professional kitchen worktop fitting

[rookie]

After gutting my kitchen and doing the electrics, plumbing, plastering, cabinet installation myself I weighed it up and decided it was worth paying the money to have a professional fit my worktops. So I rang a fitter advertised in the local paper (I wasn't able to get a recommendation) and based on our conversation arranged for him to fit worktops I'd already bought. They were fitted yesterday, but I'm far from happy with the job. The mitred joints have a number of very minor (such as 1x2mm) chips which to my eyes are really obvious, especially since the worktops are a light grey colour and no seam fill was used in the joint (just clear silicon).

The fitter did 2 joints (a u-shaped kitchen) and the latter is much better than the first, although still not perfect. The latter joint I told him to put some tape on the joint to try and avoid the chipping. Unfortunately this was after a bad first attempt at it, so he ended up taking 5mm off the length of the worktop and thus there's close to a

1cm gap at the end of the worktop where it ajoins the wall.

The fitter blames the chipping on the fact that they are cheap Ikea worktops with an uncommon 'grained' surface. I'm thinking that it was either an operator error with the router or a blunt router blade. What do others think? Does anyone have any experience with cutting Ikea worktops in general, or specifically the textured Aluminium effect Numerar?

I'm kicking myself as I paid the fitter =A3180 for the work (for 2 joints plus 2 cutouts) yesterday as the joint didn't look too bad to my eyes then. Also I agreed I'd apply some ColorFill seam filler and was then happy that it would hide the chips. Now that I'm a bit more awake today the joints look worse I'm not convinced the filler is going to take and provide a long term solution befitting of the money spent on the worktops and fitting. Does anyone have any experience with repairing small chips with ColorFill?

Any general advice as to how to handle the situation would also be appreciated.

For those interested photos available at:

the coin in the picture is a 5p.

Thanks in advance for any input!

-Neil

[Tournifreak]

There seems to be quite a noticable dark line between the two worktops. Is that actually a gap? If so, has the fitter used the proper clamps or just butted them together?

is it that the two worktops are slightly different heights?

The chips don't look great, but I reckon they will fill OK. But the join between the worktops looks a bigger problem to me.

Jon.

[rookie]

The worktops were joined using the proper clamps. There is a very thin black line, but I thought that was inevitable with clear filler? The following more abstract shot may be more flattering:

[rookie]

Sorry to mess people around! I've just found out the above webspace has limits on downloads. I've moved them into a different webspace with no apparent limits. The photos are now at:

[.]

the fitter has buggered the worktops up and ought to replace them.

[JoeJoe]

Agreed - anything but a professional job. Probably not what you want to hear now the the guy has your money and gone...

[Stuart]

Last year or so I got a couple of worktops ....MFI Glossy ones ...mitre joined and a hob and sink fitted and the guy used a router and clamps underneath .he used clear silicon and the join can hardly be seen ....absolutely no chipping ....I was well pleased . He only took £55....If he had done what I see in your pics I'd have been well NOT pleased ,especially the one ending in 40 . Stuart

[Chris Cowley]

worktops recently and the joins look roughly a gazillion times better than that. I will concede that some worktop surfaces are probably harder to work with than others, but the guy was clearly either having a bad day, was using a old router bit, or is just plain not up to the job. There should be no chips at all along the joins.

He should at least refund you the money you paid for his shoddy work, and I would ask for the worktops he ruined to be replaced also.

I hope you get a decent result.

[NikV]

we were in a very similar position to you - we bought base unit doors and wall cupboard + doors, I fitted the wall cupboards their fitter was to fit the doors on the base units and the worktops (£320) inc plumbing for sink and fitting hob, usually I would do all this myself but I was strapped for time and they said they could do their bit in a day !!!!! well 11 months later - my bits look fine but 2 bits of extra worktop later its still not fitted to my satisfaction but it looks better than your fitter managed (ps still not paid them the fitting fee)

[rookie]

Well, I've spoken with the fitter and although he admits that the joint is chipped he isn't prepared to do anything at all about it - saying that I'd seen the joint when he left and that the Ikea worktop was the reason for the chipping (crap as he put it). He wasn't prepared to return the worktops as I asked him to - I wonder why! Anyway, C'est la vie! grr....

Since I can't get new pieces re-cut elsewhere since it would involve a different worktop jig (correct?), it looks like I'm going to have to pull the 2 joints apart and try and at least fill in, if not do away with, the black void line using the forementioned ColorFill. Since the tail of the U is 1cm short I can actually carefully push it's joint apart from the dog bone cutouts at the bottom using a hammer and chisel (obviously having undone the clamps before-hand ;). As for the other joint, I think I'm going to try and open it up slightly at the top by wedging something underneath and then after having applied some protective tape to the laminate edge delicately run a sharp knife blade down the join to severe the silicon. Then I'll carefully scrape away the remnants from each edge. Finally it's the simple job of re-sealing and re-clamping the joint ;) How does this sound to people?

Thanks again

-Neil

btw. if anyone is thinking of getting worktops fitted in and around Aylsebury get in touch with me so that I can warn you off the offending fitters.

