Stacking kitchen base units

[morqthana]

Hope this is the best forum to use - there really should be a kitchen one?

I'm going to be having a new Howdens kitchen, and I want a tall (i.e. floor to ceiling) corner cupboard. There isn't space for the normal solution of an 800/900/1000 unit into the corner - the door on the accessible end would be about 300mm wide, so no carousel or magic corner would work.

The 931 L-shaped cabinet would be OK, but that's only a base unit, so I had an idea of stacking 3 on top of each other, like this



Rigidity should be OK, as I'd add a top, and there will be 18mm ply decor panels fixed to each side



And there's space at the back to screw vertical rails on



And lastly there will be tower units each side,



So I don't think it will wobble.

But the question is what do the experts here think?

Would it be an idea to add tops to the bottom and middle cabinets as well?

 

[lostinthelight]

Ive not done it with base units but have 3 high with wall units

 

[martygturner]

In essence its just four l shaped shelves with backing, you could just get those cut to suit.

 

[foxhole]

Seems silly. If you have room for 931, how can there not be enough room for a 900?

 

[Murdochcat]

Why aren’t howdens doing a site visit and design?

 

[JohnD]

You can get kitchen units made to measure. Cabinets are just simple rectangular boxes made of laminated chipboard.

Maybe this is not a service Howdens offer, but others do.

I have a Magnet kitchen, and my carpenter made some non-standard sizes by cutting apart existing, I also bought from another supplier a couple of "boiler size" cabinets that are deeper than standard.

I was lucky to have a superfluity of matching doors and accessories as I bought a warehouse clearance.

 

[morqthana]

Seems silly. If you have room for 931, how can there not be enough room for a 900?

An 800 or 900, pushed further to the left, would fit, but then the door would have to be 300mm, which wouldn't allow a carousel or similar type of internal accessory to be installed so that the space in the left of the cupboard could be used.

Space is tight along that wall - with the 931 L-shape, and the 600mm next to it, I'm still going to have to trim about 35mm off the architrave on the LHS of a doorway in that wall

 

[JohnD]

An 800 or 900, pushed further to the left, would fit, but then the door would have to be 300mm, which wouldn't allow a carousel or similar type of internal accessory to be installed so that the space in the left of the cupboard could be used.

Space is tight along that wall - with the 931 L-shape, and the 600mm next to it, I'm still going to have to trim about 35mm off the architrave on the LHS of a doorway in that wall

Can you show us a floor plan?

I'm anxious that your small door will make access impractical.

 

[morqthana]

Why aren’t howdens doing a site visit and design?

Careful - you'll have me spitting blood again.

Firstly, they are. Sort of. Someone came last week, took measurements, had a very brief chat about what we wanted where, and left. Couldn't have been there for more than 20-30 mins.

He couldn't answer the question about stacking the base units, just agreed that there wasn't space for a corner solution

He promised a design by Friday. Didn't appear, so I chased them today, somebody else picked it up, she must have spent all of 30 minutes doing it. (Yes, I am fully aware that I'm getting what I paid for).

But here's the kicker. I know how Howdens operate. I'm not trying to buy the kitchen myself. I'm not trying to get a price for the units.

But they are refusing to even show me the design they've come up with, except through my builder.

And I haven't even begun to look for an installer yet - was kinda thinking I'd like to make the decision on whether it will be Howdens or Ikea or DIY Kitchens, and whether it will be pimped by Husk or Plykea or Made In Ply, first

I thought I had made the first decision - Howdens carcasses have a good rep, Ikea are a PITA with all the self-assembly and lack of a service void, and DIY have yet to break free from the tradition of having stupidly shallow wall cupboards.

But if Howdens are going to refuse to let me see the design (in God's name, WHY??) I might consider a mix of DIY Kitchens base units and Ikea wall ones (to get the depth).

 

[Murdochcat]

Hold on.

So you are talking to Howdens and don’t have a fitter/ supplier in place. In this case I’m not surprised that they won’t give you the full details of the kitchen. This is because they don’t want you to go to another kitchen supplier with “their” design

Have you got the basic designs?

 

[johnny2007]

Yes, you can do that and you don't need the vertical timber to join them, just screws and wall fixings at the top, done many times.
2 things to consider:
1. The other tall cabinets might not match the height so one of the 3 in the corner would need to be modified.
2. The cabinets in your picture are not the 930mm corner unit, that's where the confusion comes with regard to door size.

 

[foxhole]

An 800 or 900, pushed further to the left, would fit, but then the door would have to be 300mm, which wouldn't allow a carousel or similar type of internal accessory to be installed so that the space in the left of the cupboard could be used.

Space is tight along that wall - with the 931 L-shape, and the 600mm next to it, I'm still going to have to trim about 35mm off the architrave on the LHS of a doorway in that wall

So your are insisting on fitting something you don’t have room for ?

 

[carmanmemoranda]

Why not visit other suppliers and get different ideas, and then choose who is best to supply ?

 

[morqthana]

So your are insisting on fitting something you don’t have room for ?

No, I'm insisting on not fitting something I don't have room for, but instead fitting something I do have room for - the 931mm L-shaped corner cabinet.

The drawing in #7 is of the arrangement which won't fit, and I posted it to show why a 900mm unit used in a corner needs more space than 900mm

 

[morqthana]

Hold on.

So you are talking to Howdens and don’t have a fitter/ supplier in place. In this case I’m not surprised that they won’t give you the full details of the kitchen. This is because they don’t want you to go to another kitchen supplier with “their” design

Given that everybody's units are different sizes, that wouldn't be realistic. They haven't "designed" the kitchen from scratch - they asked me what I wanted, so it's my "design" in the sense of fridge here, freezer there, sink under the window, hob against this wall, etc. Their "design" is really only translating that into which collection of their cabinets would fit in the space.

Have you got the basic designs?

I'll upload them later today.