Have our worktops been fitted wrong?

[greenguy123]

We had our kitchen worktops fitted yesterday. The fitters were really friendly and gave us some other advice about our kithchen whilst fitting and we thought it was okay. But after they had left we noticed some problems.

There was one joint and a gap for a free-standing oven.

The first problem is that the corner isn't square

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• greenguy123
• 7 Jun 2013
• 1

The corner units are at 90 degrees and the fitters responded this morning that the walls aren't straight so they couldn't fit a 90 degree corner. Our feeling is that the worktops could have been scribed to make the corner a right angle.

The second problem is that the overhang isn't even - ranging from 9mm to 27mm in different places. We've also got an uneven overhang next to the oven making there not enough room in one place and making it look very strange.

Thirdly, because the wall isn't flat we have large gaps (>10mm) at the back. The fitters at the time said we could make this up when we tiled and I believed him but now looking online it looks like they should have scribed the worktop into the wall.

On top of all this the join isn't done very well - it's not smooth i.e. there's a ridge along it and a large gap at the front has been filled with coulorfill.

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• greenguy123
• 7 Jun 2013
• 1

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• greenguy123
• 7 Jun 2013
• 1

We've complained and they've said it's not their fault our walls aren't straight and we were happy with it when they were doing it. What do people think our options are?... we haven't paid them yet!

 

[big-all]

you can only scribe to the wall if theres enough meat at the back to allow you to keep the overhang constant at what ever depth you require

it is normally a combination off angle and scribing

but would expect the overhang to be fairly constant with a plus or minus 2-3mm over all the edges with only the ends being different

 

[foxhole]

If you wanted it all square you would need an oversize work top 665mm to accommodate you poor walls otherwise it' s a compromise.

 

[Harbourwoodwork]

Kitchen fitters are not woodworkers,Carpenters and joiner's are, worktop's are better left square and butt jointed that eliminates possible shrinkage on mitres and looks much better as for the workmanship a kitchen fitter may have never been taught by a craftsman and may not realise he is doing anything wrong.

 

[foxhole]

Is that wood effect laminate?

 

[RogerBoyle]

Kitchen fitters are not woodworkers,Carpenters and joiner's are, worktop's are better left square and butt jointed that eliminates possible shrinkage on mitres and looks much better as for the workmanship a kitchen fitter may have never been taught by a craftsman and may not realise he is doing anything wrong.

Sorry but some Kitchen fitters are very good Carpenters and Joiners and some are crap ( the ones that fitted this worktop were crap)

same can be said for some joiners and carpenters

Its a laminate worktop by the looks of it with a slight bullnose edge so butt jointing it is out of the question

 

[^woody^]

The worktops should be square, and with an even consistent oversail of the base units

A mitred joint should be spot on too.

 

[jockscott]

The worktops should be square, and with an even consistent oversail of the base units
.

Not the easiest thing to do if the bloody walls are not square to start with, and the base units are put in at the same angle as the walls.
The base units should have been installed square, even if it meant scribing the units to both walls.
Mind you, there's no excuse for the joint on the worktop (even with out of square walls)

 

[^woody^]

Not the easiest thing to do if the bloody walls are not square to start with,

There is nothing easier than fitting base units together square, and fitting worktops square. Everything comes square straight out of the factory. Worktop jigs give perfect square joints too

The first thing to do on any kitchen refit is check the walls and plaster, and plan and align the base units to take account of any out of true walls.

Then the worktop just fits perfect to the base units.

What should never, ever happen, is the kitchen thrown together and the fitter realising there is problem only when he comes to fit the worktops, and then needing to fit them as in the OP's case

I'd never accept that from a contractor

 

[jockscott]

There is nothing easier than fitting base units together square, and fitting worktops square. Everything comes square straight out of the factory.

In an ideal world, yes everything would be nice and square. However, in the real world, the corner between two walls is very rarely square. The skill comes in setting the units square, which often means cutting bits off the back of the sides of the units. Other problems can be the walls not being plumb either (a further complication, if the walls are already out of square) or walls bowed (both convex and concave)
Aye, there's nothing easier than assembling units squarely, but the real fun begins when the location your fitting them into is far from perfect.

 

[Harbourwoodwork]

There is nothing easier than fitting base units together square, and fitting worktops square. Everything comes square straight out of the factory.

In an ideal world, yes everything would be nice and square. However, in the real world, the corner between two walls is very rarely square. The skill comes in setting the units square, which often means cutting bits off the back of the sides of the units. Other problems can be the walls not being plumb either (a further complication, if the walls are already out of square) or walls bowed (both convex and concave)
Aye, there's nothing easier than assembling units squarely, but the real fun begins when the location your fitting them into is far from perfect.

Yeh and the craftsman will have the trade reasources : tools, skill and craft knowledge of what a job well done should look like and others will just fit as it comes out of the box
Too many one trick ponies in the trade bringing down standards and prices.

 

[jockscott]

Ma point exactly HW

 

[masona]

If you wanted it all square you would need an oversize work top 665mm to accommodate you poor walls otherwise it' s a compromise.

All the kitchens I've fitted are always square otherwise the floor tiles will be out of line as well. I even fitted with walls 20mm out but corrected it with plastering then fit the worktop to the square wall, they are many ways round it

 

[masona]

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• greenguy123
• 7 Jun 2013
• 1

That's terrible and no excuse either

 

[Prockie]

If the units are not square, then making the worktops perfect 90 would have an impact? I think they could have chosen a better section to do that mitre out of though - no forethought there. The blocked effect can show the mitre but a better selection of section they used would have been more appeasing to the eye!