[Cicero]

======================== I think you're being far too forgiving of this cowboy.

This job is a mess and I would suggest that you take a few more photos and tell the fellow to remedy the work within 7 days or face the prospect of being sued in the 'Small Claims' court.

Even if you're in a hurry to get the kitchen finished it would be worth waiting a few days before you attempt any remedial action either personally or by employing a more competent tradesman.

Cic.

[.]

call his bluff, take it to the small claims court:

reasonable man (or woman) would see that the labour was substandard and not due to poor matriel and I'm sure that everyone in this NG would support your claim.

[The Medway Handyman]

I think the only way to go is a letter saying he has 7 days to sort it, or you will get the worktops replaced and the job done by someone else and sue him for the cost.

I've used IKEA worktops and the quality is no different from any other AFAICS. They cut the same, with no splinters at all.

[Chris Cowley]

I think I would probably contact my local trading standards office in those circumstances and ask them for advice. Even if the laminate on the worktop was faulty (which I rather doubt, given everything else you've written about this chap) I think anybody with the vaguest idea of professional pride would at least hold their hands up and say "look, the worktop was poorly constructed but I'm not going to charge for that" or "I'll give you a heavy discount" or "let's contact Ikea and complain and I'll try again with replacement worktops" or similar.

The fact he saw the frankly atrocious finish on the first cut and ploughed on regardless is rather telling, I think.

I've never really thought about it before, but yes, I can imagine slight differences in the peg thicknesses, hole positions, and jig dimensions would make doing two halves of a joint with difference jigs rather a bad idea.

In a way, I admire your reservedness and calm acceptance of the situation. But if it was me I would name and shame the cowboy here for starters, were it will be archived on google along with your links to the photographs of his handiwork. I would also consider seeking recompense through the appropriate channels - if nothing else maybe it will teach him to take some pride in his work in future.

[Michael Chare]

Did you pay cash or is there a cheque which you could stop?

The quality of work looks poor. The splitering is much worse where the cut is across the grain of the laminate. For that kind of money the fitter could have used a new router blade.

The line looks very black. Is this colour of the inside of the laminate?

Can you reduce the visual impact with a little silver paint mixed with araldite?

[Chris Cowley]

I'd expect a professional kitchen fitter to use a brand new router bit for each new job. I would if I was doing it myself, as the 20 quid TFT bit I bought to do mine was looking decidedly tired after two 90deg joins with associated bolt slots. I certainly would've been reluctant to do a third join with it (although perhaps that has something to do with the very cheap router I used?) - it was starting to smoke a bit.

[Cordless Crazy]

That is unbelieveably shoddy. Ikea worktops are no different to an other and at £180 that is pure daylight robbery for that quality o workmanship. Looks like he was a DIY merchant masquerading as a pr IMHO!

I say name, shame and take him to the small claims court if he doesn remedy the problem (even though this will probably involve ne worktops

-- Cordless Crazy

[.]

that's the glue starting to burn. you can clean the bits with a solvent to prevent that happening but as you say, a new bit for every job would not be unreasonable, especially at that price.

[Pete]

The Ikea excuse is no defence or Ikea would be out of business and you paid him to know how to do the job properly.

Does he belong to any trade organisations. I'd ring trading standards and see what they say. Small claims may be worth trying but I wonder if its worth the hassle.

I did my own using an ordinary wood saw and a jig saw and filled any errors. As its all black you have to look close to see the filling. Presumably the edges aren't finally filled as even the good cut is clearly visible.

As for the short piece are you tiling round the worktop, mine had to be 2cm small to get it in and the tiles covered the gap.

The fitter did 2 joints (a u-shaped kitchen) and the latter is much better than the first, although still not perfect. The latter joint I told him to put some tape on the joint to try and avoid the chipping. Unfortunately this was after a bad first attempt at it, so he ended up taking 5mm off the length of the worktop and thus there's close to a

1cm gap at the end of the worktop where it ajoins the wall.

The fitter blames the chipping on the fact that they are cheap Ikea worktops with an uncommon 'grained' surface. I'm thinking that it was either an operator error with the router or a blunt router blade. What do others think? Does anyone have any experience with cutting Ikea worktops in general, or specifically the textured Aluminium effect Numerar?

I'm kicking myself as I paid the fitter £180 for the work (for 2 joints plus 2 cutouts) yesterday as the joint didn't look too bad to my eyes then. Also I agreed I'd apply some ColorFill seam filler and was then happy that it would hide the chips. Now that I'm a bit more awake today the joints look worse I'm not convinced the filler is going to take and provide a long term solution befitting of the money spent on the worktops and fitting. Does anyone have any experience with repairing small chips with ColorFill?

Any general advice as to how to handle the situation would also be appreciated.

For those interested photos available at:

the coin in the picture is a 5p.

Thanks in advance for any input!

-Neil

[Chris Cowley]

Thanks for tip. I'll try cleaning the bit before I use it again (I'm sure it'll come in handy for something, even if I don't do any more worktops with it).