We are about to start work on renovating our kitchen. I have mapped out the following steps but would be grateful for your thoughts as to where a) and b) should fit in and whether I have missed anything important .
Plan layout (use Ikea online 2D/3D planner) including new and relocated services
Remove plaster/block internal wall to create more space
Remove existing appliances
Remove existing fitted units and wall tiles
Chase walls for new and relocated wiring and boxes
Run new wiring to boxes (electrician)
Relocate h&c 15mm supplies to sink unit and cold only to washing machine and dishwasher
Relocate drain pipework to sink unit, washing machine and dishwasher
Make good walls and ceiling (plasterer if necessary)
Fit new wall units
Fit new base units (start in corner)
Fit new worktops (kitchen fitter/joiner?)
Fit sink unit/tap and plumb in
Fit washing machine and dishwasher and plumb in
Fit hob and oven and connect
Fit plinths and plinth heater
a) Fix and grout wall tiles - bottom edge of tiles to sit behind or on top of worktops? b) Fix and grout floor tiles - whole floor or to just under plinths?
Make sure you allow for corner cupboard and appliance doors to open properly. I had a professional designer in to design my kitchen and he didn't point out that when the dishwasher door is opened I am unable to open the crockery cupboard door next to it.
I'm in a similar position - I'll add my thoughts, which doesn mean their gospel, just what I'm doing:
robert coughed up some electrons that declared:
This is the fun bit - do your costings and add a bit for contingency.
There will be *much* dust at this point. It will get all round the house. Have a good hoover ready.
Take your time with the 1st unit - once you've found the "magic" screws, it's easy. Look for side coupling screws hidden behind door hinges.
Bottom units can be more of a b*stard. Sometimes you need to get the worktop off to find all the wall fixings.
Tiles usually pop off easily with a wide SDS chisel or a sharp bolster and heavy hammer.
Don't forget 45A cooker feed and cable outlet even if you have gas - you might change your mind later and it costs pennies to run extra conduit and/or leave a coil of cable even if not connected to the fuseboard at this stage.
If you have electric, then leave a 13A socket behind the cooker going to a switched spur for the same but opposite reason.
Stick a 13A socket or flex outlet behind/under the sink leading to a (fused) switched spur - handy if you want to put in a waste disposal unit.
If you can get the type that hang on what looks like 2 little bits of DIN (top hat) steel rail, then all you have to do is get them mostly level and more or less in the right position. The cupboards hook onto these and have a little bit of adjustment in them.
In both cases get a long and decent spirit level or use it as an excise to buy a self levelling laser (I got mine off ebay for less than 100 quid) - handy with tiling too.
Your call. I'm not sure my joinery's up to this but I expect someone will be along and say it's easy with the right tools (it always is :)
Is gas involved? If you're using a CORGI bloke, best get him/her involved soon as they may have something to say with regard to pipe runs.
I'd put an isolation switch for this above the worktop in the same way as you would for dishwasher and washing machines.
Personally, I'd go for on top if you don't mind tiling after fitting the units. If you'd rather get the tiling done and dusted first then go below the height of the worktop with a good margin for error.
Personally I'd tile the whole floor first - but of course you'd save some money by stopping short. If so, don't forget to tile where the open appliance areas are!
Anyway, your work order seems perfectly OK.
Do you have alternative facilities whilst the work is happening (even a camping stove + microwave and somewhere to wash the dishes? Seems obvious, but you'll be without facilities for a bit, so might as well try and make yourself comfortable in the meantime - reduces the pressure to rush the job under duress due to basic cooking being unbearably difficult.
Same in my rented house - bloody annoying it is too!
A mate has a pretty funky corner unit - some wire basket affair does a wibble and a turn and pops out. Seems to use most of the internal space (unlike a carosel) and having neither is a pain in the doobries with a corner unit.
o Is there any possible need to run a condensate drain from your CH boiler (now or future and wherever it is located)? o No mention of air extraction. o No mention of lighting (above wall units/below wall units/anywhere else). o Think where you are going to locate your waste bin.
The walls are pretty good but it may be a good idea to incorporate a tile to worktop sealing strip that will ensure a tidy join that is a bit more robust than a bead of silicone
Personally I prefer to tile first ( even before fixing base units ) as this means you can fix a horizontal tiling batten to the wall just below worktop level, and, spaced correctly, it removes the need to cut the bottom row of tiles to height for long worktop lengths. It also means the second row of tiles to just under the wall units don't need to be cut at all - I stop them just a fraction below wall unit bottoms. This usually works OK for 300mm x 200mm tiles. It's also easier to place and remove the worktop several times if needed before final fixing.
Just in the process of doing my 3rd kitchen refit in different properties.
If you do this though, be aware, that when fitting the worktop you should slide it in place carefully. I once learned a hard lesson when I cracked the lower edge of the bottom row of some tiles whilst placing the worktop.
We have had a trial run - just removed a small area and discovered the need for better (valved) dustmasks and that my SDS drill is not up to the job. I will hire a decent medium weight demolition hammer for a couple of days. Thankfully the hoover is OK.
The existing built in units were custom built by the builder 20+ years ago and were built to last, which is fine until we have to dismantle them!
Tried a thin wide scraper and hammer and it appears to be easier than I anticipated. Given the area I am thinking of getting an SDS tile chisel.
All electric although we have discovered a blanked off gas supply in the wall we are removing - we may pick the supply up elsewhere and install a combined gas/electric hob. Planned for cooker control units (with additional 13A socket) for both hob and oven (different locations) and cooker cable outlets.
We are looking at various suppliers at the moment - Ikea, Wickes and Jewson and will look out for the rail mounting.
I have a decent one metre level but the laser could be useful.
Have planned for these.
Good thinking!
We can temporarily relocate the hob and just use a couple of rings and the microwave/grill/oven will cope with most things.
Thanks - what is the reason for this - I assumed that it would be easier to fit the wall units first as then I would not be reaching over the base units.
I used ALNO AG planner as recommended by someone on here. Its excellent
before 2. if you want to use the appliances again
Thats the same order that I am planning to use so great minds think alike. What I havent yet clarified in my mind is how to fit the under unit lighting without calling the electrician back. Maybe 10. comes before 6.
On 25 Jan, 23:36, snipped-for-privacy@googlemail.com (Anna Kettle) wrote: What I havent yet clarified in my mind is how to fit the under
We've just had an extension built, (with new kitchen). What I did was get the sparky to install sockets above the high level cupboards, (they're not even visible from 'normal' standing height). The supply to these sockets is switched by the wall light switch. In fact I got him to fit two sets of switched sockets, (round pin as it happens, but I think the regs allow 13a square pin too). One set for under cabinet lights and one set for tubes which I mounted on top of the cabinets, (as per a suggestion by John Rumm on this group). Very pleased with the result, and it avoided getting the sparky to return in a totally legal manner!
In which case I recommend a 2kg unit - light enough to handle for long durations and still useful enough for (core) drilling for waste pipes and general purpose use. Although Aldi do cheap SDS's I wouldn't want to handle
8kg for long.
Hehe. *You've* only got a kitchen to do. I've got a whole house (arrgh!)
On the plus, it's empty so there's a lot of constraints removed.
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