Kitchens - What would you do differently

[Chris Hodges]

I don't think they have out of true walls in sweden :)

[The Natural Philosopher]

Actually I have never OWNED and angle grinder...

I nearly did that to meself once with a router though..got caught in my jeans in the spin down..stopped a few mm short of both the femoral artery and the nadgers ... ruined the jeans, but I was unscathed..lucky escape.

[DrLargePants]

Corner wall mounted cuboards where the doors open from the centre of the right angle are a total pain in the arse making it virtually impossible to see whats in the cupboard

[Dave Fawthrop]

|On 30 Jan, 19:07, "graham" |wrote: |> We are looking at replacing the furniture in both our kitchen and |> utility room. This will be only my second installation so am a little |> green around the ears. | | |Corner wall mounted cuboards where the doors open from the centre of |the right angle are a total pain in the arse making it virtually |impossible to see whats in the cupboard

My son in law has installed Wickes corner cupboards with two doors mounted on the outer corners of the right angle. These work fine.

[Ed_Zep]

Hi Graham,

I had beech worktops from IKEA. Seemed like a great idea at the time. Way too much hassle to maintain.

Agreed also, about gloss worktops, sure to show scratches in no time. I got proper Formica matt ones and they're fine.

Got all my appliances off Ebay and it's worked out great. Saved =A3200-300.

How are the carcasses in the kitchen? If they're sound and you like the layout, just change the doors (also got those from Ebay).

Would recommend finding a kitchen fitter if it's going to be more than just new doors.

Good luck with it.

Ed.

[Andy McKenzie]

As an alternative to the Ikea planner try

- you get 30 hours use free - I found that in a couple of hours I could get a very realistic drawing, better in many ways than the ones a salesman provided.

Andy

[DrLargePants]

These are from Wickes as well, each to their own I guess!

[Stuart Noble]

While I think of it, although you can modify Ikea bases to allow pipes to run behind them, you hit a problem with the carousel, which needs almost the full cabinet depth to function.

[Mary Fisher]

Why not?

Quite. Also, I wonder if the poster has ever seen the sludge in a cold water tank!

Well said.

Mary

[Anna Kettle]

I had those too and they were fine. I followed the rule of "Oil once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, once a year for life" No problems ten year later and they get hard wear. Mind you I'm not one of the 'home like a showroom' brigade

If you have any 60cm over unit cupboards then dont buy 60cm doors for them. Instead get two 30cm doors so they open over the worktop and you dont keep finding yourself on the wrong side of the door as it opens and/or hitting your head on it

Anna

[graham]

Anna, your suggestion about the doors sounds a really good idea. Thanks, and thank you too to everyone who's replied to my original question. Your messages have been very welcome.

Graham

[Alan Vann]

Nods. Did that, 'Superdeep' bowl IIRC. Plus 1/4-turn pillar taps with 4" levers are perfect for when you've got mucky hands.... If I ever do it again, I'll do the same.

I did that, mostly because I couldn't face ripping up the Marley tiles and dealing with the bitumen......

Won't do it again though, it marks easily if you drop anything on it and it's a ubggre moving the fridge/freezer or washing machine etc. 'cos the wheels sink in and there's precious little ground clearance (I've already ripped it slightly shifting the fridge to mop up some spillage). Go for a hard surface every time.

Oh yes, the 'pulley'. My Gran had one when I was a kid and when I spotted the 'irons' in an old-fashioned ironmonger's, it had to be done. As you say, very handy.

Alan

[Alan Vann]

Don't. Bung the stuff you never use in there and get on with your life :o)

Alan

[Brian Sharrock]

While browsing in the kitchen section of John Lewis, Oxford St, my wife was 'taken' with the idea of these; -

'LeMans' plastic corner unit shelves which sorta 'wiggled out' from the cabinet. It looked quite substantial, mounts to the cabinet with sturdy hinge/support arms and seemed to afford rather better access to the shelves than the 'Magic Corner units' we've got currently in the two corners of a U-shaped kitchen.

[Chris J Dixon]

Accessible, yes, but have you estimated how much of the plan area is actually being used?

When I inherited a carousel rack, and was short of space, I simply ditched it, put in a fixed shelf on one leg of the "L", and was able to get far more in the cupboard. Yes, the stuff at the back was a bit of a pain to get to, but as the alternative was not being able to store it at all, it seemed a fair balance.

I'm sure that I have seen rectangular basket systems with a clever mechanism which makes use of more of the available space, but can't remember more.

I have also seen some corner units where the door front is at 45 degrees to the walls, providing oodles of room, but it is clearly all down to long arms.

Chris

[Tony Williams]

[Andy Hall]

Certainly with the price of alcohol, you wouldn't expect anything to be pissed.

[meow2222]

Another nice 'dont' for everyone. Dont house a water softener in a standard chipboard carcass. The chipboard, and everything else in there, gets salt contaminated. Salt is hygroscopic, so before you know it youve got wet chipboard carcasses. Well, you can guess what happens then.

NT

[Brian Sharrock]

I don't understand ! My salt is delivered in stout plastic packages (2 * 4kg blocks) and the blocks are inserted directly into the softener with no 'contamination' of the cupboard occurring. What am I doing wrong?

[b33k34]

We only have one corner unit but it's a "straight" one with a normal door and a shelf. there are 4 plastic boxes on wheels in there with 'producte in. the ones at the back get used less. It would work just as well for cake tins, rarely used pans, tupperware or mixers.