Installing fitted cupboards in bathrooms

[Colin Docherty]

Hi Folks,

I've never installed fitted cupboards/cabinets of any kind, not to say I haven't built plenty of flat pack, and a reasonable amount of wood work.

So I'm planning on installing the kind of units that you would normally get for fitted kitchens (except the bathroom variety).

My question is, What is the general technique for filling in the gaps on walls which don't fit a full cabinet? E.g

One wall is 127cm, and I can fit two 50cm cabinets, but not enough room for a 30cm cabinet.

Can most kits be easily modified (obviously the door won't fit)?

Or do you get any sort of filling in bit?

Or do people tend just to leave a gap?

Cheers! Colin.

[Andy]

I've recently done this and modified two units to fit the remaining gap. Just cut the top, bottom, shelves and back to the required size. One side will still use all of the supplied fixings, the other side will need an alternative. I assume that as it is to fill a remaining gap then the sides of the modified unit will be hidden so can just be glued and screwed together. As you say the doors cannot be used. With mine the doors were bought seperately.

Andy

[Christian McArdle]

Yes, it is amazing just how cut about you can make these units!

I had to cut down a full height unit to take a Belfast sink. The range did have a door of the correct height, ostensibly intended for an oven tower filler panel. You just chop everything to the desired size and then redrill any dowel holes that are required. Making less wide would often mean needing to redrill those complicated cam fastener holes, but this can be done with the right drill bits, or you can just substitute with dowels and glue.

Christian.

[adder1969]

I actually used kitchen wall units with kitchen floor unit legs added to them in my bathroom. My doors were shaker style so where I needed to I dismantled the door, cut it down & reassembled. Couldn't face paying 300 odd quid for proper bathroom units!

[Antony]

normally

I looked at this route, but ended up making my own. Bathrooms are normally very small spaces compared to kitchens, so using every last inch is important. Making your own (or getting a joiner to do it for you) allows you to not only vary the width, but also the depth. Also, bathroom cabinets tend to be more expensive than kitchen equivalents due to lower sales volumes.

I used 18mm WBP ply, painted satin white. All the joints are dowled and glued, so much stronger than typical flat pack cabinets. I 'borrowed' the design from looking inside cabinets in bathroom showrooms. The fittings are from Woodfit, except the standard 130 degree Blum hinges from Ikea (a much cheaper source).

My first attempt at making the doors didn't work out to my satisfaction, so that's still to do. I'm looking at 18mm MDF sprayed gloss white, possibly with frosted glass panels.

[Christian McArdle]

On the other hand, kitchen wall cabinets have good depth, come in various widths, are a suitable height, have a wide range of doors, are cheap and can have floor cabinet legs and plinths attached with the help of a suitable drill bit.

Christian.