Some kitchen questions.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

My kitchen is in need of a bit of a refresh. Not a total re-fit, though.

I built it all myself when money was tight. And ready made units cost more (pro rata) than today.

All the floor units are basically one, made from approx 30mm square section timber with mortice and tenon joints. 'Legs' which run from floor to worktop one piece and a door's width apart. The whole lot firmly fixed to brick walls. Tops are blockboard and tiled.

Most of the timber came for free as scrap lengths from the company I worked for.

Doors and drawer fronts were bought ready made - and have been changed recently, so still OK.

All the carcasing? is immensely strong and rigid compared to the usual chipboard, and I don't intend changing it.

But I'd like new worktops. Possibly something like Corian? I realise this is likely a totally pro job. Is it strong enough to sit on top of the carcasing or does it need additional support like ply or whatever under it? And what would be a very rough cost for about 9 metres total (three walls with a peninsula unit, so 3 mitre or whatever joins. And a cutout for a sink and hob. A rough guess would be fine, as I've zero idea of the cost.

Other thing is the cooker hood which is ancient. It extracts to the outside via a vent behind it. Still works fine - just old looking. Most of the 'pretty' ones I see now seem to have a chimney. Can those be vented anywhere up that chimney - or only at the top? I don't mind moving the hole in the outside wall if needed. But the closer it is to the hood itself the better.

Last thing. The entire kitchen is tiled, and I don't want to change them. Obviously some will need replacing where the new hood goes in, and round the new worktops. I do have some spares - but will have lots from the old worktops. However I used some type of semi-flexible waterproof mortar bed to stick them to the blockboard, which has survived very well indeed. I think the small (2x2") very strong tiles will come off the wood intact - but how about removing the mortar from them?

[ss]

It may depend on the type of mortar used, when I moved a few things around in my kitchen a few of the tiles I wanted to reuse I got off in 1 piece and then soaked overnight in a bucket of water and the `mortar` scraped off easily enough.

[GB]

I can't help you with your other questions, but perhaps I can about the tiles, as we have recently replaced a couple of worktops.

First, we got the old worktops out without breaking any of the existing tiles. Quite easy, with care. We just unscrewed them and scraped out any mastic/grout joining them to the tiles.

Second, you might think it's a great idea to slide the new worktop in under the old tiles. In practice, it's even better to have a thicker worktop that butts up against the face of the tiles. If you are going for Corian, get them to incorporate a 5cms upstand at the back, and the whole join is then completely waterproof, no matter what.

1. If the tile cement is waterproof, you can't get it off. Well, I haven't succeeded, anyway, even with weeks of soaking.

[Andrew May]

For worktops, perhaps take a look at Maia

As far as I remember it is available in lengths so unless you want anything complicated could be DIY'd. A basic masons mitre should be doable with a suitable router.

[The Natural Philosopher]

if it's cement based soking in HCl works eventually

[GB]

Is that brick acid?

Be interesting to see what it does to tiles. HCl is stored in glass, and the glaze on tiles is effectively glass, so that sounds promising. But any defects in the glaze could let the acid attack the colour underneath, and of course the baked clay is porous.

[tabbypurr]

I've had waterproof stuff soften mostly from a night spent under water - it just didn't soften as much as cheaper stuff.

NT

[Dave Liquorice]

Worktops sit on the top of modern units, which are essentially just open topped boxes, without any other support. A double width unit probably has a bar across the midlle but that's more of a brace than a worktop support.

I believe the chimney is just trim to hide bog standard vent tubing.

If it's a cement based tile adhesive you might have to resort to some form of acidic descaler working up to brick acid. Try an overnight soak, possibly with a bit of detergent as wetting agent.

[David]

The last time I removed tile adhesive from bathromm tiles to reuse them, I was advised to scape it off under *hot* water. Surprsingly, this worked.

[bert]

In article [e-mail]>, "Dave Plowman (News)" [e-mail]> writes

Don't think so. The vent is immediately behind the extractor fan. The "chimney" is false.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I was wondering if that was the answer. The tiles are extremely strong - can be used on a floor. So I'd guess porcelain. The adhesive is definitely a waterproof mortar based one.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It's what I thought. In which case mine are well up to the job.

[GB]

I still think you may be over-worrying about the need to reclaim these tiles.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It would depend on the thickness of the new worktops. At the moment the existing tiles start with full ones where the current worktop meets the wall. If it is the same thickness fine. If thinner, I may have to add some. If thicker, easy to remove the bottom row of tiles and trim them - as they're held to the wall with ordinary tile adhesive.

But I expect I'll have to make good round the new cooker hood. The old is mounted directly to the wall and tiled round.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I thought the chimney type gave you the option to vent through the ceiling? If it could be vented directly behind so much the better. Although sods law dictates the vent won't be in the same place as this one

- over to one side. But I don't mind a bit of brickwork if needed anyway, as it's easy to get at.

[GB]

My suggestion is to put a small upstand at the back of the new Corian worktop (or whatever you decide to get). Then butt that up against the face of the tiles. It looks very effective, and it provides a 100% waterproof joint.

Generally, modern worktops tend to be 38mm. You can get thinner, but they don't look as good. The current blockboard + tiles worktop is surely quite a bit thinner? More like 25mm, perhaps? Hence, to save a hell of a lot of messing about, I suggest that the new worktop is butted up against the face of the tiles.

You said you had a few spare tiles?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Simply don't like added on upstands. Look a bodge to me.

[Tim Lamb]

In message [e-mail]>, "Dave Plowman (News)" [e-mail]> writes

No expense spared on my wife's new kitchen (she paid for it:-).

The Corian work top wraps up the wall and forms a window sill.

Incredibly neat workmanship.

She specified a Quooker without realising this meant she could not have a sink entirely of Corian (heat). The fitter cut out the sink bottom and put in a stainless steel base.

Part of the cost is because they do a *measure up visit* and create hardboard templates.

>

[GB]

You can butt up against the face of the tiles without an upstand.

A friend has recently redone their kitchen. White glossy units, and white glossy walls (not tiles, some sort of sheet material). Black Corian worktop with an upstand. It looks *extremely* smart - IMHO of course.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

An upstand that forms part of the corian would be fine. It's an added type I don't like.