Kitchen unit question

[nicoll]

We have a built in kitchen unit which houses a single oven with a microwave above. The microwave sits on a shelf which is part of the carcass of the unit.

I want to fit a double oven. There is plenty space but I will need to remove the shelf the microwave sits on. The outside face of the kitchen unit does not have an signs of fixings for the microwave shelf. I presume the shelf is pegged and glued in position. How can I remove this shelf without causing any damage to the built in unit, secondly will removing the shelf affect the strength or stability of the unit or will I have any problems fitting a double oven in?

Thanks.

Ian

[Owain]

"nicoll" wrote | I want to fit a double oven. There is plenty space but I will | need to remove the shelf the microwave sits on. | The outside face of the kitchen unit does not have an signs | of fixings for the microwave shelf. I presume the shelf is | pegged and glued in position.

More likely when you remove the oven and microwave and look at the underside of the shelf you will find recessed cam brackets that turn into and hold the verticals. A screwdriver will often unturn the cams and the shelf can be removed.

Owain

[Lobster]

I've got a larder unit in which there is a middle shelf, fixed using dowels etc when the carcass was constructed, so I assume that's what the OP's getting at (all other shelves being mounted on moveable brackets). I would say the shelf would have been necessary while the larder unit was being manhandled into postition, but now the unit's fixed, it gets plenty of support from adjacent units and it wouldn't be a problem to remove the middle shelf. And how to do that? I should just attack it with a saw - eg make a cut or two from the front all the wat to the back, leaving you with two bits of shelf which you can wiggle about tug till they come off the retaining dowels. Tricky part may be that there are likely to be grooves along the top and/or bottom edges of the shelf at the back, holding the back of the unit in place - right? If you're putting an oven in there, the back will have to go anyway though.

David

[nicoll]

Thanks for reply

I don't really want to take out the oven until I'm ready with the new one.

I suspect the unit is an oven housing rather than a larder unit. The cupboards above and below both have backs, but the hole for the oven doesn't. I don't remember seeing the cam fittings on the shelf, so I think they are dowelled.

[Christian McArdle]

Frequently, they're the same thing. The housing for my integrated fridge freezer had a 100 page instruction manual with about 20 different combinations of assembly, depending on what it was to house. It could do anything from being a shelf larder unit, through about 10 different combinations of oven combinations and sizes and about 5 or 6 different fridge freezers, amongst other things. The back was just 2 pieces of hardboard that had to be chopped to length and slotted in, depending on which compartments needed backs.

Christian.

[Gayton]

We have a built in kitchen unit which houses a single oven with a microwave

fixings for

position.

Remove the microwave and you may see the shelf fixings. Otherwise you may have to remove a side panel. If not any of the above then you have to cut out the shelf with jigsaw.