Installing hob over cabinets

[Guy Snape]

I'm planning a new kitchen from Ikea. The wall where I want the (gas) hob is 2.35 m and I'm thinking about having an L shaped corner cabinet at each end. They take up 90cm each, leaving 55cm gap. Most hobs are

60cm or wider. So, can I still put a 40cm cabinet + filler in between the corner cabinets and have a hob on top, i.e. does it matter if the hob overlaps the sides of the cabinets underneath? Would it involve sawing a chunk out of the tops of the cabinet sides - and if so, does it matter? - or will the hob just sit in the hole in the worktop without protruding underneath?

Thanks for any advice.

- guy

[Ed Sirett]

I'm familiar with the IKEA range and can suggest the following:

Maybe one of the corner units can be swapped for a unit that's 1200x600 (also a corner unit) rather than 900x900? That will increase the hob space from 550 to 850. Which looks like an 800 cupboard and 50 of infill to me.

Cutting notches from cabinets to make rooms for pipes and other obstructions is pretty much the norm for real world kitchen fitting.

Most hobs will live entirely within the 38mm of a worktop.

[Lobster]

The only thing that matters is that you have adequate clearance below the hob as specified by the hob manufacturer. It does vary. But most hobs don't go far below the worktop and don't need an awful lot of clearance, so it's almost certainly OK.

Other than that you could maul your cabinets about as you suggest and it would be highly unlikely to matter; especially if you attach adjacent units together for reinforcement.

David

[Guy Snape]

Thanks David, and Ed, for quick and helpful replies.

- guy

[The Medway Handyman]

Spose it depends on the hob. I've only fitted a couple & both protruded beneath the hob, but not by a lot. Wouldn't matter if you removed a bit from the tops of the cabinet sides, I've often had to do that when changing sinks.

[Autolycus]

Having just fitted some Ikea Faktum kitchen stuff, five points to consider: base units have their backs right at the back, so the only place to conceal pipes etc is very low down, behind the back legs; base units are quite deep, so a 600mm worktop barely overhangs at the front; the plastic legs are horrible, crude things that really need an extra screw through them if you want them to survive installation; the wall cupboards are deep, too, so may need mounting higher than usual if you're tall and want to see the back of the worktop; and the drawers are so hefty that the usable width is seriously compromised.

Apart from that, and the sheer bloody misery of shopping at Ikea, they're OK.

[F]

I've just fitted out two kitchens with Faktum.

Or in the wall or between the back of the cabinet and the backs of the drawers.

Leave the kick boards off and use the rectangular aluminium legs with the matching narrow plinth. Looks very neat.

I mounted ours so the top was within 10mm of the ceiling. Just enough to allow for out of level adjustments.

Hefty, but they'll last (25 year guarantee) and they still look good. The 600mm drawers are 515mm wide inside and 505mm back to front which is a lot of usable space.

A bit better than OK IMHO and, as far as shopping at Ikea is concerned, I make a list of what I want, go straight to the kitchen section and get an order, pay for it, collect it (and out of the two kitchens only two decorative end panels were out of stock) and then leave before Management decides she's had another 'good idea'!

[The Medway Handyman]

Hope you leave enough time to have a hotdog :-) Best part of going to IKEA.

Well made & designed stuff though. Best flatpack on the market IMO.

[F]

I do! And I always leave a message in the Customer Comments Box to the effect that 'hot dogs need onions'. Nothing changed as yet, but there's always the chance they'll see the error of their ways.

Agreed. Really can't fault them. Good design, decent prices and a wide range of accessories that integrate well. Just can't understand the inverted snobbery that they seem to attract from some quarters...

[Andrew Gabriel]

Same here. Ordered, then went to the restaurant for a meal, and then round to the warehouse to collect. There you would find the same people who had been ordering at the same time as you had been sitting waiting for half an hour, whilst you strolled in and picked up your order within a few minutes. It took me a few visits, having to fit it into a Fiesta.

There is (or was 5 years ago) a company next to IKEA in Brent Park who you can phone your order. They go and get it and deliver it, for a charge of course.

[Autolycus]

Perhaps the procedure varies between stores. On my recent visits their Nottingham branch, all but a couple of items have been self-service: this has entailed finding a working touch-screen terminal; navigating their "we know best" menu system (why can't you just enter a part number?)to establish which set of components comprise a particular unit, and where in the warehouse they are; trundling an inadequately-sized trolley to a dozen locations in their warehouse; sorting out damaged and incorrectly-positioned stock; loading items weighing up to a hundredweight each; queuing at the checkout; queuing again at the "full serve" counter for the last couple of items; collecting the car from a distant car park; backing a trailer into a crowded loading bay clearly not designed to accept trailers; negotiating the concrete bollards which prevent you from getting your trolley near your vehicle; and driving away thinking Screwfix isn't so bad after all.

The products themselves do strike me as high quality, but sometimes low grade: the McDonalds of furniture.

[Autolycus]

Well yes, or in the next room, etc: the point I was making was that the design differs, for better or worse, from the common one where there is a space behind the back of an ordinary base unit.

A good solution, I'm sure. But certainly beware the plastic legs.

The kitchen I removed was designed like that: the (inaccessible) top of the cupboard was not a nice sight after a few years. Wherever you mount them, and even if you keep to 400mm wide wall cupboards, their depth (37cm in Ikea-speak) means that the doors, when open, protrude further than one may be accustomed to. In mixed-height households, their depth can lead to conflict between the need to see and the need to reach.

Yes indeed - they look very strongly made, but the 85mm "lost" (plus the effect of the sloping sides?) has quite an effect on drawers in a 400mm unit.

I do like the drawing of Ikea man getting cross when he buggers the corner of his new furniture.

[Appin]

The message from "Autolycus" contains these words:

The Ikea man must have some fairly deviant romantic preferences :-)

[The Medway Handyman]

Thats the one thing that annoys me about IKEA - they refuse to communicate in any other way than pictures. Sometimes a few words would make things

100% easier to understand.

[Huge]

And require translating into dozens of languages. That costs a lot of money.

[Pete Verdon]

But in what language should the words be?

They don't make up special packs for each country, and they sell to a lot of places. Apparently people once complained that all the illustrations showed a man doing the work, with a woman occasionally providing assistance (think they just have genderless blob-people now) - IKEA said this was because if they showed women working they'd get lynched in the Middle East.

Pete