holes in!) which he uses for cutting worktops and there is particular hole for Wickes worktops which seems to be 616cm. So either Wickes have changed their worktops depth very recently or I am not understanding something?

[Ed Sirett]

You will get away with 60cm worktop on IKEA units provided that you dont have to 'lose' any worktop depth due to : a) Uneven walls - requiring trimming the worktop. b) Uneven walls - packing out the base unit forwards.

If the above pertain thenyou will have to buy wider stuff (900mm double edged?) and trim is down. I beleive that 700mm is also available but from where, I dunno.

[Tony Eva]

Just (today) finished fitting worktops in my new IKEA kitchen, so I know about this problem.

The standard IKEA base unit + door works out to be exactly 60cm deep, so if you don't mind the visual effect of the worktop edge being flush with the doors, you can use B&Q, Homebase, Wickes etc worktops. However as has been pointed out, this leaves you with nothing to play with in the event of having uneven walls.

IKEA's own worktops are actually 60.6cm wide, to give a 6mm overhang.

If, however, you want a bigger overhang, or have very uneven walls, you will need to find wider worktops. The solution I found was to get 65cm worktop from a local kitchen supplier, and saw it down to the 62cm I wanted (not hard with a circular saw but bl**dy dusty!) - job done. The downside was that the local supplier was nowhere near as cheap as the sheds - about three times the price per metre, in fact.

Incidentally, I put 60cm Homebase worktop on an IKEA base unit in my utility room and it looks fine - I just wanted the kitchen ones to overhang a bit.

I'd give you the name of my supplier but I'm nowhere near Leeds or Bradford. However 65cm worktop seems to be a standard product, any kitchen place should be able to source it.

[Adrian Berry]

IKEA worktops are 606mm deep. Units are 580mm (carcasse) plus the door thickness (18mm) plus the gap from the hinge adjustment and door buffer (say 2mm).

Personally, I prefer a slightly greater overhang than this and there is little margin for scribing to an uneven wall.

I have fitted a couple of none-IKEA worktops to the units, usually spacing them a few mm from the wall and covering the gap with tiles or an upstand.

On really bad walls I have had to cut and scribe breakfast bars, in place of standard widths - very tedious since IKEA units have no service void so can't be cut down, only packed out.

BTW, if you are cutting a mason's mitre on the IKEA worktop and the jig is designed for 600mm width then don't forget to use a 6mm shim to put the female cutout in the right place

HTH Adrian

[Rob Morley]

Why not just use the 60cm worktop that you like, but space it out at the back with a batten of the correct size to give the overhang you want? You could cover it with small ceramic tiles or similar to turn a bodge into a feature :-)