what order are things done on a kitchen extension?

[markyyyyyy]

We are in the early stages - planning - of a kitchen diner extension at the rear of our property.

To keep costs down, i am going to be installing the kitchen, however i want the builders to get the build to a condition ready to fit the kitchen. ie. plumbing pipework sorted so i can do the second plumbing fix from that (installing taps, sinks, etc)

What order is work generally done on a kitchen extension?

my understanding is this:

electrics 1st fix
plumbing 1st fix
fit kitchen units and sinks / worktops
electrics 2nd fix
plastering
painting decorating
flooring

Is this correct?

with the flooring, do most people fit the kitchen units on the floor boards and then fit the flooring to the edge of the floor units?

thanks

 

[Notch7]

Plastering is after electric 1st fix and after plumbing 1st fix if any buried pipes.

Surface mount pipes, like hot and cold feed, sink and appliance waste is after plastering.

Ceiling and wall plastering is before kitchen install.

Ceiling electrics for lights is 1st fixed before plasterboarding / skimming.

Get sparkies to drill out downlighter holes, then paint ceiling.

You can fit kitchen before floor, but lay plywood where appliances go or you will trap the appliances in.

The kitchen units can go in, then get tiler to go upto the feet. Then the edge will be covered by the plinth after.

Dont forget to raise feet by thickness of tile when setting out kitchen.

 

[noseall]

Is the op aware of where he needs to leave cables extra long (fitting inside cabinets etc) or where he needs to fit isolators above electrical items and things like clear space at the back of dishwashers etc? Things like plywood fixed to stud walls to facilitate wall unit hanging is also a boon.

Have you fitted a kitchen before Marrrrrkkkkkyyyy? My advice would be to have a very good understanding (as well as a stupendously good kitchen drawing) of the processes of kitchen fitting and its relationship with all relevant trades.

 

[EddieM]

Hmm. good advice.. it's of course entirely possible... but fitting a kitchen is surprisingly involved! Even with first fix done.

 

[markyyyyyy]

maybe i should pay a couple of grand as it will inevitably be stressful and a bit more work that i thought! I have fit a kitchen before but only a swap out, not from a blank canvas. thanks for you input

 

[EddieM]

maybe i should pay a couple of grand as it will inevitably be stressful and a bit more work that i thought! I have fit a kitchen before but only a swap out, not from a blank canvas. thanks for you input

It's a balance of time / money. Did mine myself as I had time on my hands. If I was a kitchen fitter (needless to say i am not) I would have gone broke! Far too mich time taken... result was good.

 

[23vc]

IMHO of all things you could diy, fitting a kitchen is a good choice. You’re unlikely/less likely to come up against a major problem you can’t get past, not overly messy, can keep it clean at the end of each day, and apart from potential worktop cutting, not a massive tool outlay. And you can take your time on it and learn useful skills as you go. But as said above, all depends how much you value your time vs paying someone.

 

[Keithmac]

I enjoyed firtting our kitchen to be fair, cutting worktop for sink was a pain in the ass mind!.

 

[EddieM]

IMHO of all things you could diy, fitting a kitchen is a good choice. You’re unlikely/less likely to come up against a major problem you can’t get past, not overly messy, can keep it clean at the end of each day, and apart from potential worktop cutting, not a massive tool outlay. And you can take your time on it and learn useful skills as you go. But as said above, all depends how much you value your time vs paying someone.

Moreover depends on if you are paid more than a kitchen fitter. if you are it may well not be worth it... I possibly over egged it but I thought it needed a hell of a lot of tools. Then again I have those.. much to my other halfs disgust. Worktop are indeed the biggest pain, the rest not too hard... unless you are making a 1 cab width island.. not a great idea as it needs a lot of stabilisation .

 

[John D v2.0]

as with most diy it's more about whether you want to do it than whether you can save a bit of cash.

My main advice would be to get everything set out carefully before first fix, you especially need to remember drainage flows downhill, worktops and floors have a thickness, as does plasterboard dot and dabbed. Check about 5 times your socket levels. A lot of things can be changed later if necessary. I was a bit nervous standing on the sub floor dirt in the freezing cold basically outside before the concrete was even poured, measuring up from a pencil line from the existing floor around the corner to the new area, then trying to imagine the thickness of the engineered wood floor, kitchen cabinets, worktops and how far between the lower and upper cabinets we wanted the sockets. That was a moment I wondered what I was doing out there! But the level is pretty much spot on now.

Mistakes/changes I made:
I put all the behind lower cabinet sockets at the height of the thick cross piece of the units, so I did have to move them as I didn't want to cut that strong piece.
I also had to move the back box for the cooker hood as it fell exactly on a join between two wall cupboards (forgot the plasterboard plus dot and dab thickness)
I also had to switch out some of the back boxes for extremely deep ones, as the builder had asked me to chase them in, then he fitted the plasterboard set forward miles and told me to use long screws! on a wall that was being tiled afterwards!
drainage coming up under the island was a bit far left and also blocking the cold water supply there, but we changed the layout of the island so many times that's not surprising.
The gas came up one cupboard too far to the left for the hob.
the worktop fitters told me the fitting of the rest of the kitchen is not bad for doing it myself (I'm assumed that's a polite way of saying it's all over the place!)

Main thing is take your time and use a laser level and a couple of different length spirit levels, and take your time. Did I mentioned, it'll take longer than you think? Good luck!

 

[EddieM]

Mine was all laid out by the other half with a tailors measure! after it was all done the "datums" we're out by less than 1mm! yeah I was surprised too. Checked it afterwards with a laser level and it is dead flat.. took me a long time though.. so yeah it's doable, it's a question of time.

 

[garyo]

Then again I have those.. much to my other halfs disgust.

Seen on a LandRover t-shirt: "My biggest fear is that if I die, my wife will sell my tools for what I told her they cost"