Kitchens in off-width rooms...

[Tony Bryer]

The units should be pretty easy to shrink. What are you going to do about the doors though?

I had to do this to a unit a couple of years back (the builder calming informed up as he completed the job that the w.m. space wasn't big enough for a w.m.) and it occurred to me that there should be an opening for a competent joiner to offer a customisation service doing things like this - much as some clothes places offer an alteration service. My unit door was basically a frame round a hardboard panel and careful cutting and reassembly produced a door as good as the original.

[Martin Brook]

Personally I would avoid the hassle of cutting a 60cm unit (& door) down to 58cm, and instead use a 50cm unit and fill the 8cm gap in some other way, perhaps just a chipboard panel?

Or you could have an open-fronted cabinet for storing trays, or tea towels, oven gloves etc - perhaps make it 18cm wide and use a 40cm unit to complete the run of cupboards instead? That way you don't have to worry about cutting a door to size.

The thing to be careful of when cutting a flat-pack kitchen cupboard up is to double-check how it all fits together (where all the screws and bolts go) before you set about it with the jig...

Martin

[MattP]

Well, kitchen unites come in standard sizes of - 30 cm, 50, 60 & 90 cm. You can put in any size combination you want just use the number above to make it as close as possible. Where you're short you can blank it off or cut a unit to size.

e.g. With my kitchen I took a normal 30 cm unit and cut the width down the

25 cm (I was short by 5 cm for a full unit) on my end unit, and put in a towel rail, the type that slides out. Alternatively, you can blank it off but if you do use a reduced size you can't fit a door.

Cutting the back of units for pipes use a holesaw. If you've never installed a kitchen before get some good free advice (not B&Q), from the web etc. Your main problem might be getting the wall units to hang straight as I'm sure the walls will be out slightly, if you are cutting the worktop then it will require some thought.

HTH

[Graeme]

If you're planning a u-shaped kitchen layout, then you won't be able to get

4 x 60cm units along your 238 wall. I assume this 238 wall is the bottom of the u, and the door is in the wall represented by the open part of the u. If you then have work surface along three sides, then your 238 wall becomes 118. You could fit two 60 units in this gap if you made the other units on the long walls 59 deep. If you see what I mean?!

[Ben Blaukopf]

In case off-width doesn't convey what I mean, it's a rock climbing term used to describe a crack that is a bloody annoying size.

My kitchen is 238cm wide by 267cm long. I intend to put a U shaped kitchen in (the doorway is on one of the 238cm walls). The existing kitchen, which I think had been in since 1978 and is literally falling apart has 4 60cm units along the 238 wall, one of which has had a couple of centimetres chopped off to make it fit.

How easy is it to massacre units in this manner and make it look good? We'll have a fair amount of jigging to do anyway, as I'll need to build one of the units around the (internal) gas meter and corresponding gas pipes. My woodwork experience is very limited...

Ben

[Graeme]

Oh, and base/wall units seem to come in 30, 40, 50 and 60cm widths. The 80 and 100 are just like 2x40 or 2x50.

[in2minds]

or pull the corner unit along 8cm ?

[Tony Bryer]

Also 40 and 80 at B&Q

[Lurch]

On Thu, 01 Jul 2004 12:57:46 +0100, Tony Bryer strung together this:

Don't forget the 1000mm as well.

[Christian McArdle]

Except that they have no wall in the middle, making them store more stuff, especially large items, such as plates and bowls, where the partition would interfere with the most efficient layout.

Christian.

[Christian McArdle]

Personally, I'd fit a 50 and 60 (despite lack of symmetry). Then you get an extra 8cm of behind unit plumbing space. When fitting my kitchen I added 5cm on the wet side, making it possible to position the tumble dryer (which was very deep) where I wanted it whilst still getting the sewage plumbing from the washing machine to fit behind it.

Christian.

[Michael Murray]

Ben, Most units will be either 500, or 300, so with a bit of simple maths, you should get pretty close to filling your gaps. When doing gf's flat, I bought an entra set of the legs that come on all base units, and made a 'wine rack' unit to fill in the last 250 odd mm gap. Very easy to make (about 6 cuts of a jigsaw) and fills the space nicely. (alternatively, a nice 'posh' bin can be found to fill the space). The other option (used on the other side of the same kitchen!) is to have the units stop, say half way down the wall, and leave the worktop extend 500 mm or so longer. This gives just enought room for a strictly 2 person breakfast bar, with one sitting where a door would be and the other at the end. A little rounding of the corner, and it looks the business. Practically free too.

Alternatively, if you're gap is less than 150mm at the end, then get some matched kickboard, and trim to size. this is also useful if you have a non vertical wall to contend with.

enjoy, M.

[G&M]

One way to do this if you only need to save an inch and a half is to make one of the units an open unit with no door. Then throw away one (saves

18mm) or both (36mm) of the sides after using them as templates to drill extra holes in the outside of the side panels in the door'ed units to left and right.

[Martin Angove]

We have some Ikea 80s, but with drawers instead of doors. Fantastic - better than stooping down into a dark cupboard any day. Highly recommended, and not hugely expensive (though obviously more expensive than just a pair of doors).

Hwyl!

M.